When it comes to car insurance here in the US, your credit does matter. If you have bad credit and are considered more of a risk to not pay, you will be paying higher premiums.

Where did you hear this? I've never heard of that before, thats crazy. Its bad enough employers can read credit reports before hiring you.

I've never heard of that, where's your source?

It's true. Call an insurance company and ask them if they pull your credit file and why.

My impression was that they checked your insurance record, whether you've paid premiums on time and things like that, not your credit record.

Nope. The theory is this:
Poor credit means you don't make payments on time, are not financially secure or dependable. Those things translate into greater "risk" for the insurance company and so they charge you more.

Well, that really stinks. It's unfortunate that so many people get in over their heads at some point in the lives and it follows them in so many arenas.