Car Insurance Prices Rose 0.7% in October as Used Cars Fell 1.2%

• Motor vehicle insurance prices rose 0.7 percent in October, ahead of the 0.4 percent rise across all consumer prices.
• Used cars and trucks fell 1.2 percent after a 0.7 percent gain in September, while new vehicles rose 0.2 percent.
• A lapse in federal funding left no October 2025 survey, so most year over year comparisons are missing and the month to month changes carry the story.

What October’s Price Report Means for Your Renewal

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) published its October Consumer Price Index on November 10, recording a 0.7 percent monthly increase in motor vehicle insurance prices. Prices outside food and energy rose 0.3 percent and the all items index rose 0.4 percent, so insurance moved ahead of both. Monthly figures in this story are seasonally adjusted unless the text says otherwise.

The same release shows used cars and trucks falling 1.2 percent after a 0.7 percent gain in September, new vehicles up 0.2 percent and gasoline up 1.0 percent. Four lines in the release touch car ownership directly: insurance, used cars, new cars and fuel. In October they did not move together.

Start with what the 0.7 percent is. The CPI measures the change in prices paid by consumers, collected each month in 75 urban areas from about 6,000 housing units and 22,000 retail establishments. Its indexes follow the average change in prices from a base period and do not compare price levels between places. The insurance reading shows how far the average price moved. It does not show what your renewal will cost. For scale only, a policy that costs $2,000 a year would add $14 at 0.7 percent ($2,000 multiplied by 0.007). Your own notice carries your own number.

Federal figures reported in mid October showed car insurance prices falling. That reading compared prices with a year earlier, and one monthly gain does not erase it. BLS publishes no 12 month figure for insurance this time, so October’s 0.7 percent stands alone. One month does not make a trend, and November’s report on December 10 will show whether it holds.

Used Cars Reverse After Three Months of Gains

The used cars and trucks index posted the steepest monthly move of the seven months in BLS’s summary table. Readings ran 0.0 percent in April, 0.1 percent in May and minus 0.2 percent in June, then 0.4 percent in July, 0.4 percent in August and 0.7 percent in September, before the 1.2 percent drop in October.

Seasonal adjustment strips out changes that normally arrive at the same time each year, such as holidays, sales and model changeovers. That leaves October’s fall as a move beyond the usual calendar pattern, and BLS gives no cause for it.

New vehicles went the other way. The index fell 0.2 percent in April and 0.3 percent in May, held flat in June, and has risen for four straight months: 0.1 percent in July, 0.3 percent in August, 0.2 percent in September and 0.2 percent in October. A shopper comparing a late model used car with a new one met a cheaper used market and a slightly pricier new one last month. For a deeper look at how the used side has been splitting by fuel type, see why used car prices are falling.

The Wholesale Market Tells Its Own Story

Cox Automotive’s Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index, the wholesale benchmark that dealers and market watchers use to anticipate retail trends, finished October at 206.8. Adjusted for mix, mileage and seasonality, wholesale prices were up 0.5 percent from September and 2 percent from October 2025. Before adjustment the numbers are softer: prices were up 0.3 percent on the year and down 2.3 percent on September. The long term October average is a 0.3 percent rise on the adjusted basis and a 1.5 percent fall on the unadjusted basis.

The wholesale reading and the BLS retail reading measure different prices, so an adjusted 0.5 percent wholesale gain and a 1.2 percent retail drop can sit side by side. Jeremy Robb, Chief Economist at Cox Automotive, described how the year has run:

“Depreciation trends at Manheim were generally in line with long-term averages, with the index holding 2% higher against depressed values last October. This year, we saw less-than-normal depreciation trends in the first half of the year, and then declines accelerated over the summer and early fall. As we got towards the end of October, depreciation slowed a little and was fairly normal from a seasonal point of view.”

