Woodward Insurance
Agency Blog

California Auto Insurance Rate Increases

• Paul Woodward
• 13 May, 2024

Throughout the course of the last two years, virtually every auto insurance company in the state of California has filed and been approved for an increase in their rates. In many cases, the approvals have come back with between a 20%-25% increase, with some companies increasing rates by more than 50%.

Most consumers have felt the impact of these increases as their policies are coming up for renewal and the carriers are sending out renewal offers. Many of these consumers opted to shop around to try to find a better deal, planning on changing carriers, but only to find out that most other companies are also offering rates just as high or higher.

The recent new quotes toward the 4th quarter of 2023 and the 1st quarter of 2024 offered to customers seeking auto insurance in California were far from competitive. This was not only due to the newly approved increased rates but also due to the decrease in options for carriers offering auto insurance coverage in California, especially for drivers that are not good drivers.

Moving forward, past the 1st quarter of 2024, several carriers have now increased their appetite for business, rates have been adjusted to align with the inflated cost of claims, and the overall landscape of the market is getting increasingly more competitive.

For the remainder of 2024, it would be reasonable to forecast the market getting increasingly more competitive, ultimately delivering better options and rates to California auto insurance customers.

For those of you that had recently seen an increase in their auto insurance rates, or even those who had recently purchased a new policy, even in as little as 6 months ago, we recommend having your policy reviewed and quoted again. Due to the recent substantial increases in rates, the likelihood of seeing significant savings by shopping around today is greater than it ever has been.