Ohio drivers face steepest auto insurance coverage charge hikes in a decade

Ohio drivers are grappling with historic auto insurance coverage charge will increase after carriers posted hikes which are the steepest seen within the state in not less than a decade.

Knowledge from the Ohio Division of Insurance coverage has proven that a number of of the state’s main carriers elevated their charges by greater than 10% in 2022, with some imposing hikes approaching 20%.

GEICO, which holds the fourth-largest share of Ohio’s auto insurance coverage market, raised charges by 19.5% final 12 months. American Household Insurance coverage adopted carefully with a 17.5% enhance, whereas charges for Columbus-based Nationwide surged by 17.4%.

Progressive, the state’s largest insurer commanding 17.5% of the market, additionally elevated charges by 10.8% in 2022.

Collectively, the ten largest carriers in Ohio imposed an total charge enhance of 11.4%, in accordance with the state’s insurance coverage division. That is probably the most substantial hike since 2012. By comparability, the second-largest enhance was a mere 3.6% in 2017.

The one exception amongst Ohio’s main carriers was Erie, The Columbus Dispatch reported. It raised charges by solely 0.2% final 12 months.

Why are Ohio drivers seeing larger auto insurance coverage charges?

Dean Fadel, president and CEO of the Ohio Insurance coverage Institute, attributed the rise in insurance coverage charges to a confluence of things, together with elevated accidents, larger driving speeds, rising costs for each new and used automobiles, slower restore instances, difficulties in acquiring spare elements, and a spike in car thefts.  

“This has been attention-grabbing as a result of it’s plenty of various factors which have piled on all on the similar time,” Fadel informed The Columbus Dispatch.

“Comparatively talking, we’re nonetheless one of the cheap states within the nation,” he mentioned.

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