Car Insurance Is Getting More Expensive in These 5 States

Like many Americans, you may not be driving as much as you did in the past because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But less time behind the wheel doesn’t necessarily translate into cheaper car insurance.

Overall, car insurance prices in the United States are down from last year according to a recent report from personal finance website ValuePenguin. The average price of a policy is $1,636 a year, 1.7% lower than last year. But not every state is paying less.

Report: National Car Insurance Rates Are Going Down … Except Here

The report projects that drivers in five states will see an increase in their car insurance rates in 2021.

For its analysis, ValuePenguin used 15 million quotes taken from publicly sourced insurer filings across the country.

Despite a drop in the national average when it comes to car insurance costs, a handful of states are projected to endure modest bumps in their rates.

Car Insurance Is Going Up in These 5 States
State	% Increase	Average Cost
New York	1.2%	$2,075
Indiana	1.1%	$987
Florida	0.5%	$2,795
Massachusetts	0.4%	$1,439
Rhode Island	0.1%	$2,482

ExploreSee ValuePenguin’s complete report, The State of Auto Insurance.

Money expert Clark Howard says there could be many factors that contribute to a rise in insurance rates.

“First off, the number of accidents is going up because of distracted driving. And, second, with so much technology being built into cars, the cost of repairs has skyrocketed. So, you have a lot of vehicles that would once get fixed being declared a total loss by insurance companies and they have to pay for that.”

Of course, there could be other reasons as well.

Ways You Can Save On Car Insurance

Here are a couple of strategies you can employ to reduce the amount of money you pay for car insurance.

Shop

The key to getting affordable car insurance has a lot to do with how much research you put into the process yourself: Shop around.

Sure, you could see what companies are offering by looking at insurance comparison websites, but many times those sites work just like referral services.

“Comparison shopping websites are really just lead generation services,” Clark says. “You have to shop individually with different insurers [by] calling them all.”

Drop

Another way you can save on car insurance is to drop full coverage on your older vehicle especially if you’re hardly even driving the car.

Here’s a rule of thumb: If the cost of comprehensive and collision insurance is more than 10% of the value of your vehicle, it may make financial sense for you to carry only liability coverage.

Want to learn more ways you can get auto insurance for less? Follow these money-saving steps.