Car insurance rates are surging as Americans struggle to pay for basic necessities and ongoing debt.
The newest Consumer Price Index shows car insurance spiked 20 percent year over year. The surge in pricing occurred after years of gradual price inflation, with earlier reports finding the rates grew by 36 percent since 2020.
That’s at the same time debt is soaring for many Americans. While Americans hold around 1.75 trillion in student debt loans alone, they also have $1.05 trillion in credit card balances not paid off.
I live in a no-fault state, which I love, but our insurance rates here are among the highest in the nation.
No fault insurance just means my insurance pays me, not whomever I get into an accident with. I do business with a company I trust to take care of me, so I don’t have to care if I’m in an accident with someone with shit insurance.
Not everyone here is a fan due to high prices, but I like it. I’ve seen too many friends in other states get low-ball offers that they either had to accept or be without a car for weeks while they appeal.
Ironically, it wouldn’t matter because the only accidents I’ve been involved in were with deer (who are notorious for carrying no insurance) so I’ve never been in an accident where no fault actually helped me.
My experience living in a “no-fault” state was that someone rear-ended my wife who was stopped at a red light but insurance wouldn’t do jack because it was a “no-fault” accident. We paid higher for liability there than anywhere else we lived. Not a fan.
What is supposed to happen there is you get your car fixed by your insurance and if the other driver is liable your insurance collects your deductible from them to pay you back. I don’t believe they are allowed to just say they won’t fix it, but if the other driver isn’t determined to be at fault on the accident report, the deductible is yours to pay which often means small accidents aren’t worth the claim.