The run of steep insurance increases that hit drivers in 2023 and 2024 has mostly stopped, according to new payment data from Bank of America. In a report released Oct. 16, the Bank of America Institute said the median amount its customers paid for property insurance, which covers auto, homeowners and renters policies, rose just 1% in the 12 months through August. That compares with about 6% the year before and roughly 12% in 2024.
The average payment rose 3%, a gap the report says points to most households seeing small increases while a smaller group still faces bigger ones. The data counts payments made from Bank of America deposit and credit card accounts. It leaves out insurance paid through a mortgage escrow account or taken out of a paycheck.
Median insurance payment growth, Bank of America customers
| Period | Year-over-year change |
|---|---|
| 2023 | Nearly 8% |
| 2024 | About 12% |
| 2025 | About 6% |
| 2026 | About 1% |
Years run September to August. Covers auto, homeowners and renters payments. Source: Bank of America Institute, Oct. 16, 2026.
Who is getting relief, and who is not
The slowdown is not even. Gen Z customers, born after 1995, are still paying close to 6% more, about the same pace as 2025, after a 7% rise in 2024. Millennials and Baby Boomers saw increases of about 2% this year, and Gen X about 1%. Higher-income households paid nearly 1.5% more, while lower-income households paid slightly less than a year ago.
Location matters even more. Orlando, Tampa and Jacksonville each fell about 8%, and Miami fell 7%, the steepest declines among the large metro areas in the report. The authors point to Florida's 2023 insurance law changes, which they say fed into lower premiums in 2025, and a state rule that can force rebates when insurer profits run too high. Houston, Nashville and Dallas were flat or down. The largest California metros posted the biggest increases for a second year, which the report ties largely to wildfire property losses, and Boston and New York also rose.
Why the bills stopped climbing
Insurers often raise rates to recover losses from earlier years, and the report says two big drivers of those losses have eased. Crashes per million miles driven rose sharply in 2021 but mostly declined through 2024, and federal data suggest crashes fell again in 2025. New and used vehicle prices, which set the cost of replacing a totaled car, peaked in 2022. Repair and maintenance costs, however, are still rising.
Insurer results point the same way. Travelers, which sells auto, home and business coverage, reported Oct. 16 that the premiums it wrote on U.S. auto policies in the third quarter fell 8% from a year earlier, to $1.89 billion, while its underlying combined ratio for personal insurance, a profitability measure that leaves out catastrophe losses, improved by a point, mainly because of auto. The release does not say how much of the premium drop came from lower prices rather than fewer policies. Insurance Business magazine, citing federal Consumer Price Index data, reported that the CPI for motor vehicle insurance was 5.13% lower in August than a year earlier, while the index for vehicle repair was up 5.24%.
What it means at renewal time
For many drivers, the next renewal notice should look calmer than the last few. That is not guaranteed, and the Bank of America report notes that part of the drop in government price data may reflect rebates that not every customer receives. Insurance Business, citing LexisNexis Risk Solutions, reported that 35% of auto rate filings early this year were cuts and 39% were increases, so the direction depends heavily on the insurer and the state.
If your bill went up while others are leveling off, it is a good time to get quotes from other insurers. You can also ask your current company to recheck your rate after a change such as an improved credit score, a shorter commute or a teen driver moving off the policy. Younger drivers and Californians, who are still seeing the biggest increases, have the most to gain from comparing.
