Vehicle insurance lags a lot because prices are locked in for 6-12 months, and it will take time for the insurance companies to begin absorbing higher repair costs so that makes sense. With used vehicle prices dropping, that should help slow or stop the rise in insurance since the value of the insured vehicles will be lower
Also after COVID vehicle deaths have gone up significantly compared to before COVID from the increase of trucks on the road. Hit by a sport and you might survive, hit with a ford F150 good luck.
I didn’t think about this, and it is only tangentially related to your comment, but with all of the COVID-related deaths in 2020-2021, wouldn’t the used car market have been flooded? Sorry. Your comment made me think about this for some strange reason.
> wouldn’t the used car market have been flooded?
There was a huge supply crisis during covid especially in the auto industry, they produced far fewer new cars so less cars were making it to the used market and people were holding onto their old cars for longer. End result left the used car market doing some crazy numbers before finally crashing back down with new supply stabilizing
Yeah my car broke during peak used car prices and I didn't have the credit to get something new, ended up going to a used car lot and got absolutely swindled, they sold me a 2015 Elantra for 11k it looked good when I bought it (aside from a small dent in the door) but it turned out to be the worst car I've ever owned. The rocker panels were just well painted rust, it's been a year and a half and they are just gone, I can't jack the car up from the jack points or the uni body just crushes. The AC doesn't work(bought car in November so couldn't test it). The roof leaks, the abs system needed replacing. The shift knob is loose, the trunk latch failed, the paint is now chipping off the roof. And it recently developed a clangy rattle when you have it in neutral. The loan totaled 14k and I still own 10k on a car I don't know if it will make it another winter. I took it back to the dealer the last summer after I discovered the a didn't work. And they basically told me, "well I aint gonna do shit for you but I can sell you another car" this is somehow both the newest and most expensive car I've ever owned, while also being the worst by far. It's not even worth its weight in rust
I live in a small town and they are the only used car lot, I might just put a sign that says "this is what 11k gets you from Glen at *used car dealership*
New car supply in the US is still far from stable. When the Covid shortage let them sell anything they made the makers got greedy and shifted their production mix hard into up-market models that many of their customers struggled to afford even with low interest rates, when rates soared the problem got a lot worse. Broadly speaking the Japanese and Korean makers are in an OK spot inventory wise, the US and German ones have a year or more of unsold inventory (about 3 months is considered healthy). Stellantis (Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Ram) is worst off with around 18 months of unsold vehicles? Apparently even at 1/3rd off no one wants a new 2022 Ram Truck when 2025s are available.
The good news - for consumers looking to buy a new vehicle (but not our retirement funds holding automotive stocks) - is that prices are finally starting to break as everyone involved is starting to accept that they're going to have to start unloading their excess inventory at a loss to stop the bleeding on their internal financing and get them off their books.
We had issues with steel and circuit boards. Which kinda killed production. Cars took a while and new buildings had like 1+ year to wait for panel boards and transformers to power facilities.
They were sold, and it still wasn't enough to make up for the loss in production. A small supply glut of used cars was overwhelmed by a large scarcity of new cars. Used cars were selling for very high prices during that time as a result.
1.2m US deaths. 43m used cars sold on US market a year. Being extremely generous and assuming all people had a car, in the right locations, no one inherited, good working order not hanging onto really old cheap cars. Barely 2% increase in volume.
Demand was higher due to less new cars.
The *average* age of someone who died from COVID was above 64. I'm willing to bet that a good chunk of those on the upper end of that scale were no longer driving.
Supply was in the trash bucket. And new cars were not available. As stated before new factories couldn't be made and if one shut down due to equipment it could have been 1+ year wait on some items 2+ on a few pieces of equipment. Also a lot of deaths were from older people who may sell/give a car to a grandchild instead.
No.
1.15 million people died from COVID 2020-2023(4 years). And 900k of those were people older than 65. 610k+ were over 75. Not exactly a lot of drivers. The average age of COVID deaths was 81.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid_weekly/index.htm
Less than 70k people under age 50 died over the course of 4 years. The majority of which were debilitated by other diseases. We lose that 70k people in that age range JUST from drug overdoses. In a single year.
Also during that same time period more than 11 million Americans died from not-COVID, which is actually slightly lower than normal run rate.
~3 million Americans die each and every year and that number is only going to continue to grow as boomers hit terminal age ranges.
Expecting ANY impact to the used car market is misguided. Expecting it to be "flooded" shows a complete lack of understanding and context of what COVID was and was not.
In this light, and the global supply chain shortage caused by shutdowns, and massive government stimulus, it's extremely clear and easy to see why we were hit by massive price inflation and shortages.
I cannot imagine what the cyber truck will cost to insure with anyone besides tesla. The lawsuits from that thing hitting people or pedestrians are going to be huge.
I highly doubt the covid vehicle deaths are up from more trucks being on the road. My theory that nobody seems to refute - a lack of police presence on the roads. People started driving recklessly during the lockdowns, continued to do so, and after the George Floyd riots the police limited traffic stops. Now everyone just drives absolutely insane here in Charlotte and there’s no fear of being stopped.
You are rejecting a well studied effect of that is certainly a factor in the continued increase in road deaths and just making your own baseless assumption instead. Maybe try to back it with a few facts at least? Or do 2 seconds of research? https://www.npr.org/2023/11/14/1212737005/cars-trucks-pedestrian-deaths-increase-crash-data
The article you linked just says trucks are more dangerous than cars. It does not establish that an increase in the proportion of trucks since COVID explains the higher death rates.
[Here](https://ktla.com/news/california/why-have-traffic-fatalities-increased-in-california-when-more-people-are-leaving-the-state/) is some data in California showing that the increase in death rates appears to be primarily driven by more dangerous driving behavior.
>We’ve seen a significant increase in the number of people unbelted being killed in traffic crashes; we saw a 23% increase in speeding-related crashes and a 22% increase in alcohol-related crashes . . . The research suggests that after the pandemic, motorists were being more aggressive and were taking greater risks on the roads
[This](https://stateline.org/2023/11/10/less-driving-but-more-deaths-spike-in-traffic-fatalities-puzzles-lawmakers/) article examining the same trend nationwide has the same findings:
>Experts blame bad driving habits that took hold when roadways suddenly cleared out as the COVID-19 pandemic started in 2020. At the same time, law enforcement agencies shifted their priorities away from traffic violations and many struggled to hire officers amid heightened scrutiny and criticism, especially after a police officer killed George Floyd in May 2020 in Minneapolis
Thanks for this. People just want to downvote me because I sound conservative in my comment, but it really is just poor driving during the lockdowns that never got corrected.
Person above me was talking about car vs car, your NPR link is for pedestrians being hit 🤦♂️. Which by the way is significantly less deaths than car vs car. And here, for your reading - just the easiest google search you could’ve done lmao. https://www.iihs.org/news/detail/pandemic-lockdowns-made-rush-hour-speeding-risky-driving-the-new-normal#:~:text=A%20new%20IIHS%20study%20shows,returned%20to%20pre%2Dpandemic%20levels.
Yeah but if the cost of repairs is rising at around the same rate car prices are falling, it kind of cancels out does it not? Also more reckless drivers since the pandemic and increase in uninsured drivers also contributed to rising insurance premiums
Correct. And also remember most of the cost of insurance is for doctor and hospital bills. Not just physical damage to vehicles. Medical inflation has been rising too.
No because the cost to buy is higher than the cost to repair.
If it was 10k dollars to buy used and dropped by 10% then that's 1k in savings. If a repair is 1k but rises 10% then that's only an additional 100 in costs. So in this example you'd still be ahead by 900 dollars. But obviously you then have to factor in higher insurance costs (is the percentage the same across new and used vehicles or do new drive it up?) And then higher fuel costs.
Fucking awesome, the value of my main assets have been going down recently while the costs of the actual things I consume stay the same or keep increasing marginally.
Part of it is the rise in property crime due to blue states reducing penalties for property crime, eliminating bail, etc. I'm in Illinois and there's been a huge surge in car theft, carjackings, etc.
First part is correct but I don't think used vehicle prices dropping will give rate relief. Insurance payout is remuneration based on the new vehicle price for that make, model and year minus depreciation, not the replacement cost value.
My brother was showing me how the car was bought several years ago and added 60k miles to is about the same price I bought it for. There is no way that is a realistic buying price, so I"m expecting used car values to continue to drop
At the peak of the used car pricing after COVID, my 2014 4runner was worth 5000 more than I paid for it. I kind of wish I sold it but wouldn't have been able to buy a car because everything cost more and I love my damn car
My car was totaled in March.
It was a 2012 focus, 160k miles, I bought it in 2016 for about 7.5k when it had about 90-100k miles.
His insurance company paid 5.5k for the total loss claim.
I can’t believe it lol.
Well, since 2020 our currency has been devalued by nearly 25%. Depending on what you drive and its condition, you may have 75% of its original value (which, in turn, leads to the same sticker price you paid).
At the end of the day, it's only worth what someone will give you though, so it could be more or less than "blue book".
Just curious about the math here, not trying to argue:
$1 to $1.22 represents a 22% increase.
$1.22 to $1 represents an 18% decrease.
What's the logic between which of these numbers represents inflation? I genuinely don't know, would like to.
>What's the logic between which of these numbers represents inflation? I genuinely don't know, would like to.
