Smart Auto Insurance Blog

According to insurance.com’s monthly Car Insurance Rate Watch Report, average car insurance rates in March decreased in 19 states (compared with February).   Rates were higher in 15 states on average and basically unchanged in 13 states.

The 5 states that enjoyed the largest rate decrease in March were:

1. Arizona
2. Virginia
3. New Hampshire
4. Texas
5. Georgia

The 5 states where average car insurance rates increased the most in March were:

1. South Dakota
2. Nebraska
3. Minnesota
4. Maine
5. West Virginia

In addition, insurance.com found that two-thirds of March auto insurance shoppers were seeking a new policy because their rate was too high, or they received their bill and the rate had gone up.

According to insurance.com’s monthly RateWatch report for February:

• 21 states saw lower auto insurance rates on average vs. January
• 9 states experienced higher auto insurance rates on average.
• The remaining 20 states were either not included in the study (New York and Massachusetts) or experienced no significant changes in rates vs. the previous month.
• The 3 states with the highest rate increases included (Iowa 6.2%, Wyoming 5.4%, Utah 4.1%)
• The 3 states with the largest rate decreases included (Vermont 11.8%, DC 8.6%, Nebraska 7.0%)

Overall, auto insurance rates nationally fell to their lowest points since May, 2008, after an 8% increase for calender year 2008.

Insweb has followed the lead of smartautoinsurance.com and insurance.com and has launched a device to track auto insurance rate trends.  While insurance.com provides a monthy report, and we at smartautoinsurance.com maintain a daily auto insurance rate blog that keeps track of auto insurance rate trends on a more detailed level, insweb has announced the launch of an online tool that tracks the median price of an auto insurance policy on both a state and local level.

Insweb’s calculation is based on regularly updated auto insurance quote information from leading national auto insurance carriers as well as comprehensive profiles of InsWeb auto insurance shoppers. By tracking those quoted rates over time, they can deliver a “trend line” that should provide directional accuracy.

The tool will be available to the public via select partner sites of theirs.

Insurance.com recently announced, via press release, the addition of Infinity Insurance Company to their stable of auto insurers on their platform.

Infinity Insurance will offer comparison car insurance quotes in California both online and by phone, and joins Insurance.com’s impressive group of insurance companies, which now numbers 15.

Other top companies that participate in Insurance.com’s comparison quoting engine include: Hartford, Liberty Mutual, Progressive, Safeco, Travelers and many other leading car insurance companies.

RateWidget

Insurance.com is introducing a new tool, called a RateWidget.   The tool is available at www.insurance.com and essentially gives auto insurance shoppers the range of rates that have been quoted to similar drivers in their areas.

Auto insurance shoppers enter a minimum amount of information (zip code, # of cars, and # of  drivers) and they will be presented with the lowest, highest and average auto insurance rates over the past three months, that were quoted from twelve of the nations top auto insurance companies.

Auto insurance rates can only be as accurate as the information provided to generate the rates.  This tool provides a useful tool as a broad guide, but clearly wide swings in actual rates can result from car makes and models, driving record, and even credit scores etc.

Insurance.com has also recently launched a monthly rate watch report.

Insurance.com, who previously published their Auto Insurance RateWatch Report quarterly, has increased the frequency of the report to monthly based on the success of the initial launch.

January’s RateWatch report included the following nuggets:

• Private passenger auto insurance rates held steady for most states in January.
• Auto insurance rates were up 5% or more in Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota and Washington.
• Average auto insurance rates were lower than December rates in 10 states, and rates were essentially unchanged in 14 other states.

Insurance.com’s RateWatch  Report is a fantastic resource for aggregate data on monthly auto insurance fluctuations on a state level.  For more frequent and specific auto insurance updates (daily) on a state level, as well as on a carrier by carrier basis.  Please come back to visit the Smart Auto Insurance Blog.