An Increase in Uninsured Drivers Is Pushing Up Costs for Everyone Else

Number of drivers without car insurance has risen since the start of the pandemic

By Kailyn Rhone of The WSJ. 

This is another post about how people are dealing with inflation. There are links to related posts below. Excerpts from the article:

"More Americans are driving without car insurance, and it’s making coverage more expensive for everyone else."

"The problem has been growing since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the Insurance Research Council, whose latest data show the percentage of uninsured drivers rose to 14% in 2022, from about 11% in 2019."

"When more cash-strapped consumers drop their coverage, it reduces the premium pool, which causes many insurers to raise the prices of their policies. The average annual cost of full-coverage car insurance has jumped to $2,278, up 12% from 2023, according to Bankrate.

Although many of the drivers dropping coverage say they are also battling rising costs for groceries, housing and healthcare, others are rolling the dice and betting they won’t need it.

More Americans appear to be unhappy with their current policies. The number of consumers shopping for car insurance surged in May to the highest level since 2020"

"In all states but New Hampshire, driving without coverage is illegal"

"Policyholders paid $16 billion for uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage in 2020, according to the IRC. That is up from $13 billion in 2016. Such policies protect the holder and their car against drivers who are uninsured or whose insurance doesn’t fully cover the cost of an accident."

Related posts:

Costco and Sam’s Club Aisles Are Full of Gen Z Shoppers (2024)

Consumers are buying in bulk to save money by getting a lower per unit price

Inflation is mentally taxing (2024)

Inflation is mentally taxing. Dealing with a straitened budget exacts a psychological toll as well as a financial one

Store Brands Are Filling Up More of Your Shopping Cart (2024) 

People are on the look out for cheaper alternatives due to inflation

Consumers Fed Up With Food Costs Are Ditching Big Brands (2024) 

One thing that I always talked about with inflation was that one of its costs was all the things we had to do to avoid it. Consumers are making 8% more trips to different retailers as inflation continues to upend household budgets. They are going to more stores to find lower prices. But it costs time to do that and probably more money on gas.

Are Americans Worrying Too Much About Inflation? Two opposing views (2024)

The Era of One-Stop Grocery Shopping Is Over (2024)

When workers were paid twice a day and given half-hour shopping breaks (Germany, 1923) 

By mid-1923 workers were being paid as often as three times a day. Their wives would meet them, take the money and rush to the shops to exchange it for goods. However, by this time, more and more often, shops were empty. Storekeepers could not obtain goods or could not do business fast enough to protect their cash receipts. Farmers refused to bring produce into the city in return for worthless paper. The requirements to calculate and recalculate commercial transactions in the billions and trillions made it practically impossible to do business in paper Marks.