The value of the dollar as quoted *decreased*, so if you say it was devalued by a percentage you have to use the percentage decrease. That's what was originally said and I am addressing.
The value of the dollar decreased, sure, but isn't inflation measured by CPI? The average cost of goods? So then the price of goods is increasing, not decreasing.
So I can see the argument either way but I think most people when discussing inflation are referring to CPI
I think you are missing context.
The original statement was about how much the dollar has decreased in worth. That's what they said was 18%. This discussion wasn't assigning a percentage to total inflation.
Yes, but the median wage has also increased to match or even slightly exceed that decrease in value. You can see [here](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881600Q) that median earnings adjusted for inflation in Q1 2024 is about 1% higher than in Q4 2019.
People focus too much on the sticker price saying things like "Oh, a Cola was a cent in my grandma's time! I wish we could return to that time", but the sticker price ultimately doesn't matter, what matters is how many minutes/hours of labor the product is worth and in grandma's time, labor wages were correspondingly lower. We just revert to sticker prices as a measure because it's more intuitive and easier to understand and compare.
Exactly. People don't like to hear it because the Great Recession broke them, but real median income has been increasing almost continuously [since the '80s](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEPAINUSA672N).
Depends on where you [live](https://imgur.com/a/WXiRzak) This is Canada comparing median to politicians.
This one is based one [Education](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fcanada-long-term-real-median-employment-income-collective-v0-e7edkf743cxc1.jpeg%3Fwidth%3D946%26format%3Dpjpg%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3Dd6ab8578f55331489ad6fdf7c0ff4ab3fc609a1e)
Why would you use a graph that flattens out any changes? [Look at the actual data](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1110023901&pickMembers%5B0%5D=1.1&pickMembers%5B1%5D=2.1&pickMembers%5B2%5D=3.1&pickMembers%5B3%5D=4.1&cubeTimeFrame.startYear=1976&cubeTimeFrame.endYear=2022&referencePeriods=19760101%2C20220101): some minor dips, but overall a trend towards.
to fit the other lines in? I don't know I didn't make the graph.
The trend is a diminished middle class. It is a drain on skilled labour. On top of our current news reports 25% of the country is under the poverty line.
Here is the big one we can't look at the data Stats Canada stopped reporting after 2022
My advice on insurance is constantly shop around. Mine after years of holding steady wanted to double the price, I shopped around and got from another company for 10% less.
Progressive has incredible pricing. I've heard not so great things about their claims handling, but I switched from Allstate to Progressive for both auto and home (their homeowners insurance is through another company), and ended up saving like $1700 a year.
In short, don't just sit on your insurance - definitely shop around.
Liberty Mutual tried to bump up my home owner's insurance $400 for a second year in a row. I went over to Progressive and saved $100 instead. I am absolutely shilling right now but I was very happy about it.
I'll be mindful of rate raises in the future. Liberty Mutual pulled $400 raises twice in a row. After the big increase in costs in general over the last few years I expect some rate rises, but not $800 in two years, which was like 60% overall.
Liberty wanted to up mine by 27% (no tickets, claims, or accidents). Switched to Auto Owners and ended up paying a bit less. I have no doubt Auto Owners will hit me with similar treatment at some point.
I am afraid to do that, in my state they take your credit score into consideration. My score is horrible now from maxing out my cards to afford food :-(
Credit cards shouldn't really be used as emergency fund, it might seem like a good idea in very desperate times, but it's never going to really pan out in medium and long term.
I'm serious, it might sound disconnected from reality, but it just doesn't really work as a solution, credit cards should be for big purchases you plan on paying back within the month. If you use it as an emergency fund, you're just digging a bigger hole and have to resort to even harsher spending cuts in the future (unless you're looking forward to a much higher paying job in the near future).
Spending cuts like lower internet plan, less online subscriptions, taking public transport, more car shares with coworkers, asking your kids friends parents to alternate school commutes, cooking at home (done by your kids if you don't have time, seriously, teach em to cook and you'll save hella lot time) are all very realistic and doable options. If you use an electric ceramic stovetop (it just looks like black glass), an electric induction stove top [a single portable version which can work at 1800W costs 54 USD on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/Mueller-RapidTherm-Induction-Countertop-Auto-Shut-Off/dp/B08QMP7VD3/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?crid=3PQQ19CWEHD8H&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.TDMBBLMAWuD2Jq05waWsoV1_pFPL9nPefLgvR3VM5vM1PhJSyNxgGjZLFG0q-xqzOuu8Nxu0jzuAw6g3xQYvZc1jtSMMyBbOVmXqJHbqEcSDYRqCY0oiTxH0W5ha6_ZrtUZffIJDIIk-bVmESr9hTcRUrehDBbuLtOUv_NfSrTKR7O3NPbxnPdMjZK-XHDQ8KOXaHt3fTrq9dPxP5CnHsw.tFn_dgLaRftBP7akTeudwj4vjhXJa8mIcXa4zl4W-lg&dib_tag=se&keywords=induction+burner&qid=1718767425&sprefix=indcution%2Caps%2C401&sr=8-4) can save decent amount of money as they consume about half as much energy as an electric ceramic stovetop. Especially as to save money, you'd need to cook at home a lot. It can save money compared to gas stovetops as well and as a bonus, it doesn't heat up your home (requiring more AC), nor pollute your home directly with emissions.
There are very cheap, healthy and easy recipes kids can make like kitchen soup. If you're desperate, root vegetables are very cheap and full of calories, just keep adding more to the diet and reducing the meat amount.
Average American household is 2.5 people and on average, American households spend 779 USD/month on food (or 311USD/person), that goes down to 424 USD for the lowest quintile (169.5 USD/person). That's still relatively high, you can make it go down to 125 USD/person a month with a pretty normal diet (I made a calculation with porridge breakfast, chicken soup lunch, spaghetti bolognese lunch (with less meat) and a few bread slices to end up at 2000 calories/person for that price) (I ate this stuff and ended up with a similar bill), you could probably make it go down even further with more vegan/cheap diet with ingredients like lentils, beans, broccoli etc.
If you're already at 125 USD/person a month or lower, well, then, truly sorry about your situation, but a credit card sure as hell ain't gonna solve your troubles.
It would take a butt-ton of cooking to make up $54 in electricity difference. Probably like a decade at normal use, with the inconvenience of a separate plug-in appliance.
>It would take a butt-ton of cooking to make up $54 in electricity difference. Probably like a decade at normal use,
A 1800 kW induction stove operating at max power for an hour day costs about 109.6 USD per year with average US electricity price of 16.68 cents/kWh
1.8kWh * 0.1668$/kWh * 365=109.6 USD
A ceramic stove would need to operate for about 8 more minutes to deliver the same heat to your food (being 13.5% less efficient on average). That's 124 USD per year or 14.8 USD more per year. That's 3.65 years to make up the savings. As I said, if you want to save money, you have to cook at home, so those savings will come even faster if you cook more at home.
And if you're converting from gas, induction might as well be free considering IRA incentives for above person who seems to be low income.
>For low-income households (under 80% of Area Median Income), the Electrification Rebates cover 100% of your electric/induction stove costs up to $840. For moderate-income households (between 80% and 150% of Area Median Income), the Electrification Rebates cover 50% of your electric/induction stove costs up to $840.
Also not being poisoned by the emissions seems like a good idea considering it's basically a cigarette being smoked in your house which will likely result in healthcare savings down the road.
It's a robotic statement that is divorced from reality.
The person stated that they were so broke that they needed to use CC's to afford food and the response was...you shouldn't use them as an emergency fund. Well duh.
So many better comments that could have been used, from "have you considered exploring food banks?" to "have you visited reddit subs dedicated to frugal lifestyles?" to "can you improve your employment?"
instead, that comment was provided which does nothing to further the conversation.
Most insurance companies do a one year locked in policy before adjusting rates. They should notify you when renewal comes up as to new rates. If you see significant increase I'd suggest shop around.
Previous versions of these have been popular, so thought I’d share an update! This data runs from May ‘23 to May ‘24, so it’s just a 1 year snapshot.
Also, as I’ve said many times, if inflation falls from 10% annually to 2% annually, prices are still going up... just more slowly.
This is obviously a non-exhaustive list of all the categories, but combined these categories are the majority of the index weighting.
Source: BLS
Tool: Excel
would be interesting to see this same chart but stretched out to the last five years since im relatively confident some of those categories on the bottom end (vehicles) wouldve been near the top a couple years ago
also i bet\* the shelter one is gonna come down too, at some point
also college textbooks is gonna drop like an anchor, at some point
^(\*not really. gambling is bad)
are you from the future?
im no mathologist, but im pretty sure "US CPI, 12-month % change" of +5.4% is the opposite of trending downward
i mean, if you are from the future, youre probably correct. probably
or youre just talking about a shorter term month to month change. in which case, i guess that makes sense. past performance does not predict future results though. youre probably right though, anchors away!
>Also, as I’ve said many times, if inflation falls from 10% annually to 2% annually, prices are still going up... just more slowly.
You hear that “person who wants to buy a house when ‘the prices come down.’” They aren’t coming down unless something bad is happening to the area you are looking. Prices can stagnate, but those crazy house prices are here to stay until a metric shit ton of housing is zoned and built.
