The most frequent question we get at Mancuso-Nowak is: Why did my auto insurance go up and my car is one year older?  Great question!  There are a number of different factors that go in to determining insurance rates.  Foremost, it cost more every year to repair your car.  If you got in to a car accident today, and then you got in to the same accident a year from today it would cost more to fix your car a year later. The cost of labor increases as do the parts to repair your car.

Another reason for an increase in your auto rate would be if the insurance company changed the symbol on your car.  Every car is assigned an ISO (Insurance Services Office) symbol, which is a number ranging from 1-40+.  Every year the insurance industry analyzes each type of car and how often the car gets into accidents, how much it costs to repair after an accident and how often it gets stolen.  Then the car is assigned a symbol based on this information.  The higher the symbol the more expensive the car is to insure.  If your car moves from a symbol 10 to 11, your auto rate will go up.  Foreign cars are usually assigned a higher symbol because their parts are not domestically manufactured and they need to be shipped from overseas.  Sedans usually have higher symbols than SUVs and trucks because they sustain more damage when in an accident.

Also, an insurance company may re-rate the town you live in based on the number of thefts and accidents.  So consequently, your insurance rates go up.

And of course if you get in to an at-fault accident your rates will go up.  Now you look like an unsafe driver which is a risky investment to insure, so the insurance companies will increase the cost to insure you.

Hope this helps explain why auto rates increase, even though your car is a year older.  If you still have questions, please feel free to contact us at Mancuso-Nowak.