ARKANSAS, USA — The butterflies you feel when you buy a new car are starting to fade away for most Arkansans as they realize you need Insurance to drive it off the lot.

“If something were to happen, if you were to be in a bad vehicle accident, it’s important that you paid for that insurance so that way you’re not in an even worse spot when that comes on later down the road,” Little Rock’s Dennis Bost State Farm Marketing Manager Madison Schalk said. “That can be exponentially more expensive.”

Arkansas law requires every automobile owner to have liability coverage. According to Schalk, insurance agencies nationwide have seen Car Insurance rates go up.

“We’ve had quite a bit of claims related to weather, to natural disasters between hail, wind, all kinds of things, and so companies are having to raise rates right now just to compensate for that,” Schalk said. “That way, we all know that we’re putting in enough to be covered when we have to file a claim.”

Schalk said another factor could be the increase in crime nationwide, as the National Insurance Crime Bureau reported nearly 500,000 vehicles were stolen nationwide in the first half of 2023.

“When we see things like vandalism happening to vehicles or break-ins, that would go in as a comprehensive claim,” Schalk said. “When we do see an uptick in that, especially in a specific area, that can lead to an increase of rates in that area.”

The cost of labor and parts play a significant part as well.

Business owners, like D. Coleman, owner of Coleman and Son Automotive in Little Rock, said it’s the cost he’s experienced.

“I’ve seen my personal insurance increase at least 20% over the last year,” Coleman said. “They say, of course, they use natural disasters, of course, inflation, and just, it’s time for an increase.”

Coleman said that while he is in this industry and sees the damage he sees every day, the rising cost of his car insurance is a bullet he’s willing to bite.

“It’s going as slow as 10 miles per hour, you could see over $1,500 to $2,000 worth of damage,” Coleman said. “Just a bumper damage can create that much cost of repairs, and you don’t want to have to pay that out of pocket.”

Click here to check which companies have filed for when it comes to these rate increases.