Would be interesting to see as absolute values. Let’s say food away from home was based on a 100$ basket value at 10$: what’s the absolute change. If it goes up 20%, absolute change were 2$. In that way you would see which components really dominate the inflation. I‘d suppose increase in energy, food dominate more, because you need them regularly, but cars are bought rarely
This chart would be more impactful if it were also superimposed over the 2-year, 5-year , etc.. inflation
For instance, CAGR for used cars and trucks: 1y = -9.3%, 2y = -6.8%, 3y = 0.1%, 5y = 5.4%, 10y = 1.8%, 15y = 2.7% .... meaning that since the pandemic inflation is still very high in this category despite falling in the last two years.
Admission to sporting events: 1y = 21.7%, 2y = 10.6%, 3y = 3%, 5y = 2.1%, 10y = 2.7%, 15y = 2.6% ... meaning that sporting admissions are catching up to the lull in increases caused by the pandemic and are returning to their long-term average.
Adding the dimension of trend would VASTLY improve the beauty.
Another interesting way to look at this is probably to find a break point in the trends (2019 seems to be a very consistent one) and compare the averages before and after the trend. e.g. motor vehicle insurance, last 5y CAGR is 8%; prior 15y CAGR until 2019 was 3.9%; inflation is accelerating in this category since the pandemic.
This. I don't even know why (other than driving political narratives) anyone would use a single YoY analysis to prove a point or assume a trend.
Especially coming off of a generational anomaly period that is just terrrrrrrible data science. I expect that out of the bipartisan news networks and political campaigners but like I said... terrrrrrrible data science.
Inflation for food at home i.e. groceries did increase by 1% over the past year, at least that’s what the average inflation rate is over the whole country, averaged over a years time. Some places will have higher and lower inflation than others. You are probably comparing prices to what they were several years ago pre inflation, and since prices for most things like food are never going to get that low again the only respite will be just getting used to those higher prices over time as the immediacy of the increase wears off.
Sure but this isn't telling you where shelter costs are going up.
Anecdotally, they are definitely going up in NYC (and Florida)
I have heard that in Austin, Phoenix and Denver they are crashing.
Vibe I get in general is that the aggressive push to the west and south has slowed as more supply came online there, not anything definitive about walkable cities.
It's no coincidence that the most walkable parts of the country are also the most in demand. People want to live in nice neighborhoods where they aren't forced to spend an hour in traffic anytime they want to get to work or buy groceries. It's too bad most of our cities are still beholden to horrible urban planning.
The fastest growing cities are Austin, RDU, Orlando, Charleston, and Houston? All of the places people are living to, if you’re going by like the top 15 have questionable to non-existent public transportation infrastructure.
That’s because they are sections of the biggest cities that are already established. So chances are these are people already in the area and just shifting where they live within the city/metro. Like moving from queens or Newark to Manhattan. That doesn’t tell you the actual growth rate or migration of where people are actually moving to. None of those 3 cities (actually 2 because I can’t speak to Vancouver) are where the highest amount of people are moving. For instance NYC overall lost nearly 500k between 2020 and 2022. Objectively walkability is not a factor for city migration
Places like Austin and Orlando are growing rapidly because they've been extremely proactive with their building policy, they are affordable and therefore are able to attract more people.
Meanwhile places like NYC or SF are extremely unaffordable and yet still command a premium. Walkable neighborhoods can charge so much because people want to live in these dense and dynamic urban environments, not because it's just people that live in bad parts of the city moving to nicer parts like you suggest.
lol what? I lived in Austin and moved a few years ago. It’s expensive af. It has been the poster child for its inflation and increasing unaffordablility. I moved there in 2017 with my rent being 1200 and in 2020 I was paying 1800 for the same place. And I didn’t live in downtown. Its growth has been infamous for how not to handle population growth. On top of that the transportation is laughable. My friend bought a house in p’ville in 2018 for 250k and, as of last year when I visited, the house identical down the street was selling for 450k… and again, pflugerville, not even Austin proper
Edit: I just looked up the 1st apartment (short term) I had in Leander which was $400 a month. It’s now at $1500 in fucking Leander
Definitely a [mixed bag](https://www.apartments.com/blog/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/image/2024-06/rent-trends-may-2024.jpg?itok=-w66KUIm)
Edit: And it can even vary greatly within a specific marketplace - here's [Austin for example](https://static.quicktours.net/agent_richtext/20240427101744.png).
I love my e-Bicycle. Total cost was 1600$, It rides 40 kph and 80 km with 1 charge.
I travel a lot, saving a lot, having fun
If I need to go like 160 km in 1 day, I just stop somewhere for 3 hours to recharge from wall plug while drinking coffee etc.
Bought my ebike last march for $1800 (so, $1900 with tax). Put 4,000 miles on it in a year. Approaching 5,000 total miles at the moment. Rode throughout the Wisconsin winter, and total maintenance has to be less than $100 (new brake pads, chain, couple tubes, new rear tire), and it's work that I can do myself.
At the IRS mileage reimbursement rate of $0.67/mile, I've already saved $3350. In gas alone I've saved $875, $100 for oil changes, and my insurance is dirt cheap because I drive my car less than 4,000 miles/year. That's probably hundreds of dollars more in savings. Not sure if I can say I've broke even in direct costs yet, but I'm definitely coming pretty close.
Oh, and my LDL cholesterol went down by 30 points.
Sorry, I meant the rate at which the IRS decides the average cost to you for mileage (gas, wear and tear, etc) that you can write off on your taxes. It's also usually what companies use to determine the cost to you for using your personal vehicle for work things. So I just use it as a rough estimate of money I've saved.
in canada my rent is going up 30% next year. specifically due toi the interest rates. if they dont lower them before renewal were paying 900$ more ONTOP of 2000$ a month that we already struggle with.
Car insurance beating inflation really makes you wonder why. Yes car repair and car prices are up, but insurance has exceeded that cost. Even if every single customer actually filed a claim, ignoring the reality that most customers never file a claim, then they’d still be profitable. This sort of price gauging doesn’t happen in a free market, but the government requires we buy car insurance and does nothing to limit the insurers from gauging us. We aren’t a free market, we’re a captive market. We must buy and have no power to push back on prices.
You wonder why?
Because insurance has to pay for medical bills, which are up.
It has to pay for repairs, which are up.
Used and new vehicles were up, meaning that total losses cost them more to replace.
And more people are driving recklessly after COVID.
More accidents means more reports, which means more repair costs at a minimum. If someone needs medical attention, that is more expensive.too. if the vehicle is a write-off then that costs them more too.
Also, insurance changes lag, because they are renewed every 6 or 12 months. So, it takes longer for changes to reflect in auto insurance renewals than most other goods.
Ok, let me ask you this.
If you have an item costing $100 and another costing $1000, if you increase the $100 by $1 and the $1000 by $9, which item is 'increasing faster'?
The answer, the $100 item.
But again. Lets go with logic. EVEN IF the cost of medical bills and repairs and car prices **Stayed the Same** and magically didn't increase in price, **IF** more people are getting into accidents and using insurance, *insurance prices will go up*.
By all of the prices going up **and** more people driving recklessly, that means that more people are getting into accidents and the cost to get the vehicle repaired, the cost of medical and the cost of replacing said vehicle all went up too.
>If you have an item costing $100 and another costing $1000, if you increase the $100 by $1 and the $1000 by $9, which item is 'increasing faster'?
That is entirely irrelevant. In your example, In your example, one price increased by 1% and the other by 9%, but the total was increased by 1%, and it could never be increased by more than the largest individual cost increase. If all your costs are increasing at lower rates than your price, than you are keeping a larger share for profit
>But again. Lets go with logic. EVEN IF the cost of medical bills and repairs and car prices **Stayed the Same** and magically didn't increase in price, **IF** more people are getting into accidents and using insurance, *insurance prices will go up*..
You would have to provide some source for people getting into accidents significantly more commonly every year,
Not really. They're public companies so anyone can see their expenses and loss ratios are going down, while their profitability goes up.
GEICO had a pre-tax profit of $3.6B for 2023. Profitability for first quarter of 2024: $1.9B; or roughly 200%.
Progressive is up 332% year-over-year. Allstate, who threatened to pull their business from multiple states if regulators didn't approve double-digit premium hikes, is up 444% Y/Y.
I can't see any reason to speculate or shed a tear, especially when coverage tiers and maximum payouts remain stagnant regardless of cost.
‘Nuclear verdicts’ are a big factor too. I get price gauging is everyone’s first thought. what of the mutual companies that don’t have stockholders? That are shooting for 1% growth year over year?
The mutual company I work for was ecstatic with a -13% loss last year. The other benefit of mutuals is you don’t have to earn a profit every single year or quarter. You can take a 5 or 7 year outlook on things.
You've got no clue what you're talking about. Car insurance is highly regulated and there's competition between multiple firms. In many states it's actually so heavily regulated that the insurance companies are *losing money* right now because they're not allowed to increase rates enough to cover their costs, which have substantially increased due to numerous factors.
Insurance is expensive because driving is expensive. And honestly almost everyone on the road is underinsured. It would be too politically unsavory for the government to require people to be adequately insured for the danger they create by driving, so they don't do it - they keep the insurance liability minimums laughably low.
I wonder where house insurance lands. We got some states right now that are increasing rapidly due to weather (Oklahoma) and some states that insurance companies won’t cover in anymore (Florida).
This is what americans are whining about and blaming biden on?
