These New Digital Solutions Help Consumers Combat Skyrocketing Car Insurance Rates

The following post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga.

Since 2011, car insurance rates have gone up by an average of 24% across the United States. While rates vary from $600 to more than $2,000 depending on the state you’re in and other factors, the nationwide average is $1,483 per year. Even with rates skyrocketing over the last 10 years, car owners now have more tools available to find the lowest rates for the coverage they need and keep their premiums affordable thanks to a variety of new digital solutions. Here are some of the latest tools helping car owners save money on car insurance:

New Tech that Makes Cars Safer Helps Lower Insurance Rates

One of the factors used to determine insurance rates is the type of car that is being insured. With the rise of advanced safety tech in cars, car owners with these safer models can benefit from lower insurance rates — and a safer driving experience.

New safety tech like blind-spot warning systems that use sensors to alert you when a vehicle or person enters your blind spot or rear cross-traffic warnings not only reduce the cost of insuring the vehicle but also can help you avoid accidents that would send your rates through the roof.  

Insurance Aggregators Make Comparing Rates Easy

Car insurance companies change their rates all the time and offer incentive deals for new customers. Even after you find a great rate, many experts recommend shopping for a new policy at least once a year. Switching your car insurance every year could save you 100s of dollars per year compared to just re-upping your old policy. 

With the rise of aggregator sites, finding a new policy every year doesn’t have to be a chore. Savvy, for example, launched in early 2020 as a place for car owners to compare real, personalized rates across 100s of insurers. Rather than getting individual quotes from every insurer you’re considering, you can simply log into Savvy with your current insurance, and it will automatically shop other insurance companies to find a better deal than what you’re currently paying. When you’re ready to change providers, Savvy even helps you make the switch.

Trellis Technologies Inc., the company that launched the platform, recently raised $10 million in Series A funding that will be used, in part, to help expand Savvy’s offering to home and life insurance as well as integrate into more mobile finance apps so users can access Savvy directly from their existing banking or money-management apps. 

Telematics Data Lets Car Owners Pay Based on Usage

Car insurance companies have long relied on predictive data to set car insurance rates for their customers. Until now, however, the data available has been limited to basic demographic data like gender, educational level and location or official driving history like reported accidents, DUIs or speeding tickets.

Today, providers can now dig much deeper than that and even use real-time data from GPS tracking, motion sensors and other tech already built into smartphones. With this data, providers can better analyze driver behavior and usage. This new capability has led to a surge in usage-based insurance, pay-as-you-drive insurance and pay-how-you-drive insurance — insurance priced based on how safe the driver is, as measured by speed and motion sensors. 

As a result, safe drivers and infrequent drivers can now enjoy lower premiums just by downloading the insurance agency’s app and allowing it to track this telemetric data. This feature is being adopted by more and more insurance providers, including industry leaders like Allstate ALL and Liberty Mutual.

See also: LIST OF CAR INSURANCE COMPANIES

The preceding post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga. Although the piece is not and should not be construed as editorial content, the sponsored content team works to ensure that any and all information contained within is true and accurate to the best of their knowledge and research. This content is for informational purposes only and not intended to be investing advice.