Insurance Inflation Index: Car insurance prices fall 0.3%

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Auto insurance prices fell 0.3% in July 2026, a third straight monthly decline, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. The drop was far smaller than the 1.7% decline in May and the 2.0% decline in June, so the reversal in rates has slowed but not stopped.

Prices fell 0.4% in January and 0.3% in February, were flat in March and edged up 0.1% in April before the spring declines. April remains the only month in 2026 in which auto insurance prices rose.

The slide in auto insurance inflation is welcome news for consumers, who saw car insurance prices surge sharply through 2023 and into 2024. Monthly increases of 0.9% to 1.2% were common through mid-2024, and prices jumped 2.0% in a single month in January 2025, before the trend began to reverse.

Note: Data for October and November 2025 were not available at the time of publication, and motor vehicle insurance data for December 2025 were also unavailable.

What this means for drivers

Even with three straight months of declines, drivers are still paying more than they were a few years ago. Three months of falling prices don’t undo the steep increases that came before them.

That makes it worth comparing quotes at renewal. Prices can vary widely from one carrier to the next for the same driver, so shopping around is one of the few ways to lower a bill without changing coverage.

A national average also doesn’t reflect any one person’s premium. Rates depend on age, driving record, the vehicle, coverage limits and location, so two drivers can see very different numbers even when overall prices are moving in the same direction.

Other insurance segments

Health insurance prices fell 0.2% in July 2026, the eighth straight monthly decline. The drop was shallower than June’s 0.5%, but the direction hasn’t changed since December 2025. That’s a reversal from mid-2025, when health prices were posting gains of 0.6% in June and 0.4% in July.

Prices for tenants’ and household insurance fell 0.1% in July after a 0.2% gain in June, the segment’s first decline since January 2026. It had been the only segment to post gains in each of the previous six months it had reported.

The BLS doesn’t track homeowners or life insurance.

Nupur Gambhir

Managing Editor

 

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Nupur Gambhir is the editor-in-chief of Insure.com and a licensed life, health and disability insurance agent in New York with seven years of experience covering insurance. Her expertise has been featured in Bloomberg News, Forbes Advisor, CNET, Fortune, Slate, Real Simple, Lifehacker, The Balance, The Financial Gym and MSN. She holds a BA in Economics from The Ohio State University.