Straight Talk - The Arnold Insurance Blog

4 Key Factors Driving Up Auto Insurance Costs

Written by Marcus Harris | Dec 17, 2019 6:05:35 PM

Auto insurance carriers are paying out more and more in auto claims. These increases affect the entire insurance industry. Our friends at Selective are working to help mitigate the increased premiums for consumers like you.


4 Key Factors Driving Up Costs

1. More Miles Driven

Americans drove 3.22 trillion miles as of 2016, which is a record high.

2. More Crashes

Deadly crashes spiked 7.2% from 2014 to 2015. In 2015, distracted driving claimed 3,477 lives and injured 391,000 people.

3. More distractions

19% of the time, drivers are distracted by a phone. About 660,000 drivers use an electronic device while driving. Texting and driving increases the chance of being involved in a collision by 23 times.

Distracted driving accounts for:

  • More than $10 billion in property damage.

  • More than 1.5 million collisions in the U.S., resulting in more than 300,000 injuries and more than 3,000 fatalities.

  • On average, 9 Americans die every day from distracted driving.

4. More Expensive Car Tech

More people own new cars with advanced safety features designed to protect drivers, passengers and pedestrians.

These safety features add mightily to repair cost, even for a minor accident. For instance, the cost of a windshield/headlight repair jumped 63% from 2013 to 2017 for one car model.

Sources: Federal Highway Administration, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, TrueMotion, APBfoundation.com