How to save money on your car insurance as rates rise

PITTSBURGH — Take a close look at your car insurance premium if you haven’t lately. You’ll see that rates are going up and you’re paying more to insure your car.

Dave Luongo of Houston, Washington County asked Channel 11′s Jennifer Tomazic to do a story about the price of car insurance after opening up a recent bill.

“If it had gone up $50 or $60, I can understand that. But I believe it went up $411.”

His yearly total is something he didn’t plan for.

“$2,295!” said Luongo. “Almost $2,300 that’s what caught my eye.”

A spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Insurance Department told Channel 11 personal auto insurance rates have increased 14% to 15%. But she also pointed out that rates in Pennsylvania are about $100 lower than the national average.

Dave wanted to know: “We haven’t had any claims, any accidents. Why is this going up?”

The PID says the blaring reason is inflation. Cars are more sophisticated, so the cost of replacement parts is higher and so is the labor to do them. And used cars have gone up in value.

Several insurance companies that cover people in Pennsylvania asked the state insurance department to increase their rates four times last year. Usually, they only ask once. But the PID says it negotiated and approved rates less than what the insurance companies wanted, saving customers $34 million in just the first quarter of this year.

For families with teen drivers, auto insurance bills are even harder to stomach.

Zoey Allen drives to school and volleyball practice, which helps her parents out. But when the North Hills High School junior got her license in November her mom tells Channel 11:

“Our car insurance went up $205 a month when we added her,” said mom, Tiffany Allen. “We absolutely did not anticipate it to be that much of an increase.”

And she has a son who’ll also be driving soon.

“We’re lucky enough to have a child that gets good grades and that helps, some,” said Allen.

A spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Insurance Department has these other ways for people to save on car insurance bills:

• Assess what has changed in the last year—are you driving less?
• Could your older car stand to have less coverage?
• Do you have more in savings that would allow you to increase your deductible?
• If your credit score has gotten better, that could help your rates.
• So can being in an accident and moving violation-free.
• Plus, drivers over 55 can take a PennDOT-approved mature driving course and get a 5% discount on insurance that is good for 3 years. Here is info for the course: https://www.dmv.pa.gov/Driver-Services/Mature-Drivers/Pages/Mature-Driver-Improvement-Course.aspx

“When your policy comes, just don’t throw it in the drawer. Look at it,” suggested Luongo. “Do a little analyzing, talk to neighbors or friends and see what they’re doing.”

The spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Insurance Department says you can also consider changing insurance companies. With 200 companies writing insurance in PA. there are a lot of opportunities to shop around.

Here are more resources:

• Auto (pa.gov)
• https://www.insurance.pa.gov/Coverage/Auto/Documents/AutomobileInsuranceGuide-WEB.pdf

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