Just as car prices in the U.S. finally began to decline from pandemic-induced highs, consumers are now wrestling with soaring auto insurance rates.
Notably, insurance expenses now account for over a quarter of the total ownership costs for some models.
The surge in insurance rates is driven by the increased costs of repairing advanced technology in vehicles and more frequent storm and environmental-related damages.
Despite new vehicle prices decreasing slightly by 0.1% and used prices dropping by 2.2% from the previous year, the Consumer Price Index for auto insurance rose by 22.2% last year, marking the largest increase since the 1970s.