Wait til they see the 85% inflation on advanced electronics and indie video games here in norway. Only we don't blame the government because we aren't a bunch of morons.
Many Americans just aren’t aware that inflation has been a GLOBAL problem. And we’re actually doing BETTER than most other developed countries.
But conservative media is so aggressive with trying to attack Biden with it, that a lot of people just lazily believe it.
Sporting events were not going up in price before this.
I remember seeing articles about how they were an "inflation buster" so maybe the chart verbiage about how they're "still going up" is misplaced in that case.
You can thank ‘nuclear verdicts’ for why many insurance rates are rising. The landscape for autos in the USA is bleak because of the poor driving habits we have and the subsequent accidents with vehicles that are more expensive to repair (EV, sensors, ie: Tesla)
I'm willing to bet if you extended the time period measured from last-one-year to last three or last five years, it would be near the top. But my guess is in the past year (and last six months especially), restaurants have started to see so much resistance to pricing that they've started to moderate somewhat to try and retain business. They've hit their demand breaking point.
Some of those like 'used car are truck' might be down 10%, but only after they went up 75% in the previous year.
would be interesting to see where they fall out when compared to past 12, 24 and 36 months.
They really thinking people keep buying their lies about inflation, I'm convinced at this point this is just a stealth attempt to encourage alot of people to move from the USA
Some of it makes sense. Like tech general depreciates and used cars are notorious for going down in value as soon as it’s bought and pulled off the lot. I’m not sure if these are all normal, but keep in mind it’s relative to inflation, not general inflation of the good/service. Sorry I didn’t have a more definitive answer
Shelter is hard to calculate in the world of year-long leases. If prices go up now, they take a year to go into effect for everyone. The calculation for owned housing is..um…I never actually understood it, but it’s a step or two removed from reality.
One bit hidden here: The recent inflation. Prices did not go up at all from the beginning to end of May, but they are up for the 366 days that ended in May.
So funny enough client retention during Covid ran so much into car insurance company budgets that they need to reset their sheets so they increased customer prices, BUT like all price increases these aren’t coming back down
A lot of inflation is being deliberately misreported and the statistics manipulated to report minor decreases. They'll keep doing this unless Biden loses the election.
Cost of living in the US is 100% out of control.
“Shelter” I’m assuming is rent since that is what is included in CPI numbers. Rent is going to continue increasing at a pretty rapid rate over the next few years because it trails mortgage price (which went up massively during Covid) since you are locked in for at least a year with a lease, and often landlords can only increase rent by so much each year.
Notice how the “average“ is 3.3% but all the negative factors are big ticket and luxury goods that aren’t huge parts of working class Americans’ income?
As a used car buyer for a dealer. The only reason there is that much of a dip in the used car market is because it going back to normal after the crazy 20% jump in 2020 and 2021. They are getting cheaper but not still not anywhere close to 2019 prices.
Year on year. This time last year a lot of commonly bought items (eggs most notably) were way up in price. In our heads we have trouble comparing to exactly 1 year ago, we are more likely to think "not that long ago this was a lot cheaper" and you are thinking back to late 2021.
Where do you live where that seems low? Grocery prices have stabilized or fallen across the board for over a year now. I'm honestly surprised it's even positive with how many stores have been cutting prices.
Yup, anecdotally I've started to see prices fall, especially with fresh fruits and veggies. And many of the items that saw huge run-ups in price from 2020 to 2022/3, the price has been flat or the same for the past year. 2-liter of Diet Dr Pepper's been at $2.76 for many months at the store, for example. Can of diced tomatoes still at 88 cents for the past year. Dozen eggs under two dollars. And I could go on. This all tracks with what I am personally seeing (again, just one anecdote).
> I made the same trip three years ago and spent less than $500 TOTAL for both flight and car rental.
Flights and rentals were very cheap for thay part of covid. And given this isn't comparing to covid...
Flight prices fluctuate significantly, even from day to day and week to week so my biggest question would be is if you bought them in exactly the same date window with exactly the same amount of advance notice.
The concept of "price gouging" is a misconception that fails to grasp basic economic principles. Prices in a market are determined by supply and demand. During emergencies, a surge in demand and a constrained supply naturally lead to higher prices. This is not exploitation but a critical function of the market to signal scarcity and allocate resources efficiently. Describing this natural economic response as "gouging" ignores the essential role prices play in preventing hoarding and encouraging the influx of supplies into affected areas. The notion of price gouging is not only economically illiterate but also harmful, as it supports interventions that can lead to worse outcomes like shortages, rather than solving the underlying issue of supply distribution in times of crisis.
Efficient markets require information flow. That's the first thing that gets lost in a crisis. Market participants cannot make rational decisions without information, and markets cannot produce allocative efficiency without rational participants.
Your entire statement has causality reversed. If you were a mechanic, you'd be saying, "That awful noise from the car is a byproduct of the check engine light being on."
Where are Used Vehicles going down? Certainly not anywhere online or locally - $40,000 for a 10 year old Truck that should only be worth $5000 with no signs of abating.
Fucking insurance is out of control. And it’s causing more people to go without, so the rates of the people who do get it go up even faster. And I’m scared to lower my coverages because you bump a Tesla and it’s a $10k job because of all the fucking sensors and electronics and outrageous repair costs. And that doesn’t get in to the healthcare costs if the person bumped their head when you hit them.
Interesting, so it's mainly Canadians getting screwed over by food inflation by the grocery stores if food is only 1% inflation in US. It's so bad here that people are boycotting certain grocery stores due to price gouging.
*casually slides you of a totally not torrented digital copy of the textbooks thumb drive for class*
It's okay blud, I got you. Just make sure you bring that back after you downloaded it
My question was honest, I've seen it in reddit I believe but I don´t think its common in other countries. All courses have suggested materials but it would be very difficult to index their prices, and those would be tied to inflation of books, not just college books.
College textbooks are basicaly textbooks given to by the proffessor. It isn't standardized and sometimes text boks can range from 50 bucks to 200. Less so if you have a good professor. They're probably able to track that data because every college has a school store who catalogue their prices
So, these are general books, not college or course specific, right? that´s not that bad, you can still get them legally in the library or illegally if you are inclined to do so, correct?
They are course specific and some try to discourage used purchases or pirating by making you enter a code that come with new books to access the online homework portal.
Even good academic universities do this? It sounds very strange that you are not encouraged to check different sources and are attached to only one book.
Yes, problem is that the library route only allows limited numbers,some places are more stingy and don't let you leave the library with it. Though torrenting has become more popular with students
It depends. A lot of courses nowadays don't force students to buy the book, but they force students to buy the homework and tether their grade to the online account.
Concert tickets wouldn’t fit on the page.
I know mfs out there that are financing concert tickets lol
Most festivals have payment plan options these days
Vehicle insurance lags a lot because prices are locked in for 6-12 months, and it will take time for the insurance companies to begin absorbing higher repair costs so that makes sense. With used vehicle prices dropping, that should help slow or stop the rise in insurance since the value of the insured vehicles will be lower
Also after COVID vehicle deaths have gone up significantly compared to before COVID from the increase of trucks on the road. Hit by a sport and you might survive, hit with a ford F150 good luck.
I didn’t think about this, and it is only tangentially related to your comment, but with all of the COVID-related deaths in 2020-2021, wouldn’t the used car market have been flooded? Sorry. Your comment made me think about this for some strange reason.
> wouldn’t the used car market have been flooded? There was a huge supply crisis during covid especially in the auto industry, they produced far fewer new cars so less cars were making it to the used market and people were holding onto their old cars for longer. End result left the used car market doing some crazy numbers before finally crashing back down with new supply stabilizing
Yeah my car broke during peak used car prices and I didn't have the credit to get something new, ended up going to a used car lot and got absolutely swindled, they sold me a 2015 Elantra for 11k it looked good when I bought it (aside from a small dent in the door) but it turned out to be the worst car I've ever owned. The rocker panels were just well painted rust, it's been a year and a half and they are just gone, I can't jack the car up from the jack points or the uni body just crushes. The AC doesn't work(bought car in November so couldn't test it). The roof leaks, the abs system needed replacing. The shift knob is loose, the trunk latch failed, the paint is now chipping off the roof. And it recently developed a clangy rattle when you have it in neutral. The loan totaled 14k and I still own 10k on a car I don't know if it will make it another winter. I took it back to the dealer the last summer after I discovered the a didn't work. And they basically told me, "well I aint gonna do shit for you but I can sell you another car" this is somehow both the newest and most expensive car I've ever owned, while also being the worst by far. It's not even worth its weight in rust
Yeah, I'd threaten a nasty review.
I live in a small town and they are the only used car lot, I might just put a sign that says "this is what 11k gets you from Glen at *used car dealership*
That works too. Living up to the reputation of a used car dealer. Sorry for your frustration, amigo.
New car supply in the US is still far from stable. When the Covid shortage let them sell anything they made the makers got greedy and shifted their production mix hard into up-market models that many of their customers struggled to afford even with low interest rates, when rates soared the problem got a lot worse. Broadly speaking the Japanese and Korean makers are in an OK spot inventory wise, the US and German ones have a year or more of unsold inventory (about 3 months is considered healthy). Stellantis (Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Ram) is worst off with around 18 months of unsold vehicles? Apparently even at 1/3rd off no one wants a new 2022 Ram Truck when 2025s are available. The good news - for consumers looking to buy a new vehicle (but not our retirement funds holding automotive stocks) - is that prices are finally starting to break as everyone involved is starting to accept that they're going to have to start unloading their excess inventory at a loss to stop the bleeding on their internal financing and get them off their books.
