The Patriot Post® · Biden Wrecked the Auto Insurance Market

Does anyone really like insurance? To many, insurance is right up there with the unavoidable evils of death and taxes. However, unlike that terrible twosome, insurance is supposed to benefit you.

Insurance, though, has become more of a liability than an asset. Increasingly, folks may be asking how this is actually saving them money. After all, isn’t that the reason for insurance?

While much ink has been spilled over the astronomical rise in the cost of health insurance, especially since — or rather because of — ObamaCare, health insurance isn’t the only type whose costs are soaring.

Take auto insurance. Even good drivers are seeing their premiums rise by 20-25% on average across the first few months of this year. The question is, why? And the easy answer is just two words: Joe Biden. Indeed, the rising cost of nearly everything over the last three years can be tied directly or indirectly to the Biden administration.

Rising auto insurance rates are due to years of high inflation and what the National Association of Manufacturers calls a “regulatory onslaught.”

Steven Malanga of City Journal observes: “Nearly two-thirds of industrial firms recently said that Biden administration rules already enacted and new ones being promulgated raise costs significantly. Industrial firms, which use nearly one-third of the energy America produces, have been pummeled by high energy costs, likely to keep rising due to new administration limits on drilling. At the same time, the White House and Congress failed to address the expiration of favorable tax treatment of research costs and interest-expense deductions in the Trump 2017 tax cut package, prompting many firms to pull back on new business investments. Meantime, automakers and parts suppliers complain about a ‘regulation mess’ created by overlapping federal and local bureaucratic agencies, whose rules affecting cars have sent production costs skyrocketing.”

Another interesting factor here is the rise in drunk driving deaths since 2020. This increase coincides with a decrease in DUI arrests. Why the discrepancy? Well, thanks to the “defund the police” movement that swept the nation following the death of George Floyd, police have pulled back on law enforcement actions, especially when it comes to traffic enforcement. With drunk driving accidents on the rise, auto insurance companies are having to shell out more funds.

Meanwhile, on top of rising premiums, auto insurance companies are collecting data on drivers, often via the automakers themselves. While insurance companies advertise programs that track one’s driving under the guise of providing a more personalized policy plan based on safe vehicle operation, this is a double-edged sword. Why? Because the data might instead be used to justify a rate increase.

The insurance companies will not lose. All cost increases will be funneled down to the consumer, and the choice will end up being to drive or not to drive.