WHY DO MY AUTO INSURANCE RATES KEEP GOING UP?
If you have car insurance and pay attention to how much you pay for it every year, odds are good that you’re pretty fed up with your auto insurance rates going up every six to eighteen months. I assure you, you’re not alone. No matter what an amazing driver you are, your actions are not entirely responsible for what you pay for insurance. Getting auto insurance quotes every year is not a bad idea.
Auto insurance rates are determined partly by your behavior, but they’re also determined by the guy in the lane next to you. Yeah, him. The guy Googling last night’s winning Lottery numbers while not looking at the road in front of him. Whether it happens today, or 6 months from now, that distracted driver is going to cause a very expensive accident. As much as you may think the fair solution would be to raise his rates to pay for that entire accident, that’s not the way it works. All of the good drivers, like you, help pay for that distracted driver’s mistake. As distracted driving increases, so do the number of accidents that are happening. More accidents mean more claims being paid out, which means higher insurance costs.
Distracted driving isn’t the only thing causing auto insurance costs to increase. The cost of auto repairs has also gone through the roof. In the past, a low-impact accident, like a common parking lot accident, may result in both parties having to get new bumpers. Those days are fading fast. As more cars on the road gain new technologies, like backup cameras, parking sensors, cruise control sensors, etc., so too they gain far more expensive repair bills. A bumper is no longer simply removed and replaced. Now, a bumper is removed, the sensors are recalibrated or replaced, and then the bumper is replaced. That adds up to a far lengthier and more expensive repair bill. A more expensive bill means a more expensive overall claim cost, which means more expensive auto insurance for you.
So, what can you do about it?
Just because auto insurance rates will continue to rise, doesn’t mean you should throw your hands up in defeat. Different insurance companies experience different claims costs from one year to the next. If you’re with an insurance company that had a very unlucky year, the company you’re insured with may experience a much larger increase than their competitors. Calling an insurance broker, like BMR Insurance, who works with many different insurance companies is great idea. Since we shop the rates of multiple carriers, we’re usually able to find our clients the most competitive options year after year. With offices in Tustin, CA, Whitefish, MT and Lone Tree, CO, we’d love to run auto insurance quotes for you. Call us today!
