Why auto insurance costs are rising at the fastest rate in 47 years, over 20% increase from the prior year

return2ozma@lemmy.world to News@lemmy.world – 185 points –
Why auto insurance costs are rising at the fastest rate in 47 years
finance.yahoo.com
47

Hmm, it's almost like we should focus considerably more on simple vehicles instead of complex subscription shit boxes that we have, to cut down cost of manufacturing/materials/parts/labour and now insurance...no big money in that though.

Or you know ...public transport is also pretty damn good option over any of this. Something drastic would have to change for trains/buses/etc to become commonplace in NA though, at least in some EU countries and a few other countries in the world there's a bit of hope.

In the US, electric vehicles are only affordable for wealthy drivers. In China, they are building cheap electric cars, like $16,000 cheap. But tarrifs to protect our stagnant auto industry will keep these cars out.

It's maddening isn't it, and probably not that different between US and Canada.

I don't think you even need to go as far as China to see autoindustryasshattery in effect, just look at our Southern neighbors in Mexico who aren't getting fair share on the produced vehicles while parent companies/dealerships reap profits, but that's probably a different conversation altogether.....I mean something is seriously fucking wrong when a car dealer is also one of the biggest grocery chains and god knows what else (that one is Canada, not US)

In the US, electric vehicles are only affordable for wealthy drivers.

Here's 14 used EVs for under 5k. Yeah, they're not the greatest whizbang self driving blah blah blah, but I put almost 100k miles on a 2011 Leaf and had little issue with it, and my kid is still driving it to this day. It's all you need if you're just running around town doing errands. Rent something for long trips.

https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/inventorylisting/viewDetailsFilterViewInventoryListing.action?zip=90017&inventorySearchWidgetType=AUTO&sortDir=ASC&sourceContext=untrackedExternal_false_0&distance=100&sortType=BEST_MATCH&entitySelectingHelper.selectedEntity=d2077

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My rates jumped quite a bit too and I’m 36 years old. Two vehicles and a house. Zero tickets and accidents on top of that.

Last few years we were paying ~ 2k a year for home and auto with two cars. We're both in the 40-50 age range with perfectly clean driving records.

Last year it jumped to 3600 (we use a broker) and we shopped around and it was still the cheapest plan. Our agent said it's because all the COVID relief/incentives expired. Funny how that never came up in conversation or was ever reflected in a bill.

TL;DR: A bunch of dumbasses forgot how to drive during the pandemic, so now accidents are up and so is insurance.

Also we have to drive massive and super expensive cars so accidents are worse and more expensive.

Bought a house in 2021, registering my insurance at the new address DOUBLED my rate. $220 a month for 2 cars. No accidents, nothing, just bought a house and changed address.

Most people don't realize that your address actually has a huge impact on insurance. Moving less than an hour's drive for me caused a change of nearly $100/month.

Yeah, I moved 12 miles away once and it would have doubled my insurance. I just made a deal with the apartment owners that they would grab my insurance bills and I would keep my address there on insurance forms. I moved from that new place a couple years later into a new apartment, and the insurance was still much higher than my original zip code (though not doubled). I just kept my insurance at the first place for the next 6 years, because there was no impact on a daily basis.

It wasn't until I bought a house and was forced to change my address for house insurance that I finally "moved" away from that first apartment.

I would keep my address there on insurance forms

I'm not sure I'm understanding. You were living at place B, but your insurance was registered to place A? Wouldn't the insurer then deny any claims if something were to happen at place B?

You are understanding correctly. And the answer to your second question is, "maybe?" I didn't look into it. But it was only car insurance, so it didn't matter where something happened; I mean, it's a car and is meant to be driven around. Now, if they found out that I had moved without telling them while investigating an accident, then maybe they could deny a claim. The difference was over $100 per month from one neighborhood to another in the same city. Over 8 years that added up to me saving $9600, so if something happened to the Scion tC I was driving during that time then I could have paid for it with those savings. Of course, if I badly injured someone by an accident that was my fault, then I could have been really screwed.

it was only car insurance

Aha, I forgot the thread's title and just assumed it was home insurance if it differs that much. The new neighborhood had higher incidence of vandalism maybe, or historically many bad drivers? But yeah, I'd probably risk that as well; a car is mobile, so no reason to have such a huge difference. Would never risk renters/home insurance though.

It was crazy how much extra the car insurance was simply based on where it was "garaged." Yes, I was moving from the quietest suburb to downtown, which means more vandalism, car theft, and crazy drivers. It makes sense from the insurance perspective, but my perspective was they were insuring how good my driving is.

I did the same and it more than halved it moving from a southern to a northern state.

Car manufacturers can't secure their shit and insurance companies have to punish everyone because of their incompetence.

One manufacturer in particular that wanted to save a buck on immobilizers, namely Hyundai Motor.

But it’s the same with homeowners. People live in areas prone to hurricanes, tornadoes, and fires, only for the rest of our insurance to skyrocket right after another mass claim somewhere in the south or west.

Don't forget KIA (Kia Boyz challenge) And people also like to build massive houses right next to the ocean and with them raising and engulfing the houses. These asshats always get paid out

Hyundai Motors owns a massive amount of Kia and was largely responsible for the decision.

My work had to change auto insurance providers after they increased their premium by 350% at renewal time. No specific explanation given of course - "rising costs through the industry". Apparently the new provider is about double the original rate. Got us all worried it would happen to our cars too. No ones mentioned anything since though. Only a matter of time I suppose.

A lot of work you could do on a car yourself prior to 2018 is now impossible because everything in the car has sensors that talk to the on board computer. Replacing a side mirror should not involved sensor hookups.

You say that, but vehicle and collision sensors on mirrors are legitimately an amazing safety feature that should be standard on all models. Those sensors have personally saved me a couple times when someone comes up next to me when I'm trying to change lanes.

I don't drive, and because traveling is always a direct cost to me ($20 Uber each way to the mall just to watch a movie hurts), I'm not convinced when my friends tell me how much money I'm saving. But with stuff like this, maybe I am actually saving money...

Average annual cost of car ownership is something like $12000 depending on how you calculate it. That is enough money for you to take one of those $40 round trip Ubers to the mall almost every day, and any of those style trips you can replace with transit or active transportation is even more money in your pocket, if you can swing it with your locale (don't want to assume)

maybe giant death machines are hard to insure?

Interesting. I'm college age with a clean record and I have a motorcycle that I'm insuring for $210/year. Granted, it's a 2006 Suzuki GZ250, not exactly a fast motorcycle, but I've looked at the rates for other bikes with my provider and even a new literbike is around $400/year.

I just switched insurance companies and my vehicle insurance went from 360€/y to 320€/y and property insurance went from 570€/y to 430€/y