Ready for a major auto insurance rate hike?

If you are worried about affordable auto insurance, don’t fall asleep at the wheel. The NC Rate Bureau, which represents all auto insurers, is asking the NC Department of Insurance to approve in 2023 their requested rate increase of 28.4 percent for all private passenger vehicles.

The amount insurers seek in North Carolina far exceeds the national average where car insurance rates are expected to rise this year by 8.4%.

With average auto insurance costing US consumers $1,780 a year, a 28.4 percent increase would amount to over $500 in added premium costs. The insurance industry points to higher costs for new and used cars as well as parts for the size of the increase. However, inflation is at around 6 percent, and cost of living adjustments for Social Security were 8 percent.

AARP sent this letter to NC Insurance Commissioner Michael Causey, and is looking for ways to weigh in at public hearings and other opportunities to provide input.

AARP urges anyone concerned about the size of this increase, to contact the NC Department of Insurance at https://ncuc.gov/contactus.html

Comments made to the Department will be published as part of the public record.