Everything costs too much these days, and car insurance is one of the worst offenders, with rate increases far outpacing inflation and even contributing to it in recent years. As a result nearly 30% of drivers have reduced their insurance coverage to save money, according to Bloomberg. Some are even dropping their car insurance entirely, despite the fact that doing so is illegal in every state except New Hampshire. This is having effects across the industry, some obvious, some not so much.
As insurance premiums rise through the stratosphere, one way to reduce them is to take a policy with a higher deductible, which is the amount you pay before insurance kicks in and covers the rest. This means that smaller repairs costing less than the deductible aren't covered at all. Plenty of people are taking this option, contributing to a reduction in claims of 8.5% this past January through July compared to last year. Another factor is that even if repairs would be covered, filing a claim now would cost more in increased premiums later. This leads some drivers to simply not bother filing a claim, especially if their damaged vehicles are still drivable.
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