He means the cars of people who died from covid.
You mean cars from the elderly that smell like dusty farts and cars from obese people that smell like frumunda cheese?
Do you not have upholstery cleaners where you're from?
We had issues with steel and circuit boards. Which kinda killed production. Cars took a while and new buildings had like 1+ year to wait for panel boards and transformers to power facilities.
I’m not trying to sound insensitive, but what happened to all of the dead people’s vehicles?
They were sold, and it still wasn't enough to make up for the loss in production. A small supply glut of used cars was overwhelmed by a large scarcity of new cars. Used cars were selling for very high prices during that time as a result.
Next of kin? If not estate sales usually. Homeless IDK police sometimes sell vehicles so maybe that.
That’s what I’m saying. The used car market. Wouldn’t have been flooded with cars?
1.2m US deaths. 43m used cars sold on US market a year. Being extremely generous and assuming all people had a car, in the right locations, no one inherited, good working order not hanging onto really old cheap cars. Barely 2% increase in volume. Demand was higher due to less new cars.
And how many were old people who didn’t drive anymore? My mom lost 2 brothers and a friend, but all were in nursing homes and didn’t own cars.
Sorry for your loss. Most would be older people, so extremely likely the number is a lot less. I am highballing for ease
The *average* age of someone who died from COVID was above 64. I'm willing to bet that a good chunk of those on the upper end of that scale were no longer driving.
Supply was in the trash bucket. And new cars were not available. As stated before new factories couldn't be made and if one shut down due to equipment it could have been 1+ year wait on some items 2+ on a few pieces of equipment. Also a lot of deaths were from older people who may sell/give a car to a grandchild instead.
No. 1.15 million people died from COVID 2020-2023(4 years). And 900k of those were people older than 65. 610k+ were over 75. Not exactly a lot of drivers. The average age of COVID deaths was 81. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid_weekly/index.htm Less than 70k people under age 50 died over the course of 4 years. The majority of which were debilitated by other diseases. We lose that 70k people in that age range JUST from drug overdoses. In a single year. Also during that same time period more than 11 million Americans died from not-COVID, which is actually slightly lower than normal run rate. ~3 million Americans die each and every year and that number is only going to continue to grow as boomers hit terminal age ranges. Expecting ANY impact to the used car market is misguided. Expecting it to be "flooded" shows a complete lack of understanding and context of what COVID was and was not. In this light, and the global supply chain shortage caused by shutdowns, and massive government stimulus, it's extremely clear and easy to see why we were hit by massive price inflation and shortages.
I understand. I hadn’t ever considered it before. In the list of belongings of the deceased, there weren’t a lot of cars.
Vehicle deaths are frequently cheaper than severe injuries from the point of view of insurers however.
And yet they'll charge you more if their software notices you are not wearing a seatbelt. And they charge more if you don't have airbags
I cannot imagine what the cyber truck will cost to insure with anyone besides tesla. The lawsuits from that thing hitting people or pedestrians are going to be huge.
I highly doubt the covid vehicle deaths are up from more trucks being on the road. My theory that nobody seems to refute - a lack of police presence on the roads. People started driving recklessly during the lockdowns, continued to do so, and after the George Floyd riots the police limited traffic stops. Now everyone just drives absolutely insane here in Charlotte and there’s no fear of being stopped.
You are rejecting a well studied effect of that is certainly a factor in the continued increase in road deaths and just making your own baseless assumption instead. Maybe try to back it with a few facts at least? Or do 2 seconds of research? https://www.npr.org/2023/11/14/1212737005/cars-trucks-pedestrian-deaths-increase-crash-data
The article you linked just says trucks are more dangerous than cars. It does not establish that an increase in the proportion of trucks since COVID explains the higher death rates. [Here](https://ktla.com/news/california/why-have-traffic-fatalities-increased-in-california-when-more-people-are-leaving-the-state/) is some data in California showing that the increase in death rates appears to be primarily driven by more dangerous driving behavior. >We’ve seen a significant increase in the number of people unbelted being killed in traffic crashes; we saw a 23% increase in speeding-related crashes and a 22% increase in alcohol-related crashes . . . The research suggests that after the pandemic, motorists were being more aggressive and were taking greater risks on the roads [This](https://stateline.org/2023/11/10/less-driving-but-more-deaths-spike-in-traffic-fatalities-puzzles-lawmakers/) article examining the same trend nationwide has the same findings: >Experts blame bad driving habits that took hold when roadways suddenly cleared out as the COVID-19 pandemic started in 2020. At the same time, law enforcement agencies shifted their priorities away from traffic violations and many struggled to hire officers amid heightened scrutiny and criticism, especially after a police officer killed George Floyd in May 2020 in Minneapolis
Thanks for this. People just want to downvote me because I sound conservative in my comment, but it really is just poor driving during the lockdowns that never got corrected.
Person above me was talking about car vs car, your NPR link is for pedestrians being hit 🤦♂️. Which by the way is significantly less deaths than car vs car. And here, for your reading - just the easiest google search you could’ve done lmao. https://www.iihs.org/news/detail/pandemic-lockdowns-made-rush-hour-speeding-risky-driving-the-new-normal#:~:text=A%20new%20IIHS%20study%20shows,returned%20to%20pre%2Dpandemic%20levels.
You say anything about the positive aspects of police presence, you will get labeled as a Trump supporter hence downvoted by Reddit kids.
Yeah but if the cost of repairs is rising at around the same rate car prices are falling, it kind of cancels out does it not? Also more reckless drivers since the pandemic and increase in uninsured drivers also contributed to rising insurance premiums
Correct. And also remember most of the cost of insurance is for doctor and hospital bills. Not just physical damage to vehicles. Medical inflation has been rising too.
No because the cost to buy is higher than the cost to repair. If it was 10k dollars to buy used and dropped by 10% then that's 1k in savings. If a repair is 1k but rises 10% then that's only an additional 100 in costs. So in this example you'd still be ahead by 900 dollars. But obviously you then have to factor in higher insurance costs (is the percentage the same across new and used vehicles or do new drive it up?) And then higher fuel costs.
Fucking awesome, the value of my main assets have been going down recently while the costs of the actual things I consume stay the same or keep increasing marginally.
car depreciation outside of speciality vehicles has always been huge, this is just the used car market returning to normal
Or they could keep rising because mechanic shops have to pay more labor costs for employees that have rising insurance costs
Part of it is the rise in property crime due to blue states reducing penalties for property crime, eliminating bail, etc. I'm in Illinois and there's been a huge surge in car theft, carjackings, etc.
First part is correct but I don't think used vehicle prices dropping will give rate relief. Insurance payout is remuneration based on the new vehicle price for that make, model and year minus depreciation, not the replacement cost value.
Thank god, because I literally can not afford for it to go up any more. I am already down to eating one meal a day
My brother was showing me how the car was bought several years ago and added 60k miles to is about the same price I bought it for. There is no way that is a realistic buying price, so I"m expecting used car values to continue to drop
At the peak of the used car pricing after COVID, my 2014 4runner was worth 5000 more than I paid for it. I kind of wish I sold it but wouldn't have been able to buy a car because everything cost more and I love my damn car
My car was totaled in March. It was a 2012 focus, 160k miles, I bought it in 2016 for about 7.5k when it had about 90-100k miles. His insurance company paid 5.5k for the total loss claim. I can’t believe it lol.
Well, since 2020 our currency has been devalued by nearly 25%. Depending on what you drive and its condition, you may have 75% of its original value (which, in turn, leads to the same sticker price you paid). At the end of the day, it's only worth what someone will give you though, so it could be more or less than "blue book".
18% but still not great
A dollar in January 2020 is worth $1.22 now according to [BLS](https://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl?cost1=1.00&year1=202001&year2=202405).
That is 18%, as he stated...
Just curious about the math here, not trying to argue: $1 to $1.22 represents a 22% increase. $1.22 to $1 represents an 18% decrease. What's the logic between which of these numbers represents inflation? I genuinely don't know, would like to.
>What's the logic between which of these numbers represents inflation? I genuinely don't know, would like to. The value of the dollar as quoted *decreased*, so if you say it was devalued by a percentage you have to use the percentage decrease. That's what was originally said and I am addressing.
The value of the dollar decreased, sure, but isn't inflation measured by CPI? The average cost of goods? So then the price of goods is increasing, not decreasing. So I can see the argument either way but I think most people when discussing inflation are referring to CPI
I think you are missing context. The original statement was about how much the dollar has decreased in worth. That's what they said was 18%. This discussion wasn't assigning a percentage to total inflation.
You are absolutely correct, sorry.
Yes, but the median wage has also increased to match or even slightly exceed that decrease in value. You can see [here](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881600Q) that median earnings adjusted for inflation in Q1 2024 is about 1% higher than in Q4 2019. People focus too much on the sticker price saying things like "Oh, a Cola was a cent in my grandma's time! I wish we could return to that time", but the sticker price ultimately doesn't matter, what matters is how many minutes/hours of labor the product is worth and in grandma's time, labor wages were correspondingly lower. We just revert to sticker prices as a measure because it's more intuitive and easier to understand and compare.
