9 Ways Retirees Can Whittle Down Their Car Insurance Costs

As more Americans hit the road again, car insurance rates have unfortunately rebounded. Thankfully, there are steps you can take to trim your premiums.

Two people happily drive off in a convertible.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Remember those partial refunds auto insurers issued policyholders during the pandemic because fewer people were driving? It's payback time. Now, car insurance rates are soaring, up 11.3% this past June, compared to the same month in 2020, according to the Consumer Price Index.

With more Americans on the roads, insurance rates have rebounded to where they were before the pandemic struck. Rising inflation will only pressure insurers to raise rates even more. Overall, consumer prices are up 5.4% compared to a year earlier, the largest 12-month increase in more than 13 years, driven by an economy in full throttle.

Like most Americans, you may be eager to spend after a year of lockdown-induced depravation, but splurging on car insurance wasn't exactly what you had in mind. Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to cut your car insurance premium, including these nine tried-and-true methods.

Contributing Writer, -

Katherine Reynolds Lewis is an award-winning journalist, speaker and author of The Good News About Bad Behavior: Why Kids Are Less Disciplined Than Ever – And What to Do About It. Her work has appeared in The Atlantic, Fortune, Medium, Mother Jones, The New York Times, Parents, Slate, USA Today, The Washington Post and Working Mother, among others. She's been an EWA Education Reporting Fellow, Fund for Investigative Journalism fellow and Logan Nonfiction Fellow at the Carey Institute for Global Good. Residencies include the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and Ragdale. A Harvard physics graduate, Katherine previously worked as a national correspondent for Newhouse and Bloomberg News, covering everything from financial and media policy to the White House.