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Car insurance costs are rising faster than overall inflation—here’s a closer look
The cost of car insurance shot up 19% in just one year, the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows, significantly more than the overall inflation rate of 3%.
The vast increase outpaced every other spending category tracked by the BLS in November. It is strikingly out of place alongside otherwise cooling inflation. What’s more, the cost of new cars grew just 1.3% since last year after a period of record highs, and the cost of used cars and trucks actually fell.
So why the increase in car insurance costs? CheapInsurance.com identified reasons insurance costs are spiking, and compared historical inflation to the rising cost of car insurance using BLS data.
While the past year’s insurance premium spikes have been particularly jarring, car insurance costs have increased faster than overall inflation for most of the past decade. That’s largely due to faster cost increases in vehicle repairs, medical care, and (to some extent) legal costs, which all directly affect insurance agencies’ expenses.
Ownership and use of cars are also on the rise, meaning more congested roads and, in turn, more accidents. To top it off, distractions while driving have surged in the age of technology, again causing costly crashes that insurance providers must cover.
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CheapInsurance.com compared overall inflation to the rising cost of car insurance and identified reasons that costs are spiking using BLS data.
