The logic of owning a used car is that it gets cheaper as it ages. It's worth less, so it costs less to replace, so everything scales down with it.
Insurance did not get the memo. Here's what the base rate in our data did over four years.
| Year | Base rate | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | $1,150 | — |
| 2020 | $1,123 | −2% |
| 2021 | $1,132 | +1% |
| 2022 | $1,189 | +5% |
| 2023 | $1,344 | +13% |
The whole move happened in two years
2019 to 2021 is flat. 2020 actually dips — that's lockdown, when nobody drove and claims collapsed.
Then 2022 adds 5% and 2023 adds another 13%. From the 2020 low to 2023 the base rate is up 20%, and essentially all of it lands in two years.
Comprehensive rose faster than anything
Split the cover types apart and one line runs away from the rest. Comprehensive — the part that pays for theft, weather, glass, animals, everything that isn't a collision — went from $191 to $249. That's +30%, half again as fast as the base rate.
Comprehensive is the cheapest line on a policy and the one people ignore. It's also the one being repriced hardest, because what it covers has become far more expensive to fix. A hailstorm used to dent panels; now it also takes out sensors in the windscreen and cameras in the mirrors. Replacing a windscreen on a car with driver assistance means recalibrating the systems behind it.
Where you live still beats what you drive
The year-on-year rise is real, but it's smaller than the gap between states.
| State | Base rate | |
|---|---|---|
| Florida | $1,994 | Most expensive |
| Louisiana | $1,979 | |
| New York | $1,896 | |
| North Dakota | $961 | |
| Vermont | $958 | |
| Maine | $926 | Cheapest |
Florida at $1,994 against Maine at $926. The same driver with the same car pays more than double depending on which side of a state line they sleep on — litigation climates, weather exposure and uninsured-driver rates all price in. That gap dwarfs three years of increases.
What to do about it
Re-shop, don't renew. A 20% market move doesn't hit every insurer equally. If you've auto-renewed since 2021 you're carrying the full increase without having tested whether anyone else wants your business.
Don't drop comprehensive to save money — check what it costs first. It's the fastest-rising line but still the smallest, and it's the one that pays out for hail, theft and glass. Dropping it on a car worth $8,000 saves a couple of hundred and exposes the whole value.
Price the insurance before you buy the car. Two cars with similar sticker prices can differ enormously on premium, and the difference compounds every year you own it. You can check what a specific model actually costs to insure on our insurance cost pages, and we broke down which models carry the worst premiums in the cars that cost more to insure than to run.
Confirm the car's history before the quote. A prior total loss or salvage title changes what an insurer will write and at what price. A VIN check surfaces branded titles before you're committed.
Frequently asked questions
How much has car insurance gone up?
In our data the average base rate rose from $1,123 in 2020 to $1,344 in 2023 — roughly 20% in three years, with most of the increase concentrated in 2022 and 2023.
Why did comprehensive insurance rise fastest?
Comprehensive went from $191 to $249, up 30%. What it covers has become more expensive to repair — a windscreen on a car with driver assistance requires sensor recalibration, and hail damage now affects cameras and sensors, not just panels.
Which state has the most expensive car insurance?
Florida at $1,994, followed by Louisiana at $1,979 and New York at $1,896. The cheapest are Maine at $926, Vermont at $958 and North Dakota at $961 — a spread of more than double.
Does an older car cost less to insure?
Not necessarily. Lower vehicle value reduces the collision and comprehensive components, but liability costs are driven by where you drive and repair-cost inflation, which have both been rising.
Denis Kataev is a serial solopreneur and the founder of ForCar. With 15+ years in software engineering and 10 years in SEO, he builds data-driven products end to end — backed by a sharp eye for design. At ForCar he mines proprietary vehicle datasets, turning raw numbers into buying advice you can actually trust.
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