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Is My Car Insurance Increase Normal? A Benchmark Checker Against the Federal Price Index

Last checked

It answers one question: did your renewal move with the national price of car insurance over the same months, or by much more? It uses the Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer price index for motor vehicle insurance, a public monthly series. It belongs to our car insurance cost guide.

Key takeaways

  • Inputs: old premium, new premium, renewal month and term length. Output: your percent change, the index's percent change over the same window, and the gap in percentage points.
  • The benchmark is BLS series CUUR0000SETE. In August 2026 it stood at 848.231, 5.1% below August 2025, by our calculation.
  • The checker never predicts a premium, never estimates savings, and never says an increase is improper. A large gap means "find out why," not "you were overcharged."
  • State context comes from your insurer's rate filing, via the NAIC's SERFF Filing Access, not from a state average we cannot source.

Check your renewal

Did your renewal move with the national price of car insurance over the same months, or by much more? Enter your own two premiums from your declarations pages. This calculator runs in your browser and does not send the numbers you enter.

Total premium for the term that is ending, from your old declarations page.

Total premium for the renewal term. Both premiums must be for the same term length.

Policy term

The first month of your new term.

What changed on your policy?

The federal index holds coverage, drivers and vehicles constant, so tick anything that changed.

Used only to point you to your insurer's rate filing: NAIC SERFF Filing Access.

Your comparison

This calculator needs JavaScript. The method: your change is new premium divided by old premium, minus 1. The index change is the BLS motor vehicle insurance index at the renewal month divided by the index one term earlier, minus 1. The gap is the difference in percentage points.

The two examples, step by step

12-month renewal in August 2026, $1,840 to $2,180, nothing changed. Your change: (2,180 / 1,840 - 1) x 100 = 18.48%. Index: August 2025 = 894.075; August 2026 = 848.231. Index change: -5.13%. Gap: 23.61 points. Index-matched premium: $1,745.65. Difference: $434.35.

6-month renewal in April 2026, $900 to $960. Your change: (960 / 900 - 1) x 100 = 6.67%. Index: September 2025 (substituted for October 2025) = 890.473; April 2026 = 894.315. Index change: 0.43%. Gap: 6.24 points. Index-matched premium: $903.88. Difference: $56.12.

How this checker works

The benchmark is BLS series CUUR0000SETE, Motor vehicle insurance in U.S. city average, all urban consumers, not seasonally adjusted, extracted October 1, 2026. The latest month stored is August 2026.

Your change is your new premium divided by your old premium, minus 1. The index change compares the index at your renewal month with the index one term (6 or 12 months) earlier. The gap is your change minus the index change, in percentage points. Percentages are shown to one decimal and dollar figures to the cent; the math keeps full precision.

BLS prices fixed policies over time: "We use premiums calculated for the policies with these unchanging characteristics and not the actual premiums paid for the initially selected policies." So the index excludes changes in coverage, drivers or cars, and the checker asks whether any of those changed.

If your renewal month is later than the newest published month, the checker uses the newest month and keeps the same term length. If a needed month is missing from the series (BLS did not publish October 2025 because of the 2025 lapse in appropriations, and November 2025 has no value), it uses the nearest earlier published month and says which month it substituted.

The checker uses the not seasonally adjusted series so every comparison draws on the same published index levels. BLS regional motor vehicle insurance series exist, but the Northeast series ran only through 2021 when we checked on October 1, 2026, so no regional data is used.

The NAIC's most recent state averages are for 2023: its supplement released July 8, 2025 reported a countrywide average expenditure of $1,281.60, up 19.21% since 2019. That is too old to benchmark a 2026 renewal, so it is background only.

The verdict bands are our editorial choice, not published standards: below -5 points, -5 to +5, above +5 to +15, and above +15.

Disclaimer

This comparison uses a national price index. It does not show what any insurer should charge you.

FinanceRazor may be paid when you request quotes through this link. This does not change what we report.

Compare car insurance quotesTakes you to the FinanceRazor quiz.

What does the federal car insurance index show right now?

These are the August values of the not seasonally adjusted series, as published by BLS and extracted on October 1, 2026. The checker stores the full monthly series, not just these rows.

MonthIndex (1982-84 = 100)Change from prior August
August 2021566.183
August 2022615.559+8.72%
August 2023733.141+19.10%
August 2024854.307+16.53%
August 2025894.075+4.66%
August 2026848.231-5.13%

Percent changes are our calculation from the BLS values. BLS's own August 2026 release reports the seasonally adjusted monthly move: the index "declined 0.8 percent in August after falling 0.3 percent in July."

Example: a 12-month renewal in August 2026

Say you renew in August 2026. Old annual premium $1,840, new $2,180. Nothing changed on the policy.

"Your premium rose 18.5%. Over the same 12 months the national index fell 5.1%. Had your premium moved exactly with the index, it would be $1,745.65, which is $434.35 less than your renewal. That gap is not proof of an error. It is a reason to ask which rating factors changed."

Example: a premium change compared with the CPI motor vehicle insurance index, August 2025 to August 2026 0% 10% 20% +18.5% Example renewal -5.1% BLS index, same months Gap: 23.6 points
The 12-month example: $1,840 to $2,180 is +18.5%; BLS series CUUR0000SETE moved from 894.075 (August 2025) to 848.231 (August 2026), or -5.1%.

Example: a 6-month renewal with a missing index month

Say you renew a 6-month policy in April 2026. Old premium $900, new $960. The start month, October 2025, is unavailable in the BLS series, so the checker uses September 2025 instead and says so.

The substitution notice reads: "BLS did not publish October 2025 because of the 2025 lapse in appropriations. This comparison starts from September 2025."

Frequently asked questions

What is the average car insurance increase in 2026?

Nationally, prices fell. The BLS motor vehicle insurance index was 5.13% lower in August 2026 than in August 2025, by our calculation from the published series.

Why did my premium go up if the index went down?

The index tracks fixed policies across the country. Your state, your insurer's filing, your household, your car and your discounts can all move your premium in a different direction.

Does the index include my deductible or coverage changes?

No. BLS prices policies with unchanging characteristics, so coverage changes you made are outside the index. The checker asks about them for that reason.

Why does the checker use not seasonally adjusted data?

For a 12-month term the checker compares the same calendar month a year apart, which sidesteps most seasonal patterns. Using one unadjusted series for every comparison keeps the 6-month and 12-month results consistent. This is our methodological choice, stated on the page.

Is there a state version of this index?

BLS regional motor vehicle insurance series exist, but when we checked, the Northeast series ran only through 2021. The checker points you to your insurer's state rate filing instead.

Sources

This tool compares your premium change with a national price index. It is general information, not insurance advice, and it does not show what any insurer should charge.