Seen at Insurance.com:
Based on data from the lowest average auto insurance rates viewed by over 1.4 million car insurance consumers on Insurance.com, auto insurance rates continued to decline according to Insurance.com’s 2007 Auto Insurance Pricing Report. Only six states on Insurance.com’s platform showed increases in premiums; the rest all showed decreases, in many cases for the third year in a row.[...]
According to the Insurance.com 2007 Auto Insurance Report, North Carolina saw the largest decrease in car insurance premiums, paying an average of $1,816 for car insurance – a 24.5% decrease from 2006. This is the first year since 2004 where North Carolina has shown a decrease in the Insurance.com Pricing Reports. Arkansas and South Dakota were in second and third place, with decreases of 14.5% and 14.4% accordingly.
Folks in the industry have been well aware of the softening auto insurance market, and so it’s somewhat comforting to have those suspicions confirmed.
However, I do wonder about the potential bias in Insurance.com’s methodology. The 24.5% decrease in North Carolina sounds suspect to me. I can’t help but wonder if the site did something different to attract a different customer base in NC, or if the site got a contract with a new carrier (or an old carrier’s new-to-NC program)…or what.