in our Spotlight on Business Report it's about to get a lot more expensive to drive a car in New Jersey dozens of Auto insurers are requesting new rate hikes from the state this year some in the double digits Ted Goldberg reports on what's driving the increases and what you can do to save money if you've noticed car insurance getting more expensive in New Jersey you're not alone about 1.3 million New Jersey drivers are seeing an average increase in the premium of about a hundred and thirty dollars many New Jersey drivers are getting messages from their insurance companies letting them know that rates could be rising Allstate has asked State Regulators to raise rates by 29 percent and Geico has asked for a 26 percent bump the frequency and severity of accidents have increased the cost for insurers of vehicle replacement parts Rising Auto Body labor repair increase costs Michael Barry works with the insurance information Institute an industry-funded non-profit he says inflation has played a role here even though inflation has eased a bit according to the Bureau of Labor and statistics Barry points out other factors like the jump in stolen cars the National Insurance crime Bureau reports that more than a million cars were stolen in 2022 the worst year since 2008. this is a oftentimes a total loss so now all of a sudden you're paying a couple of thousand dollars per year for auto insurance but if you have a a theft now all of a sudden we're talking about a total loss this is a 25 30 000 claim to the auto insurer there's also a new state law mandating more liability coverage in New Jersey drivers used to need fifteen thousand dollars per person involved in an accident and thirty thousand dollars for everyone involved Advocates argue that people fell through the cracks and weren't covered for health care after accidents so now people need twenty five thousand dollars per person in liability coverage Christine O'Brien leads the Insurance Council of New Jersey and says those numbers are only going up the statue that raised the minimum limits in January of this year raises them again automatically in January of 2026 from 2550 to thirty five thousand seventy thousand and we can't even estimate what that impact is going to be because that number is going to be unique to New Jersey across the country so we have no experience off of which we can estimate what Financial impact that will have on New Jersey drivers O'Brien says the price hikes are also a way for insurance companies to make up for lost time when rates were frozen during the pandemic there was a freeze on rentals there was a freeze on mortgage rates there was a freeze on in premium rates for insurance this all now has a cumulative effect of what we call pent-up rate and so if carriers of your insurer is not adequately being able to price the product that they're selling you so what can be done Barry says if shopping around doesn't provide enough cost savings there are other steps maybe take a defensive driving course it's a little easier today than in the past you can do it online and it'll last for three years if you have a student driver in your house and they're great point average is 3.0 or higher that's going to entitle you to a discount there's low mileage discounts you have a little time before the rates actually rise the hikes are pending until approved by the State's Department of banking and insurance for NJ Spotlight News I'm Ted Goldberg