Auto insurance cost skyrockets 26% over last year
Average median household now spends about 3.41% of its money on vehicle insurance
(InvestigateTV) — The national average cost of full coverage car insurance is now the highest it’s ever been at $2,543 a year, according to a recent Bankrate study.
Shannon Martin with Bankrate said there are several reasons why car insurance prices have spiked.
“Once 2020 hit we were seeing an increase due to inflation to car parts and health care supplies. Then we had over a 10% increase in car crashes fatalities, extreme weather, all of that together,” Martin explained. “Insurance is reactionary, so we’re paying for what happened a few years ago basically.”
Bankrate also found that adding a teen driver to a policy can be the most expensive life event for auto insurance consumers, adding about $2,800 per year per teen driver.
Martin said there are some things you can do to try to cut down costs.
“Shop with other insurance carriers and see what they can offer,” she suggested. “Since almost every insurance company has these increases, you might not see the same savings that you did before. So, take a look at your discounts, do the defensive driving discounts.”
If the price is still too much Martin said to look for non-essential coverages like towing and lockout and rental cars, which could temporarily be removed to help ease the financial burden.
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