The report, produced by JD Power in association with TransUnion, suggested that consumers have taken note of the historic rate increases their insurers have been making, forcing them to shop around for better deals. For the fourth quarter of 2022, the purchase rate was noted to be 12.1%, characterized by a busy purchase month in November, which finally cooled in December.
According to JD Power, auto insurance buying activity in the US during the fourth quarter of 2022 was so high that the numbers are some of the highest it has seen in the more than two years it has been doing these reports. .
The purchase of auto insurance was not the only thing that increased in the last quarter; exchange rates also increased during the period. The report found that just over 4% of auto insurance customers indicated they switched carriers.
JD Power also tracked the turnaround trends of an insurance company’s biggest rivals and found the following:
The report also tracked customer loyalty over the period, with “loyalty” being tracked based on the percentage of a company’s customers buying from other insurers; the lower the percentage of customers who buy from other operators, the more “loyal” the customer base will be. The list goes:
Increased loyalty:
- United States to
- MAPFRE
- NJM
- Friend
- érie
Low loyalty:
- National General
- the hanover
- Progressive
- COUNTRY
- mutual freedom
Interestingly, the JD Power report also commented on telematics: the technological innovation that many argued would have solved the high-cost auto insurance crisis. According to the report, the adoption of telematics appeared to level off and plateau in the fourth quarter of 2022, despite its strong adoption earlier that year. Citing TransUnion data, JD Power noted that 40% of consumers who chose to have the technology installed in their vehicles saw their rates increase; this may have hampered continued adoption, the analytics firm suggested.
Another report that was also recently published by ValuePenguin lists which US states pay the most and the least for auto insurance. That report noted that Michigan, Florida and Rhode Island are the top three states with the most expensive for full coverage auto insurance, while Vermont, Maine and Idaho are the top three with the cheapest.
What do you think about the increase in auto insurance buying activity in the US? Comment in the section below.
