US motor insurance inflation accelerates to second highest level ever

US motor insurance policy costs rose at their second fastest annual rate on record during October 2022, up 12.9% versus October 2021, a monthly inflation report from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has revealed.

October figures show a continuing acceleration in consumer policy costs in 2022: the annual rate is up 2.6 percentage points on the prior month reading, well above all prior gains YTD.

Likewise, the monthly increase - 1.7% in seasonally adjusted terms and 2.0% unadjusted, are nearly unrivalled since points in 2020. Prior to that price burst in 2020, the adjusted monthly policy inflation rate had never exceeded 1.4%.

Bad news for consumers on motor insurance costs came amid generally good news on the consumer inflation story overall. The headline inflation rate for urban consumers slipped 0.4 percentage points from the September reading to a 7.8% annual rate, 1.2 percentage points below its June peak.

Motor insurance inflation had trailed overall headline inflation for the first seven months of the year, but was 5.1 percentage points over the headline rate now in October.

Health insurance rates, not seasonally adjusted by the BLS, remain volatile at a 20.6% year on year increase in October, well below the 28.2% rate in September. Policy cost growth turned double digit in April after having been negative as recently as December 2021.

Tenants' and household insurance, also left seasonally unadjusted, has wavered within an arm’s length of zero throughout the year, now at a positive 0.2% in October.

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