If it seems like your car insurance bills keep rising, guess what, you're right.
A study by the Austin based insurance comparison site TheZebra.com shows San Antonio car insurance rates have jumped 44% since 2011, more than double the 20% increase nationwide, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
TheZebra.com analyst Alyssa Connolly says to figure out why, just look out the window of your car next time you drive down Loop 410. A combination of the growing population, lower gas prices, and a booming economy means more drivers on the road.
"You have a lot more people on the road, they are getting in more collisions, and filing more claims, and that is raising rates."
And those claims are due to more than highway accidents. She says auto theft and vandalism levels figure strongly into insurance rates, as does the weather. Allstate recently ranked Bexar County as the 11th worst county in the state when it comes to wind and hail incidents which cause auto damage, and auto claims.
The average San Antonio annual auto insurance premium in 2018 is $1816. That is actually right at the statewide average, and cheaper than what drivers pay in Houston or Dallas Ft. Worth.
"The rates of uninsured drivers, despite the fact that buying car insurance is mandatory, is higher in those areas too, which means there are many drivers who can't share in those claims," Connolly said.
Auto insurance actuaries actually price your insurance police down to the block level, based everything from weather claims to auto theft statistics on your block.
Broken down by ZIP code, the most expensive car insurance in the San Antonio metro is 78237, which is the Westover Hills area on the northwest side. Other super high cost ZIPS include 78226, which is on the southwest side near the former Kelly Air Force Base, and 78211, which is the South San ISD area.
"Whether that has to do with rates of auto theft, or whether that has to do with weather events, or more accidents."
The cheapest car insurance in the metro is, not surprisingly, in more rural areas. 78123, which is the Lake McQueeny area, has the cheapest car insurance in metro San Antonio, following by 78124 (Marion) and 78130 and 78132, both in New Braunfels.
But it could be a lot worse. TheZebra.com says the most expensive car insurance in the whole country is in a ZIP code in Detroit, where motorists pay more than $5,000 a year for car insurance.
And watch out. Connally says the impact of Hurricane Harvey, with its famous photos of thousands of cars buried up to their roofs in water, hasn't started to impact our car insurance rates yet.
Just wait until next year.