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New report finds unexpected household expense is still on the rise: 'It's going to take time'

Unfortunately, at this point, not much is being done by anyone to lower costs.

Unfortunately, at this point, not much is being done by anyone to lower costs.

Photo Credit: iStock

Our warming planet has a number of consequences, spread across all aspects of life. Some are straightforward, and easy to predict. Others, like the cost of car insurance continuing to rise, might be a bit less expected. 

What's happening?

According to a report from Syracuse.com and NerdWallet, while much of the rest of the inflation crisis has ended, one household area has seen prices continue to skyrocket: car insurance. 

Rates jumped 13% in 2024, according to the report. This was caused by an absolutely brutal 2022, in which car insurers reportedly paid out more in claims than they took in via premiums, according to S&P Global, thanks to high vehicle repair and medical costs. The higher costs were also due to an uptick in losses paid out after natural disasters caused by climate change

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As a result of that, the insurance industry hiked premiums in an effort to recoup some of its losses. 

Why are car insurance premiums important?

We've seen a massive uptick in prices of all insurance caused by our warming planet and the extreme weather that accompanies it. In Texas, the cost of homeowners insurance has skyrocketed due to wildly fluctuating weather patterns. In Colorado, homeowners are struggling to get insured at all due to wildfire risk, and companies in California are hiking premiums by 400% on homeowners policies, all in an effort to stave off losses. 

As our weather patterns become more volatile and do more damage to homes and cars, premiums go up. If the risk becomes too high, as we've seen with homeowners insurance in many places, auto insurers could simply refuse to cover cars in areas with a higher risk of climate-related disasters. 

What's being done about insurance prices?

Unfortunately, at this point, not much is being done by anyone to lower costs. In fact, according to Mark Friedlander, the director of corporate communications for the Insurance Information Institute, things could get worse before they get better. 

"It took several years to get to this situation," Friedlander said, "and it's going to take time to bring it down to a level where rates are much more moderate."

That said, for the element where a change in climate has led to an increase in extreme weather events and flooding, there are steps we as individuals and as a society can take to get things back in a better direction. The TCD Guide covers the big and small, from advocating for change at work and donating to climate-focused organizations down to ditching single-use water bottles, as all efforts can add up to reduce the forms of pollution that cause the most heat-trapping gases in our atmosphere. 

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