I’ve heard a lot of folks on here talking about rising insurance premiums this year. Is it inflation? Corporate greed? Or this?
Perhaps it’s all of the above, but I find this particularly disturbing.
I’m also wondering, for those of us that have flipped more than a couple jeeps without resetting the infotainment (guilty), do the insurers still think we are driving those cars?
It’s pretty hilarious to use corporate greed in the same post as admitting to abusing federal subsidies to flip cars.
Pretty sure they didn’t create the subsidies so you guys could flip a bunch of POS jeeps
I see the term “corporate greed” bandied about a lot, so I am using it because people on this forum think it’s an issue. I’m not sure if I agree with it, the purpose of a corporation is to make as much money as it can for shareholders.
Lol, I should probably remove that TRX and those 392s from the app.
There are still some old school insurers that seem to not use additional data points to drive rates… and their own profitability. Age sex and accident and ticket history seem to drive the premiums more than your app performance.
Think it’s multi factorial. Cars are more expensive. As cars get more complex they seem to be more prone to being declared total losses, particularly EVs which is a larger liability for the insurer.
People drive more erratically as well. Car accident deaths have recently started to uptrend even as cars are quite a bit safer now.
repair costs – a fender bender can cost $30k to repair – between parts and $150/hr labor its wild out there
Being a frequest visitor/poster of these forums and as a licensed insurance broker I wanted to share some information for the “why did my rate go up?” crowd…or simply for those who aren’t familiar with how insurance works.
I have been in the business just over 8 years, and i have NEVER seen the market this bad. I can only speak for the northeast, but rates with just about every company are increasing anywhere from 15% to 40% on renewal. Some companies are even re-evaluating loss history and flat out dropping people. It’s pretty wild times and the more you understand it, the less the sting will be when you get that renewal. A few things to note.
–While YOUR rates are mostly determined by you (your credit, location, claim history, vehicles, drivers etc)…insurance as a whole is still based off the risk of the overall pool of people. Therefore, the more claims that get put in with each respective company, the higher their loss ratio is…which in turn forces companies to increase base rates regardless of whether you got in an accident or not. Claims have increased over 300% the last 3 years, and the cost of claims has increased almost 50% due to increased cost in medical, parts, labor, property damage, etc. You can do the math.
–In today’s world of insurance, you should be shopping your policy every 3 years regardless. But there are three triggers where you should ALWAYS shop. When you get a new vehicle, when you buy a home, and when you add/remove drivers from your policy.
–Bundling is great, and usually recommended…but its not necessary. I can’t tell you how often I insure clients auto with company A and their home with company B…it’s all about the numbers. Sometimes it just makes more sense, don’t be afraid to consider that as an option as you could be leaving some pretty good savings on the table.
–Do yourselves a favor, if you are getting a new vehicle find out how much it is going to be on your insurance. Those scumbag dealers will scream in your ear how allll these new safety features will save you money on insurance blah blah blah…when the reality is they just cost more. These new cars are EXPENSIVE and EXPENSIVE to insure. Just a brutal feeling spending all of this time hacking a lease only to realize all of the time you spent getting that extra discount is washed away because your insurance is going up $140 a month.
If you have any generic questions please feel free to reach out to me directly. It’s a brutal market out there and the more you know the better.
Oh and also, DO NOT file a claim if you can handle it out of pocket. Claims not only stay on your record for 3-5 years, but they are a death sentence with alot of these companies. A claim should be the absolute last resort.
Is there an insurance company who doesn’t require you to install app to keep your discount these days?
You receive the discount because somewhere along the way you agreed to participate in their telematics program. If you download the app and use it, you get the discount. If you don’t, you lose it. Quite simple.
It’s the cost of Florida and California losses needing to be recouped, and everyone else paying the price. In addition, the cost of replacement parts has skyrocketed due to inflation. Raise your deductibles to $1000 and never file a petty claim. As I’ve mentioned previously, NJM has been great on pricing for me because they do not offer coverage in Florida or California, but it is clearly YMMV since others have claimed high quotes from them. And for the love, NEVER install that app for any insurance carrier.
Cars have stayed a similar price, adjusted for inflation, but trucks have gotten much more expensive. And of course light trucks (which include SUVs) constitue an ever growing percentage of the market. So yeah, prices are going to go up when the item being insured costs 30% more, adjusted for inflation, than it did 30 years ago. Then you have the EV issue also. Then repair costs have gone up exponentially due largely to the complexity of modern vehicles.
Then there is also the cost of health care. Any accident causing a trip to the ER that requires an MRI or no overnight stay can easily rack up a $50k hospital bill. A big reason car insurance is cheaper in Europe is that car accidents almost never result in high medical bills.
Florida and California have nothing to do with increased insurance premiums…unless, that is, you live in Florida or California. Each state is regulated by the state’s insurance department, and rates are particular to each and every state independently.
While that is accurate, I don’t believe it for a second. It’s being passed on via shell games.
How much regulation is there beyond protection against certain types of discrimination? Seems like rates are pretty market based.
Edit - I don’t know. I am honestly asking how much states control car insurance rates.
Companies apply for rate in whichever state. The state analyzes this and determines the happy medium where they don’t want insurers over-profiting but they also don’t want rates too low where solvency may become an issue when claims become rampant.
For example, Progressive was in the red for the year of 2023. They have submitted a request to the state to increase base rates 7%. It’s up to the state whether they get that increase or not.
Some of it is real and some of it is
(A) the repair industry not having caught up to how to efficiently repair these cars. Exhibit A was the Rivian or Lucid that made headlines for a $40k+ repair quote that was eventually done for sub $5k or maybe less IIRC and
(B) I don’t want to call them new because Tesla isn’t a new company anymore but the supply chain situation of the non-legacy companies. Whether it’s the higher cost of longer rental car coverage during a repair or just the higher risk of a total loss due to parts unavailability, that’s going to raise insurance premiums
I’m with Cincinnati and they don’t require it. My broker shopped it around a couple months ago when my last company shot my homeowners through the roof.
As an insurance broker in the SW part of the country, I agree with this 100%.
I switched from AllState to NJM in CT when my 16 year old got his license and a vehicle. It was by far the most reasonable.
