Car Insurance Rates Average $187 Monthly as Other Premiums Surge

Car insurance is roughly flat while other premiums climb

In October 2026, car insurance is one of the few household insurance costs that is not climbing fast. Insurify's latest monthly snapshot puts the national average at $187 a month for full coverage and $99 a month for liability-only coverage.1 Other policies tell a different story. Health insurance costs are set for some of their largest increases in about two decades. Homeowners face a fifth consecutive year of increases, and in some disaster-hit counties premiums are rising by double digits in a single half-year.112221

The main point is that auto insurance is near the top of its cycle and the other lines are not. Because premiums renew at different times, drivers may be getting their best auto pricing in years just as benefit and homeowners renewals bring larger bills. Insurance claims data from the auto industry also suggests the calm in car insurance pricing may not last long.

What car insurance costs right now

The major rate-comparison sites largely agree on full-coverage averages, though not exactly. Compare.com reports $185 a month for full coverage and $101 for liability.4 NerdWallet's October analysis puts full coverage at $2,361 a year, about $197 a month, and minimum coverage at $648.8 The Zebra cites $194 a month.5 The outlier is Experian marketplace data from August, which puts full coverage at $2,922 a year, or $243 a month.9

These gaps reflect different methods, not disagreement about direction. Each outlet builds its own driver profiles and coverage assumptions, and Experian's figure comes from policies actually sold through its marketplace rather than from quotes.9 One price-guide site simply gives a range of $187 to $244 a month for full coverage, which is a fair way to read the spread.7 For most drivers, a realistic national benchmark sits in the high $100s to low $200s a month.

Where you live matters more than which average you use. In Insurify's state data, Maryland is the most expensive state at $302 a month for full coverage, followed by Rhode Island at $298. New Hampshire is the cheapest at $85.1 NerdWallet finds an even wider gap, with Wyoming's full-coverage average at $1,148 a year and Louisiana's at $4,296.8 Your driving record and credit also make a large difference. Compare.com finds that a recent accident raises the average monthly premium from $143 to $192, and that poor credit costs about $50 a month more than excellent credit.4

The auto insurance downturn is ending

These numbers look stable because of what came before. Full-coverage costs jumped 46% from 2022 to 2024, then fell 6% nationwide in 2025 to $2,144 a year, with rates dropping in 39 states.40 Insurify's mid-year report says the decline is now over: the average annual full-coverage premium rose 1% in the first half of 2026 to $2,237, and the company projects increases in 32 states by year's end.3

Insurers have room to hold prices down because they are making money. CCC Intelligent Solutions reports that the personal auto combined ratio improved to 94.4% in 2025, almost 18 points better than in 2022.36 (A combined ratio below 100 means an insurer took in more in premiums than it paid out in claims and expenses.) State Farm's auto combined ratio improved to 93.5, and the company announced a $5 billion dividend to policyholders along with rate cuts in 40 states.40 FactSet reports that all seven major personal auto carriers posted underwriting gains of more than $1 billion and announced rate cuts worth about $4.6 billion in annual premium across 40 states.32

FactSet also points out that the industry is cutting rates on the assumption that good conditions will continue, and that inflation data do not support that assumption.32 In our view, that is the key risk in today's car insurance market.

Claims data suggest higher auto rates ahead

The claims data point to more pressure on prices. CCC's 2026 Crash Course report found that 23.1% of claims ended in a total loss, a record, and that the average paid bodily injury claim rose 10.3% in one year and 32% over four years.39 The average repair cost reached $4,818.36 Advanced driver-assistance systems are a big part of the cost. Calibrating their sensors appeared on 28.3% of repairable estimates in late 2025, up from 21.8% a year earlier.33

CCC's data also show how affordability problems are changing who files claims. More drivers are raising deductibles and paying for small repairs themselves, so the claims insurers do see skew toward the most expensive.39 In practice, households cutting back to save money end up making the average claim look worse, and that average is what insurers price from.