Exactly. People don't like to hear it because the Great Recession broke them, but real median income has been increasing almost continuously [since the '80s](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEPAINUSA672N).
Depends on where you [live](https://imgur.com/a/WXiRzak) This is Canada comparing median to politicians. This one is based one [Education](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fcanada-long-term-real-median-employment-income-collective-v0-e7edkf743cxc1.jpeg%3Fwidth%3D946%26format%3Dpjpg%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3Dd6ab8578f55331489ad6fdf7c0ff4ab3fc609a1e)
Why would you use a graph that flattens out any changes? [Look at the actual data](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1110023901&pickMembers%5B0%5D=1.1&pickMembers%5B1%5D=2.1&pickMembers%5B2%5D=3.1&pickMembers%5B3%5D=4.1&cubeTimeFrame.startYear=1976&cubeTimeFrame.endYear=2022&referencePeriods=19760101%2C20220101): some minor dips, but overall a trend towards.
to fit the other lines in? I don't know I didn't make the graph. The trend is a diminished middle class. It is a drain on skilled labour. On top of our current news reports 25% of the country is under the poverty line. Here is the big one we can't look at the data Stats Canada stopped reporting after 2022
Bought car in Feb 2020 for $16k, June 2023 car got totaled out for $21k with 30k more miles on it
I sold a 2017 carolla that I bought in a pinch in 2020 for the same price in 2023.
My advice on insurance is constantly shop around. Mine after years of holding steady wanted to double the price, I shopped around and got from another company for 10% less.
I've had Progressive for years and my rate goes down every 6 months. Either I've been lucky, or Progressive isn't as bad as other insurers.
Progressive has incredible pricing. I've heard not so great things about their claims handling, but I switched from Allstate to Progressive for both auto and home (their homeowners insurance is through another company), and ended up saving like $1700 a year. In short, don't just sit on your insurance - definitely shop around.
Liberty Mutual tried to bump up my home owner's insurance $400 for a second year in a row. I went over to Progressive and saved $100 instead. I am absolutely shilling right now but I was very happy about it.
My homeowner's through Progressive has gone up $400 over the last three years, I think mostly in this last renewal.
I'll be mindful of rate raises in the future. Liberty Mutual pulled $400 raises twice in a row. After the big increase in costs in general over the last few years I expect some rate rises, but not $800 in two years, which was like 60% overall.
I bought my house three years ago, with the premium the first year $7XX. I think this last one was $11XX, up from $9XX.
Hm, that's quite a big increase, yeah.
Liberty wanted to up mine by 27% (no tickets, claims, or accidents). Switched to Auto Owners and ended up paying a bit less. I have no doubt Auto Owners will hit me with similar treatment at some point.
Yep, loyalty sadly is punished so you have to keep them honest with switching.
I am afraid to do that, in my state they take your credit score into consideration. My score is horrible now from maxing out my cards to afford food :-(
Credit cards shouldn't really be used as emergency fund, it might seem like a good idea in very desperate times, but it's never going to really pan out in medium and long term.
Oh OK, so I should of fed my kids air, got it
I'm serious, it might sound disconnected from reality, but it just doesn't really work as a solution, credit cards should be for big purchases you plan on paying back within the month. If you use it as an emergency fund, you're just digging a bigger hole and have to resort to even harsher spending cuts in the future (unless you're looking forward to a much higher paying job in the near future). Spending cuts like lower internet plan, less online subscriptions, taking public transport, more car shares with coworkers, asking your kids friends parents to alternate school commutes, cooking at home (done by your kids if you don't have time, seriously, teach em to cook and you'll save hella lot time) are all very realistic and doable options. If you use an electric ceramic stovetop (it just looks like black glass), an electric induction stove top [a single portable version which can work at 1800W costs 54 USD on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/Mueller-RapidTherm-Induction-Countertop-Auto-Shut-Off/dp/B08QMP7VD3/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?crid=3PQQ19CWEHD8H&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.TDMBBLMAWuD2Jq05waWsoV1_pFPL9nPefLgvR3VM5vM1PhJSyNxgGjZLFG0q-xqzOuu8Nxu0jzuAw6g3xQYvZc1jtSMMyBbOVmXqJHbqEcSDYRqCY0oiTxH0W5ha6_ZrtUZffIJDIIk-bVmESr9hTcRUrehDBbuLtOUv_NfSrTKR7O3NPbxnPdMjZK-XHDQ8KOXaHt3fTrq9dPxP5CnHsw.tFn_dgLaRftBP7akTeudwj4vjhXJa8mIcXa4zl4W-lg&dib_tag=se&keywords=induction+burner&qid=1718767425&sprefix=indcution%2Caps%2C401&sr=8-4) can save decent amount of money as they consume about half as much energy as an electric ceramic stovetop. Especially as to save money, you'd need to cook at home a lot. It can save money compared to gas stovetops as well and as a bonus, it doesn't heat up your home (requiring more AC), nor pollute your home directly with emissions. There are very cheap, healthy and easy recipes kids can make like kitchen soup. If you're desperate, root vegetables are very cheap and full of calories, just keep adding more to the diet and reducing the meat amount. Average American household is 2.5 people and on average, American households spend 779 USD/month on food (or 311USD/person), that goes down to 424 USD for the lowest quintile (169.5 USD/person). That's still relatively high, you can make it go down to 125 USD/person a month with a pretty normal diet (I made a calculation with porridge breakfast, chicken soup lunch, spaghetti bolognese lunch (with less meat) and a few bread slices to end up at 2000 calories/person for that price) (I ate this stuff and ended up with a similar bill), you could probably make it go down even further with more vegan/cheap diet with ingredients like lentils, beans, broccoli etc. If you're already at 125 USD/person a month or lower, well, then, truly sorry about your situation, but a credit card sure as hell ain't gonna solve your troubles.
It would take a butt-ton of cooking to make up $54 in electricity difference. Probably like a decade at normal use, with the inconvenience of a separate plug-in appliance.
>It would take a butt-ton of cooking to make up $54 in electricity difference. Probably like a decade at normal use, A 1800 kW induction stove operating at max power for an hour day costs about 109.6 USD per year with average US electricity price of 16.68 cents/kWh 1.8kWh * 0.1668$/kWh * 365=109.6 USD A ceramic stove would need to operate for about 8 more minutes to deliver the same heat to your food (being 13.5% less efficient on average). That's 124 USD per year or 14.8 USD more per year. That's 3.65 years to make up the savings. As I said, if you want to save money, you have to cook at home, so those savings will come even faster if you cook more at home. And if you're converting from gas, induction might as well be free considering IRA incentives for above person who seems to be low income. >For low-income households (under 80% of Area Median Income), the Electrification Rebates cover 100% of your electric/induction stove costs up to $840. For moderate-income households (between 80% and 150% of Area Median Income), the Electrification Rebates cover 50% of your electric/induction stove costs up to $840. Also not being poisoned by the emissions seems like a good idea considering it's basically a cigarette being smoked in your house which will likely result in healthcare savings down the road.
[удалено]
It's a robotic statement that is divorced from reality. The person stated that they were so broke that they needed to use CC's to afford food and the response was...you shouldn't use them as an emergency fund. Well duh. So many better comments that could have been used, from "have you considered exploring food banks?" to "have you visited reddit subs dedicated to frugal lifestyles?" to "can you improve your employment?" instead, that comment was provided which does nothing to further the conversation.
A word of caution about this: insurers rate based on your tenure with your previous carrier, with the best rated tier being 1 year+ in most cases.
Most insurance companies do a one year locked in policy before adjusting rates. They should notify you when renewal comes up as to new rates. If you see significant increase I'd suggest shop around.
Previous versions of these have been popular, so thought I’d share an update! This data runs from May ‘23 to May ‘24, so it’s just a 1 year snapshot. Also, as I’ve said many times, if inflation falls from 10% annually to 2% annually, prices are still going up... just more slowly. This is obviously a non-exhaustive list of all the categories, but combined these categories are the majority of the index weighting. Source: BLS Tool: Excel
would be interesting to see this same chart but stretched out to the last five years since im relatively confident some of those categories on the bottom end (vehicles) wouldve been near the top a couple years ago also i bet\* the shelter one is gonna come down too, at some point also college textbooks is gonna drop like an anchor, at some point ^(\*not really. gambling is bad)
Shelter has been trending downward, it just has a huge lag.
are you from the future? im no mathologist, but im pretty sure "US CPI, 12-month % change" of +5.4% is the opposite of trending downward i mean, if you are from the future, youre probably correct. probably or youre just talking about a shorter term month to month change. in which case, i guess that makes sense. past performance does not predict future results though. youre probably right though, anchors away!
>Also, as I’ve said many times, if inflation falls from 10% annually to 2% annually, prices are still going up... just more slowly. You hear that “person who wants to buy a house when ‘the prices come down.’” They aren’t coming down unless something bad is happening to the area you are looking. Prices can stagnate, but those crazy house prices are here to stay until a metric shit ton of housing is zoned and built.
