--- title: High Auto Insurance Prices Drive People to Switch Policies — and Even Return Cars description: Car insurance prices are rising faster than inflation (up 22% in a year). As a result, more drivers are switching auto insurance providers. authors: - name: Pete Grieve role: Lead News Reporter url: https://money.com/author/pete-grieve/ bio: Pete Grieve is a personal finance reporter. In his time at Money, Pete has covered everything from car buying to credit cards to the housing market. education: University of Chicago, BA Political Science at_money_since: 2022 articles: 600 covers: - Insurance - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes social: - https://twitter.com/pete_grieve - https://linkedin.com/in/pete-grieve-b5aa02138 - https://www.facebook.com/petegrieve4 editors: - name: Brad Tuttle role: Senior Editor url: https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/ bio: Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals. education: Columbia University School of Journalism, MS at_money_since: 2014 articles: 366 covers: - Insurance - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle - https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225 former_staff: true published: '2024-04-17T19:15:32.000Z' modified: '2025-04-15T22:40:21.000Z' section: Insurance tags: - News word_count: 468 canonical: https://money.com/high-auto-insurance-prices-switch-policies/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![A receipt for a car return due to high insurance cost](https://img.money.com/2024/04/News-High-Auto-Prices-Returns.jpg) A 22% year-over-year increase in auto insurance costs is pushing more car owners to shop around for cheaper policies — or sometimes to take even more drastic measures. More customers are shopping around and switching [auto insurance](https://money.com/best-auto-insurance/) companies so far this year, indicating that folks are finding better — or cheaper — alternatives to their previous insurers, according to a [new report](https://discover.jdpa.com/hubfs/Files/Industry%20Campaigns/Insurance/2024USINSLISTQ1Report04162024.pdf) from J.D. Power and TransUnion. Another (more surprising) effect of the surge in car insurance costs is a trend of drivers returning newly-purchased cars upon realizing that their monthly vehicle costs are too high when an expensive policy is factored in. ## Make sure that you're not overpaying for Car Insurance ### Click your state to get matched to a top ranked car insurance provider in your area. [View Rates](https://money.com/pr/y7c75ade7f1a?ap_referrer=%2Fhigh-auto-insurance-prices-switch-policies%2F) ## How car insurance customers are dealing with rising prices In March, the rate of people shopping around for new car insurance rose to 13.5%, which is the highest level since J.D. Power began tracking this data in September 2020. High prices appear to be the reason for the record level of browsing, as a growing share of car insurance shoppers are citing cost-related factors as the reason they’re looking at their options. In the first quarter of 2024, 14.6% of insurance shoppers said the main reason they were shopping was that their rate increased (unrelated to a claim). That share has nearly doubled in the last two years, according to J.D. Power. Meanwhile, the share who said they were shopping because their rate was too high increased from 16.9% to 21.3%. “These reasons for shopping are indicative of a more 'active' shopper, seeking to switch insurers, rather than passively price checking,” J.D. Power said in the report. The 30-day switch rate — which refers to the number of people [changing car insurance companies](https://money.com/how-to-switch-car-insurance/) — increased to 3.9% in the first quarter, up from 3.6% at the end of 2023, according to J.D. Power. ## Car insurance prices are soaring According to Kelley Blue Book (KBB), the average cost of car insurance (for a six-month policy) is $828, up from $677 a year ago. Due to these higher costs, the car valuation company reports that some drivers of newly-purchased vehicles are actually bringing their cars back to the dealership when they find out how much insurance costs. "We’re hearing from a number of shoppers that they’re declining to buy a car — or returning one — because they can afford the car, but not the insurance for it," Sean Tucker, senior editor at KBB, told [Reuters](https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/soaring-insurance-costs-hit-us-buyers-finally-get-break-car-prices-2024-04-11/). Prices are rising because the cars that are on the road today are more expensive to repair and replace compared to a few years ago. Insurers are facing a high number of costly claims, and they're passing these expenses along to customers. ## Car Insurance protects more than your car ### Protect yourself and your loved ones with a car insurance policy that fits your needs. Click below to get started. [View Rates](https://money.com/pr/u2393a2a0f5f?ap_referrer=%2Fhigh-auto-insurance-prices-switch-policies%2F) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/high-auto-insurance-prices-switch-policies/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Insurance", "item": "https://money.com/insurance/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Car Insurance", "item": "https://money.com/car-insurance/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "High Auto Insurance Prices Drive People to Switch Policies — and Even Return Cars" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/high-auto-insurance-prices-switch-policies/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/high-auto-insurance-prices-switch-policies/", "name": "High Auto Insurance Prices Drive People to Switch Policies — and Even Return Cars", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2024-04-17T19:15:32.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/high-auto-insurance-prices-switch-policies/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/high-auto-insurance-prices-switch-policies/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2025-04-15T22:40:21.000Z" }, { "@type": "NewsArticle", "headline": "High Auto Insurance Prices Drive People to Switch Policies — and Even Return Cars", "articleSection": "Insurance", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2024/04/News-High-Auto-Prices-Returns.jpg", "width": 2880, "height": 1920, "caption": "News-High-Auto-Prices-Returns" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Pete Grieve", "url": "https://money.com/author/pete-grieve/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/pete-grieve/#author", "description": "Pete Grieve is a personal finance reporter. 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