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2024 LexisNexis Demand Meter: A hot market for new car insurance policies
Quarterly LexisNexis report shows that shopping for car insurance remains strong with more consumers buying auto policies in the first quarter of 2024.
Expert Opinion & Commentary
Written by:
Adam Pichon
Industry Expert
Adam Pichon is senior vice president and general manager of U.S. Vertical Markets for LexisNexis Risk Solutions’ Insurance business. He is responsible for leading the U.S. auto and home lines of business, developing strategic alliances and driving the creation of new products, from concept generation to introduction to the market. Adam has been with LexisNexis Risk Solutions since 2014.
His insurance industry experience includes product management and predictive modeling roles at auto insurance carriers and work on the vendor side, developing and managing new solutions for the property and casualty insurance market.
Reviewed by:
Laura Longero
Executive Editor
Laura is an award-winning editor with experience in content and communications covering auto insurance and personal finance. She has written for several media outlets, including the USA Today Network. She most recently worked in the public sector for the Nevada Department of Transportation.
The LexisNexis Insurance Demand Meter – a quarterly report that provides insights into U.S. auto insurance shopping and switching behavior based on billions of shopping transactions – reveals significant trends for automotive insurers and consumers as they navigate the rest of the year.
U.S. consumer auto insurance shopping continues to register as “hot” with 2.9% growth in the first quarter of 2024 year-over-year, following a 4.7% year-over-year increase in the previous quarter. The first quarter of 2024 experienced an 8.7% rise in new policies year-over-year, up from 7.0% year-over-year growth in the last quarter.
This marks the seventh consecutive quarter and the 20th straight month where new policies have outpaced shopper growth. Keep reading to learn what this says about insurance trends as the year continues.
Written by:
Adam Pichon
Industry Expert
Adam Pichon is senior vice president and general manager of U.S. Vertical Markets for LexisNexis Risk Solutions’ Insurance business. He is responsible for leading the U.S. auto and home lines of business, developing strategic alliances and driving the creation of new products, from concept generation to introduction to the market. Adam has been with LexisNexis Risk Solutions since 2014.
His insurance industry experience includes product management and predictive modeling roles at auto insurance carriers and work on the vendor side, developing and managing new solutions for the property and casualty insurance market.
Reviewed by:
Laura Longero
Executive Editor
Laura is an award-winning editor with experience in content and communications covering auto insurance and personal finance. She has written for several media outlets, including the USA Today Network. She most recently worked in the public sector for the Nevada Department of Transportation.
This year’s tax season provided a boost, bringing more uninsured consumers back into the market, even though their purchase rates were lower than historical averages. In Q1 2024, the influx of new drivers outpaced the number of departures during the same period.
Additionally, 2024’s leap day gave consumers an extra day to shop, contributing to the high volume of activity. This calendar shift potentially made March an outlier, with shopping growth turning negative due to February’s extra day, which resulted in fewer workdays and more weekends in March.
Adjusted for this anomaly, March would have seen a positive gain of 6%. Nonetheless, the annual shop rate at the end of the quarter – 42% – was still higher than 2023’s overall rate of 41%.
Long-term customers bucked trends and shopped for new policies in 2024
Since 2022, loyal and long-tenured consumers – those consumers who have been with their insurer for 10+ consecutive years – have entered the market in record numbers. In the first quarter of 2024, this group accounted for 24% of shoppers, marking a 54% increase compared to Q1 2021 when they accounted for less than 20% of shoppers.
To take advantage of sustained shopping growth expected to continue through most of 2024, insurers will be keeping a close eye on renewals within existing portfolios.
Older drivers are shopping more than other age groups
In Q1 2024, senior drivers 66 and older led all other age groups in shopping growth. As premium costs rise and many older drivers live on fixed incomes, they are increasingly motivated to shop around for better rates.
What’s in store for car insurance shopping for the rest of the year?
Though shopping has remained high through the first three months of 2024, it has not outpaced shopping growth from Q4 2023. With that in mind, Q2 2024 could serve as a litmus test as to whether the market could see a slowdown in shopping like last year or if there will be a shift in traditional consumer shopping behavior.
Fewer large rate increases are being implemented by many insurers, but will traditionally loyal consumers continue to shop knowing there may be opportunities to save in the future?
If so, this could present another shift in the shopping paradigm. Those insurers with a measured approach to acquiring the right new business and retaining their most profitable business are poised to gain market share as the industry continues to climb back to profitability.
– Adam Pichon is the senior vice president and general manager of auto insurance and claims at LexisNexis Risk Solutions.
The opinions expressed by outside experts in CarInsurance.com’s “Expert Opinion & Commentary” section reflect those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of CarInsurance.com, its parent company QuinStreet Inc. or any of its affiliates and employees. Our editors review these articles and monitor them for accuracy after they've been posted, but the insurance industry sees constant rate changes, regulatory shifts, and other changes. Readers should always check an insurance company's website or contact.
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Laura Longero
Executive Editor
Laura is an award-winning editor with experience in content and communications covering auto insurance and personal finance. She has written for several media outlets, including the USA Today Network. She most recently worked in the public sector for the Nevada Department of Transportation.
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John McCormick
Editorial Director
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Leslie Kasperowicz
Executive Editor
Leslie Kasperowicz is an insurance educator and content creation professional with nearly two decades of experience first directly in the insurance industry at Farmers Insurance and then as a writer, researcher, and educator for insurance shoppers writing for sites like ExpertInsuranceReviews.com and InsuranceHotline.com and managing content, now at CarInsurance.com.
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Nupur Gambhir
Managing Editor
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Adam Pichon
Industry Expert
Adam Pichon is senior vice president and general manager of U.S. Vertical Markets for LexisNexis Risk Solutions’ Insurance business. He is responsible for leading the U.S. auto and home lines of business, developing strategic alliances and driving the creation of new products, from concept generation to introduction to the market. Adam has been with LexisNexis Risk Solutions since 2014.
His insurance industry experience includes product management and predictive modeling roles at auto insurance carriers and work on the vendor side, developing and managing new solutions for the property and casualty insurance market.