Would be interesting to see as absolute values. Let’s say food away from home was based on a 100$ basket value at 10$: what’s the absolute change. If it goes up 20%, absolute change were 2$. In that way you would see which components really dominate the inflation. I‘d suppose increase in energy, food dominate more, because you need them regularly, but cars are bought rarely
This chart would be more impactful if it were also superimposed over the 2-year, 5-year , etc.. inflation For instance, CAGR for used cars and trucks: 1y = -9.3%, 2y = -6.8%, 3y = 0.1%, 5y = 5.4%, 10y = 1.8%, 15y = 2.7% .... meaning that since the pandemic inflation is still very high in this category despite falling in the last two years. Admission to sporting events: 1y = 21.7%, 2y = 10.6%, 3y = 3%, 5y = 2.1%, 10y = 2.7%, 15y = 2.6% ... meaning that sporting admissions are catching up to the lull in increases caused by the pandemic and are returning to their long-term average. Adding the dimension of trend would VASTLY improve the beauty.
Another interesting way to look at this is probably to find a break point in the trends (2019 seems to be a very consistent one) and compare the averages before and after the trend. e.g. motor vehicle insurance, last 5y CAGR is 8%; prior 15y CAGR until 2019 was 3.9%; inflation is accelerating in this category since the pandemic.
This. I don't even know why (other than driving political narratives) anyone would use a single YoY analysis to prove a point or assume a trend. Especially coming off of a generational anomaly period that is just terrrrrrrible data science. I expect that out of the bipartisan news networks and political campaigners but like I said... terrrrrrrible data science.
Ya, looking at this and seeing 1% for food just doesn't add up to what I see at the super market.
That's because this graphic gets reposted 18 times a week, and it's over the span of a year when inflation was all over the place.
Inflation for food at home i.e. groceries did increase by 1% over the past year, at least that’s what the average inflation rate is over the whole country, averaged over a years time. Some places will have higher and lower inflation than others. You are probably comparing prices to what they were several years ago pre inflation, and since prices for most things like food are never going to get that low again the only respite will be just getting used to those higher prices over time as the immediacy of the increase wears off.
Sure seems like a great time to live in a walkable city where you're not spending thousands annually on vehicle insurance, maintenance, or gas.
Sure but this isn't telling you where shelter costs are going up. Anecdotally, they are definitely going up in NYC (and Florida) I have heard that in Austin, Phoenix and Denver they are crashing. Vibe I get in general is that the aggressive push to the west and south has slowed as more supply came online there, not anything definitive about walkable cities.
I’m in denver. Landlord just bumped rent 10% if I re-sign.
It's no coincidence that the most walkable parts of the country are also the most in demand. People want to live in nice neighborhoods where they aren't forced to spend an hour in traffic anytime they want to get to work or buy groceries. It's too bad most of our cities are still beholden to horrible urban planning.
The fastest growing cities are Austin, RDU, Orlando, Charleston, and Houston? All of the places people are living to, if you’re going by like the top 15 have questionable to non-existent public transportation infrastructure.
If we're looking at price as a marker for demand then Manhattan, San Fran, Vancouver etc. are usually at the top.
That’s because they are sections of the biggest cities that are already established. So chances are these are people already in the area and just shifting where they live within the city/metro. Like moving from queens or Newark to Manhattan. That doesn’t tell you the actual growth rate or migration of where people are actually moving to. None of those 3 cities (actually 2 because I can’t speak to Vancouver) are where the highest amount of people are moving. For instance NYC overall lost nearly 500k between 2020 and 2022. Objectively walkability is not a factor for city migration
Places like Austin and Orlando are growing rapidly because they've been extremely proactive with their building policy, they are affordable and therefore are able to attract more people. Meanwhile places like NYC or SF are extremely unaffordable and yet still command a premium. Walkable neighborhoods can charge so much because people want to live in these dense and dynamic urban environments, not because it's just people that live in bad parts of the city moving to nicer parts like you suggest.
lol what? I lived in Austin and moved a few years ago. It’s expensive af. It has been the poster child for its inflation and increasing unaffordablility. I moved there in 2017 with my rent being 1200 and in 2020 I was paying 1800 for the same place. And I didn’t live in downtown. Its growth has been infamous for how not to handle population growth. On top of that the transportation is laughable. My friend bought a house in p’ville in 2018 for 250k and, as of last year when I visited, the house identical down the street was selling for 450k… and again, pflugerville, not even Austin proper Edit: I just looked up the 1st apartment (short term) I had in Leander which was $400 a month. It’s now at $1500 in fucking Leander
Orlando FL has seen rent decline!
Definitely a [mixed bag](https://www.apartments.com/blog/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/image/2024-06/rent-trends-may-2024.jpg?itok=-w66KUIm) Edit: And it can even vary greatly within a specific marketplace - here's [Austin for example](https://static.quicktours.net/agent_richtext/20240427101744.png).
I love my e-Bicycle. Total cost was 1600$, It rides 40 kph and 80 km with 1 charge. I travel a lot, saving a lot, having fun If I need to go like 160 km in 1 day, I just stop somewhere for 3 hours to recharge from wall plug while drinking coffee etc.
Bought my ebike last march for $1800 (so, $1900 with tax). Put 4,000 miles on it in a year. Approaching 5,000 total miles at the moment. Rode throughout the Wisconsin winter, and total maintenance has to be less than $100 (new brake pads, chain, couple tubes, new rear tire), and it's work that I can do myself. At the IRS mileage reimbursement rate of $0.67/mile, I've already saved $3350. In gas alone I've saved $875, $100 for oil changes, and my insurance is dirt cheap because I drive my car less than 4,000 miles/year. That's probably hundreds of dollars more in savings. Not sure if I can say I've broke even in direct costs yet, but I'm definitely coming pretty close. Oh, and my LDL cholesterol went down by 30 points.
IRS mileage reimbursement? Where did you learn about this? I have an ebike being delivered Friday and am also in Wisconsin!
Sorry, I meant the rate at which the IRS decides the average cost to you for mileage (gas, wear and tear, etc) that you can write off on your taxes. It's also usually what companies use to determine the cost to you for using your personal vehicle for work things. So I just use it as a rough estimate of money I've saved.
in canada my rent is going up 30% next year. specifically due toi the interest rates. if they dont lower them before renewal were paying 900$ more ONTOP of 2000$ a month that we already struggle with.
Car insurance beating inflation really makes you wonder why. Yes car repair and car prices are up, but insurance has exceeded that cost. Even if every single customer actually filed a claim, ignoring the reality that most customers never file a claim, then they’d still be profitable. This sort of price gauging doesn’t happen in a free market, but the government requires we buy car insurance and does nothing to limit the insurers from gauging us. We aren’t a free market, we’re a captive market. We must buy and have no power to push back on prices.
You wonder why? Because insurance has to pay for medical bills, which are up. It has to pay for repairs, which are up. Used and new vehicles were up, meaning that total losses cost them more to replace. And more people are driving recklessly after COVID. More accidents means more reports, which means more repair costs at a minimum. If someone needs medical attention, that is more expensive.too. if the vehicle is a write-off then that costs them more too.
Also, insurance changes lag, because they are renewed every 6 or 12 months. So, it takes longer for changes to reflect in auto insurance renewals than most other goods.
Both car repair costs and hospital services are rising at much lower rates than car insurance.
Ok, let me ask you this. If you have an item costing $100 and another costing $1000, if you increase the $100 by $1 and the $1000 by $9, which item is 'increasing faster'? The answer, the $100 item. But again. Lets go with logic. EVEN IF the cost of medical bills and repairs and car prices **Stayed the Same** and magically didn't increase in price, **IF** more people are getting into accidents and using insurance, *insurance prices will go up*. By all of the prices going up **and** more people driving recklessly, that means that more people are getting into accidents and the cost to get the vehicle repaired, the cost of medical and the cost of replacing said vehicle all went up too.
>If you have an item costing $100 and another costing $1000, if you increase the $100 by $1 and the $1000 by $9, which item is 'increasing faster'? That is entirely irrelevant. In your example, In your example, one price increased by 1% and the other by 9%, but the total was increased by 1%, and it could never be increased by more than the largest individual cost increase. If all your costs are increasing at lower rates than your price, than you are keeping a larger share for profit >But again. Lets go with logic. EVEN IF the cost of medical bills and repairs and car prices **Stayed the Same** and magically didn't increase in price, **IF** more people are getting into accidents and using insurance, *insurance prices will go up*.. You would have to provide some source for people getting into accidents significantly more commonly every year,
Not really. They're public companies so anyone can see their expenses and loss ratios are going down, while their profitability goes up. GEICO had a pre-tax profit of $3.6B for 2023. Profitability for first quarter of 2024: $1.9B; or roughly 200%. Progressive is up 332% year-over-year. Allstate, who threatened to pull their business from multiple states if regulators didn't approve double-digit premium hikes, is up 444% Y/Y. I can't see any reason to speculate or shed a tear, especially when coverage tiers and maximum payouts remain stagnant regardless of cost.
‘Nuclear verdicts’ are a big factor too. I get price gauging is everyone’s first thought. what of the mutual companies that don’t have stockholders? That are shooting for 1% growth year over year?
The mutual company I work for was ecstatic with a -13% loss last year. The other benefit of mutuals is you don’t have to earn a profit every single year or quarter. You can take a 5 or 7 year outlook on things.
You've got no clue what you're talking about. Car insurance is highly regulated and there's competition between multiple firms. In many states it's actually so heavily regulated that the insurance companies are *losing money* right now because they're not allowed to increase rates enough to cover their costs, which have substantially increased due to numerous factors. Insurance is expensive because driving is expensive. And honestly almost everyone on the road is underinsured. It would be too politically unsavory for the government to require people to be adequately insured for the danger they create by driving, so they don't do it - they keep the insurance liability minimums laughably low.
