Car Insurance Rate Increases
Let's dissect the data to predict how much car insurance will cost moving forward.
Why do car insurance rates increase?
Car insurance premiums have a nasty habit of rising each year — regardless of whether you've filed any claims. Why is that? Car insurance companies compensate for the money they pay out in claims per year through rate revisions. If an insurance company's claim payout total exceeded its premium revenue, it will often pass on those costs to customers the following year. On average, car insurance premiums increased by 15% between 2021 and 2022 — the most significant increase in recent history.
Let’s review the reasons behind car insurance rate increases.
Why did my car insurance go up without an accident or ticket?
You can expect your car insurance premium to increase if you've committed any traffic violations, added drivers to your policy, moved, changed or upgraded insurance coverage, or added a vehicle. If none of these events have occurred and you haven't filed an insurance claim, you could be wondering what sparked your higher premiums. In such a case, you could be the victim of a rate increase. In order to fully understand insurance rate increases, it’s important to know how insurance companies set your home or auto insurance premium. Most of the information used by car insurance companies is historical data used to predict what their future losses — or claim payments — could be.
Auto insurers don’t use only your information to create your profile. They also rely on related data, including your location, vehicle, age, credit score, and other factors to create a pricing profile. If you live in an area in which insurers experienced a higher loss-to-profit ratio than usual last year, you might experience a rate increase to account for the insurance company’s loss.
Common car insurance rate increase triggers include:
- Hurricanes
- Flooding
- Wildfires
- Substantial claims loss
- Widespread insurance fraud
Key insights
Although it might seem unfair to suffer a rate increase without any moving violations, it's an unavoidable byproduct of how the auto insurance industry operates. Insurance companies need to maintain return-on-investment and minimize risk in order to stay viable. If they had to pay a greater number of claims than expected, they'll need to compensate for that with higher rates.
Other economic reasons for rate increases in car insurance:
- Inflation is the most significant cause of premium increases in 2023. This has also made an impact on the costs of new and used cars and healthcare. Because car insurance covers much of these expenses after an accident, upticks in the price of cars and healthcare mean higher rates.
- Another factor is that the cost of doing business has also been increasing: economic trends of supply chain disruptions and labor shortages have driven up operating costs for insurance companies.
- After much of 2020 saw drastic reductions in driving habits, leading to fewer claims, a rebounding to pre-pandemic driving patterns has led to surges in claims and accidents.
Auto insurance trends: how much will car insurance cost next year?
While we can’t predict the future, we can use historical data to inform our predictions. Over the past decade, car insurance prices have risen significantly. The table below shows average annual car insurance costs and percent changes from the previous year.
| Year | Average Annual Premium | % Change YoY |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | $1,276 | - |
| 2013 | $1,195 | -6.3% |
| 2014 | $1,229 | +2.8% |
| 2015 | $1,280 | +4.1% |
| 2016 | $1,368 | +6.8% |
| 2017 | $1,437 | +5% |
| 2018 | $1,521 | +5.8% |
| 2019 | $1,544 | +1.5% |
| 2020 | $1,483 | -3.9% |
| 2021 | $1,529 | +3.1% |
| 2022 | $1,759 | +15% |
Because car insurance is regulated at the state level and rated on a ZIP-by-ZIP basis, it's highly unique. Get a quote or continue reading below to see a state-by-state breakdown.
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Average auto insurance rate increases by state
At the state level, the past years have brought significant insurance cost changes — in some states, as much as over 40%.
Which car insurance companies have increased rates recently?
While it’s nearly impossible to track down specific rate changes for every insurance company, most major insurers factor rate increases into their premium calculations. Since rate increases aren't consistent across the industry, it's important to find the company that will increase your rates the least. The only real way to do this is to shop around for an insurance policy with the cheapest rates. Remember, the rate increase is dependent on the previous year’s return-on-investment — you'll need to consistently gather insurance quotes every six months to ensure the cost of your car insurance premium doesn't go up.
Make an informed decision: compare insurance rates today.
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About The Zebra
The Zebra is not an insurance company. We publish data-backed, expert-reviewed resources to help consumers make more informed insurance decisions.
- The Zebra’s insurance content is written and reviewed for accuracy by licensed insurance agents.
- The Zebra’s insurance content is not subject to review or alteration by insurance companies or partners.
- The Zebra’s editorial team operates independently of the company’s partnerships and commercialization interests, publishing unbiased information for consumer benefit.
- The auto insurance rates published on The Zebra’s pages are based on a comprehensive analysis of car insurance pricing data, evaluating more than 83 million insurance rates from across the United States.