Here's Why Your Car Insurance Has Become More Expensive

by Chris Teague

Published: March 25th, 2024

here s why your car insurance has become more expensive

Millions of vehicle owners have been shocked when opening their most recent auto insurance bills. Rates are up across the board, hitting $2,543 in 2024, which represents a 26 percent increase from 2023. CNBC and Bankrate reported on the rate increase, noting that some states and drivers have it much worse than others.

The reports found that Americans are spending 3.41 percent of their incomes on car insurance, reaching an average of $212 per month for full coverage insurance. Drivers in Louisiana spent the most on coverage as a percentage of their income, while people in Massachusetts paid the lowest percentage.

What’s causing the jump in insurance rates nationwide? A few factors have aligned, including longer repair times, more expensive parts, higher-priced rental cars, and more. Cars in general are also becoming more costly to fix. There have been plenty of stories of high-priced Tesla and Rivian repairs, but even gas vehicles can be ridiculous because of the tech and materials employed in production.

The rise in car thefts, including of Kias and Hyundais, has also played a role in the price increases. Urban areas, where it was already more expensive to insure a car, have seen jumps in crime, and insurers charge extra when they view a situation as risky.

Of course, all of these factors ignore the most important things insurers use to determine car insurance rates: You. Your age, driving record, credit, and many other factors play a hugely significant role in determining what you pay for car insurance. If you drive like a maniac and have accumulated several speeding tickets, higher insurance rates should come as no surprise.

[Image: Photo Spirit via Shutterstock]

Become a TTAC insider. Get the latest news, features, TTAC takes, and everything else that gets to the truth about cars first by subscribing to our newsletter.

#CarInsurance #carwreck #caraccident #fullcoverageinsurance

Chris Teague

Chris grew up in, under, and around cars, but took the long way around to becoming an automotive writer. After a career in technology consulting and a trip through business school, Chris began writing about the automotive industry as a way to reconnect with his passion and get behind the wheel of a new car every week. He focuses on taking complex industry stories and making them digestible by any reader. Just don’t expect him to stay away from high-mileage Porsches.

More by Chris Teague

Comments

Join the conversation

2 of 107 comments

Bd2 on Mar 29, 2024

Odd that the article doesn't mention one of the biggest reasons for rising premiums (particularly in states like Louisiana and Florida) - the increase in losses by insurance/reinsurance companies due to the increase in Billion dollar extreme weather events.

This also holds true for home insurance premiums.

Like Reply
Joe on Apr 01, 2024

Also the article does not mention that many manufactures (looking at you GM) are reporting your driving habits to LexisNexis and insurers are rating your policy on that information too.

Like Reply

Recent Comments

Redapple2 I gave up on Honda. My 09 Accord Vs my 03. The 09s- V 6 had a slight shudder when deactivating cylinders. And the 09 did not have the 03 's electro luminescent gages. And the 09 had the most uncomfortable seats. My brother bought his 3rd and last Honda CRV. Brutal seats after 25 minutes. NOW, We are forever Toyota, Lexus, Subaru people now despite HAVING ACCESS TO gm EMPLOYEE DISCOUNT. Despite having access to the gm employee discount. Man, that is a massive statement. Wow that s bad - Under no circumstances will I have that govna crap.
Redapple2 Front tag obscured. Rear tag - clear and sharp. Huh?
Redapple2 I can state what NOT to buy. HK. High theft. Insurance. Unrefined NVH. Rapidly degrading interiors. HK? No way !
Luke42 Serious answer:Now that I DD an EV, buying an EV to replace my wife’s Honda Civic is in the queue. My wife likes her Honda, she likes Apple CarPlay, and she can’t stand Elon Musk - so Tesla starts the competition with two demerit-points and Honda starts the competition with one merit-point.The Honda Prologue looked like a great candidate until Honda announced that the partnership with GM was a one-off thing and that their future EVs would be designed in-house.Now I’m more inclined toward the Blazer EV, the vehicle on which the Prologue is based. The Blazer EV and the Ultium platform won’t be orphaned by GM any time soon. But then I have to convince my wife she would like it better than her Honda Civic, and that’s a heavy lift because she doesn’t have any reason to be dissatisfied with her current car (I take care of all of the ICE-hassles for her).Since my wife’s Honda Civic is holding up well, since she likes the car, and since I take care of most of the drawbacks of drawbacks of ICE ownership for her, there’s no urgency to replace this vehicle.Honestly, if a paid-off Honda Civic is my wife’s automotive hill to die on, that’s a pretty good place to be - even though I personally have to continue dealing the hassles and expenses of ICE ownership on her behalf.My plan is simply to wait-and-see what Honda does next. Maybe they’ll introduce the perfect EV for her one day, and I’ll just go buy it.
2ACL I have a soft spot for high-performance, shark-nosed Lancers (I considered the less-potent Ralliart during the period in which I eventually selected my first TL SH-AWD), but it's can be challenging to find a specimen that doesn't exhibit signs of abuse, and while most of the components are sufficiently universal in their function to service without manufacturer support, the SST isn't one of them. The shops that specialize in it are familiar with the failure as described by the seller and thus might be able to fix this one at a substantial savings to replacement. There's only a handful of them in the nation, however. A salvaged unit is another option, but the usual risks are magnified by similar logistical challenges to trying to save the original.I hope this is a case of the seller overvaluing the Evo market rather than still owing or having put the mods on credit. Because the best offer won't be anywhere near the current listing.