Tariffs add more uncertainty. A 25% Section 232 tariff on imported auto parts took effect in May 2025.34 About six in ten replacement parts used in U.S. repair shops are imported.40 CCC notes that the industry usually takes 12 to 18 months to adjust to new cost structures. Insurify has estimated that tariffs could raise the national 2026 premium increase from 1% to 4%.36 Another estimate, from AutoInsurance.org, puts the possible added increase at 7%.38

Forecasts are moving the same way. S&P Global Market Intelligence expects the auto combined ratio, which combines personal and commercial auto, to worsen from 94.5 in 2025 to 97.1 in 2026 and 98.9 in 2027. It projects the line will go above breakeven in 2028.31 AM Best warned early this year that higher repair costs and higher auto fatality rates could squeeze home and auto margins in 2026.37 Commercial auto is still losing money: A.M. Best data show 2025 was its 15th straight year of underwriting losses.33

The sources generally agree that auto rates bottomed out in 2025 and that increases will be modest for the rest of 2026. They differ on how fast tariffs will push up prices. Our reading is that 2027 renewals are more likely to rise than fall.

Health insurance costs show the steepest increases

Health coverage shows the steepest increases in 2027. Marsh projects employer health benefit costs will rise 8.2% per employee in 2027, the fastest rate since 2003.11 Other consultants project even more: WTW expects 11.1% and Aon 9.5%.12 Marsh found that 59% of employers plan cost-cutting changes such as higher deductibles. About two-thirds of large employers expect to raise the share of premiums workers pay.13

The ACA marketplace looks worse. Across 276 insurers, the median proposed increase for 2027 is 15%, the second straight year of double-digit hikes after a finalized median of 20% for 2026.14 KFF's example is a 40-year-old in Indianapolis earning $65,000. That person's premium rose from $316 a month in 2025 to $477 in 2026 and would reach $546 in 2027, a 41% increase over two years.14 Increases vary a lot by state. Arizona insurers asked for 29%, while New York regulators cut a 20.6% request down to 6%.18

The causes are partly the same ones hitting other insurance lines and partly specific to health care. The common factors include higher hospital and labor costs, and greater use of GLP-1 drugs, which Marsh estimates adds about one percentage point to employer cost growth.12 Specific to the marketplace, enhanced premium tax credits expired at the end of 2025. Healthier people dropped coverage, which left a sicker and more expensive group of enrollees. Insurers say this adds about 4 percentage points to 2027 rates.14

Home insurance is rising fastest in disaster-hit areas

Homeowners insurance falls between auto and health. Insurify projected a 4% national increase in 2026, to about $3,057, after a 12% jump in 2025.22 Cotality projects about 8%.27 Nationally, the first half of 2026 was moderate, with Insurify reporting a 2.2% average increase to $3,012.21

Certain local markets were hit much harder. Premiums in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, rose 33% in six months, and Collier County, Florida, rose 25.3% to more than $10,000 a year.21 Minnesota's statewide average increased 12.9%.21 Florida is still the most expensive state at $8,486 a year, although its increase was a relatively small 2.3%.21 In California, the FAIR Plan, the state's insurer of last resort, is raising rates by an average of 29.1% on October 15.28 The plan now covers about 700,000 policies, a 157% increase since September 2022.28

The causes are severe-weather losses and the rising cost of rebuilding, partly driven by tariffs.28 Home insurers also have some help on costs: property-catastrophe reinsurance, the coverage insurers buy for their own disaster losses, got cheaper at January renewals.28

What households should expect

Taken together, the data suggest a pattern. Each type of insurance is at a different point in its cycle, but costs are rising in all of them. Car insurance is in a brief stretch of profit-driven stability. Home insurance is rising more slowly nationally, with sharp increases in disaster-prone areas. Health insurance is having its sharpest cost increase in a generation.

The practical advice is to shop for car insurance now, while profitable insurers are competing on price, and to plan for the larger costs coming from health and home coverage. The claims data also suggest that today's car insurance rates are unlikely to last into 2027.