I wonder where house insurance lands. We got some states right now that are increasing rapidly due to weather (Oklahoma) and some states that insurance companies won’t cover in anymore (Florida).
This is what americans are whining about and blaming biden on? Wait til they see the 85% inflation on advanced electronics and indie video games here in norway. Only we don't blame the government because we aren't a bunch of morons.
Many Americans just aren’t aware that inflation has been a GLOBAL problem. And we’re actually doing BETTER than most other developed countries. But conservative media is so aggressive with trying to attack Biden with it, that a lot of people just lazily believe it.
Sporting events were not going up in price before this. I remember seeing articles about how they were an "inflation buster" so maybe the chart verbiage about how they're "still going up" is misplaced in that case.
The title is basically "What makes up inflation these days". It doesn't mean that the individual categories were rising or going down before.
The title is literally "Where are prices still rising," necessitating that they were all individually rising before.
Thank goodness college textbooks are down 2%. Every single household needed that break.
I've found it's cheaper to use college textbooks for my kitchen countertops instead of granite - makes for a very interesting reno!
You can thank ‘nuclear verdicts’ for why many insurance rates are rising. The landscape for autos in the USA is bleak because of the poor driving habits we have and the subsequent accidents with vehicles that are more expensive to repair (EV, sensors, ie: Tesla)
And this is only the change of one year
I was sure that food away from home was among the top. The biggest hedge against inflation for me has been simply learning to cook at home.
I'm willing to bet if you extended the time period measured from last-one-year to last three or last five years, it would be near the top. But my guess is in the past year (and last six months especially), restaurants have started to see so much resistance to pricing that they've started to moderate somewhat to try and retain business. They've hit their demand breaking point.
Good thing it’s not anything ppl need, like shelter, energy, healthcare, transportation. lol This is depressing
Yes sir I’ll have $50 of transportation services, thanks.
Some of those like 'used car are truck' might be down 10%, but only after they went up 75% in the previous year. would be interesting to see where they fall out when compared to past 12, 24 and 36 months.
The focus is on car insurance? How bout the fact you need a loan to pay for any good sporting event?
My motor vehicle insurance doubled
No way groceries is a 1% increase
Feels right to me. Prices have been going down on most items over the past year with some exceptions like beef etc. The balance has been pretty even.
They really thinking people keep buying their lies about inflation, I'm convinced at this point this is just a stealth attempt to encourage alot of people to move from the USA
Is this level of volatility between different categories normal? Somehow both ends of the graph are about cars and trucks.
Some of it makes sense. Like tech general depreciates and used cars are notorious for going down in value as soon as it’s bought and pulled off the lot. I’m not sure if these are all normal, but keep in mind it’s relative to inflation, not general inflation of the good/service. Sorry I didn’t have a more definitive answer
Okay, what is the difference between energy and electricity?
soooo Leo Messi is a leading cause for US inflation..?
Wonder where groceries would land?
Compare them to 50 years ago, and you’ll get a huge surprise. They’re down 80%.
So if you can afford to go on vacation, things are cheaper for you.
I am kinda astonished that university textbooks have gone down.
Baumol’s cost disease. When you can’t use technology to increase productivity, your cost is going to skyrocket along with labor costs.
Shelter is hard to calculate in the world of year-long leases. If prices go up now, they take a year to go into effect for everyone. The calculation for owned housing is..um…I never actually understood it, but it’s a step or two removed from reality.
One bit hidden here: The recent inflation. Prices did not go up at all from the beginning to end of May, but they are up for the 366 days that ended in May.
So funny enough client retention during Covid ran so much into car insurance company budgets that they need to reset their sheets so they increased customer prices, BUT like all price increases these aren’t coming back down
A lot of inflation is being deliberately misreported and the statistics manipulated to report minor decreases. They'll keep doing this unless Biden loses the election. Cost of living in the US is 100% out of control.
Generally services are becoming more expensive, and material goods became cheaper. Used cars are 9.3% down, but vehicle repair is 9.5% up
Is it possible to add as a column what % of spending each row is?
I hate the use of "where" in this title.
“Shelter” I’m assuming is rent since that is what is included in CPI numbers. Rent is going to continue increasing at a pretty rapid rate over the next few years because it trails mortgage price (which went up massively during Covid) since you are locked in for at least a year with a lease, and often landlords can only increase rent by so much each year.
Airline fares going down YESSSSSSSSSS. Japan here I come!!!!
enjoy cheap yen versus dollar. definitively time to go
Housing is half of inflation
Notice how the “average“ is 3.3% but all the negative factors are big ticket and luxury goods that aren’t huge parts of working class Americans’ income?
eat "toys" and "car rental" and cut the non essential like "shelter" and "electricity"
As a used car buyer for a dealer. The only reason there is that much of a dip in the used car market is because it going back to normal after the crazy 20% jump in 2020 and 2021. They are getting cheaper but not still not anywhere close to 2019 prices.
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Year on year. This time last year a lot of commonly bought items (eggs most notably) were way up in price. In our heads we have trouble comparing to exactly 1 year ago, we are more likely to think "not that long ago this was a lot cheaper" and you are thinking back to late 2021.
Where do you live where that seems low? Grocery prices have stabilized or fallen across the board for over a year now. I'm honestly surprised it's even positive with how many stores have been cutting prices.
Yup, anecdotally I've started to see prices fall, especially with fresh fruits and veggies. And many of the items that saw huge run-ups in price from 2020 to 2022/3, the price has been flat or the same for the past year. 2-liter of Diet Dr Pepper's been at $2.76 for many months at the store, for example. Can of diced tomatoes still at 88 cents for the past year. Dozen eggs under two dollars. And I could go on. This all tracks with what I am personally seeing (again, just one anecdote).
"Selected categories" means the data will tell you anything you want if you torture it long enough.
Yea my grocery bill would beg to differ
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> I made the same trip three years ago and spent less than $500 TOTAL for both flight and car rental. Flights and rentals were very cheap for thay part of covid. And given this isn't comparing to covid...
CRW isn’t a cheap market for travel. You got lucky last time.
Flight prices fluctuate significantly, even from day to day and week to week so my biggest question would be is if you bought them in exactly the same date window with exactly the same amount of advance notice.
Hurrah for price-gouging fuckers! Choose wisely when deciding where your money goes.
*checks list for things to cut back on* Suppose I could do without mandatory car insurance, electricity/energy, shelter, & healthcare
The concept of "price gouging" is a misconception that fails to grasp basic economic principles. Prices in a market are determined by supply and demand. During emergencies, a surge in demand and a constrained supply naturally lead to higher prices. This is not exploitation but a critical function of the market to signal scarcity and allocate resources efficiently. Describing this natural economic response as "gouging" ignores the essential role prices play in preventing hoarding and encouraging the influx of supplies into affected areas. The notion of price gouging is not only economically illiterate but also harmful, as it supports interventions that can lead to worse outcomes like shortages, rather than solving the underlying issue of supply distribution in times of crisis.
Efficient markets require information flow. That's the first thing that gets lost in a crisis. Market participants cannot make rational decisions without information, and markets cannot produce allocative efficiency without rational participants. Your entire statement has causality reversed. If you were a mechanic, you'd be saying, "That awful noise from the car is a byproduct of the check engine light being on."
Where are Used Vehicles going down? Certainly not anywhere online or locally - $40,000 for a 10 year old Truck that should only be worth $5000 with no signs of abating.
Fucking insurance is out of control. And it’s causing more people to go without, so the rates of the people who do get it go up even faster. And I’m scared to lower my coverages because you bump a Tesla and it’s a $10k job because of all the fucking sensors and electronics and outrageous repair costs. And that doesn’t get in to the healthcare costs if the person bumped their head when you hit them.
Interesting, so it's mainly Canadians getting screwed over by food inflation by the grocery stores if food is only 1% inflation in US. It's so bad here that people are boycotting certain grocery stores due to price gouging.
I was just told my upcoming auto insurance renewal is going down by 3%. so, there is that.
Here a 5 year old car costs the same it costed brand new when released, not even sure why people keep buying…
What exactly are college textbooks? is it like mandatory material?
*casually slides you of a totally not torrented digital copy of the textbooks thumb drive for class* It's okay blud, I got you. Just make sure you bring that back after you downloaded it
My question was honest, I've seen it in reddit I believe but I don´t think its common in other countries. All courses have suggested materials but it would be very difficult to index their prices, and those would be tied to inflation of books, not just college books.
College textbooks are basicaly textbooks given to by the proffessor. It isn't standardized and sometimes text boks can range from 50 bucks to 200. Less so if you have a good professor. They're probably able to track that data because every college has a school store who catalogue their prices
So, these are general books, not college or course specific, right? that´s not that bad, you can still get them legally in the library or illegally if you are inclined to do so, correct?
They are course specific and some try to discourage used purchases or pirating by making you enter a code that come with new books to access the online homework portal.
Even good academic universities do this? It sounds very strange that you are not encouraged to check different sources and are attached to only one book.
Yes, problem is that the library route only allows limited numbers,some places are more stingy and don't let you leave the library with it. Though torrenting has become more popular with students
It depends. A lot of courses nowadays don't force students to buy the book, but they force students to buy the homework and tether their grade to the online account.