On the comparison with last year, Robb said:

“October is generally the weakest month of the year, and the comparison against last year’s level is noteworthy. In 2025, the EV tax credit ended in September, which made demand stronger for both new and used EVs. When that was over, used EV values fell by 3% in October, and non-EV values fell by over 2%, causing both the index and non-seasonally adjusted values to drop sharply month over month. This year, both categories of vehicles fell on a non-seasonally adjusted basis, but they declined much less than last year.”

On gas prices, EV values and trucks, Robb said:

“Gas prices remain elevated and that has helped EV values stay much higher year over year versus non-EVs, even with the increase in off-lease supply. That same trend has also caused light-duty trucks to decline by 4.3% on a non-seasonally adjusted basis year over year, much more than marketwide wholesale prices, which are higher by 0.3%.”

That 4.3 percent fall for trucks is the same one covered in wholesale used truck values. Cox’s index for EVs was up 6.6 percent on the year and down 0.9 percent on September, while its non-EV index was up 1.1 percent on the year and 0.4 percent on the month.

Cox’s Three-Year-Old Index fell 2.8 percent in October, below the typical 3.1 percent depreciation for the period, and sales conversion was 54.2 percent. On inventory and the holiday outlook, Robb said:

“As October progressed, we observed used retail inventory holding tighter against last year, with used retail days’ supply currently just under 50 days, almost exactly at the long-term average for the same week of the year. As the days get colder and the nights longer, vehicle sales tend to slow down, but we need to pay close attention to the consumer as we move into the holidays. With the election over, some budding optimism may be brewing, and when you combine that with the oldest car parc in history, solid and steady demand is typically on the horizon.”

Wholesale days’ supply ended October at 28.1 days, down 0.7 days from September.

Gasoline and the Missing Year

The gasoline index rose 1.0 percent in October after a 9.1 percent surge in September. Before seasonal adjustment, gasoline prices fell 0.7 percent for the month, and BLS adds that unadjusted data suit readers who want the prices they actually pay. The energy index as a whole rose 0.7 percent after a 5.2 percent rise in September. Gasoline has swung hard through the year: up 5.4 percent in April and 7.0 percent in May, down 9.7 percent in June and 2.9 percent in July, then up 3.9 percent in August.

The bigger issue for anyone comparing this report with last year is the gap. A lapse in appropriations stopped BLS from collecting survey data for October 2025, and for most CPI series it could not publish October 2025 indexes. The consequence is spelled out in the release: BLS cannot publish 12 month changes for October 2026 where the October 2025 index is missing. The summary table carries a dash in that column for all items, food and energy.

Until the record is whole again, the month to month changes are the firmest ground. Cox’s year over year figures come from its own index, which carries its own October 2025 reading.

What to Do Before Your Renewal or Trade

On insurance, use the 0.7 percent as a reason to shop, with no assumption about your own bill. Request quotes from several insurers a few weeks before your policy ends, give each the same coverage limits so the numbers compare, and ask every one of them which discounts you qualify for. A higher deductible can lower the premium, but it raises what you pay out of pocket after a claim, so pick a figure you could cover from savings.

If you plan to sell or trade a used vehicle, the 1.2 percent fall in the BLS index and Robb’s account of depreciation turning fairly normal by the end of October point to a market that has cooled from September. Get at least two offers, including one from a retail buyer and one from a dealer, and compare them against current listings for the same model, mileage and trim. On the buying side, used prices dropped in October while new vehicle prices have risen four months running.

For fuel, track the unadjusted price at your own pump rather than the adjusted index; the October adjusted rise of 1.0 percent and the unadjusted fall of 0.7 percent describe the same month.

Two dates come next. Cox releases the next full Manheim data on December 7, 2026, and BLS issues its November Consumer Price Index on December 10, a Thursday, at 8:30 a.m. Eastern. Those two reports will show whether October’s insurance rise and used car drop repeat.

Want more car content? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for the best automotive news and analysis on the internet.

If you enjoyed this article, be sure to follow us on Microsoft Start.

Sources

• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Consumer Price Index Summary, 2026 M10 Results
• Cox Automotive: Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index, October 2026 Trends

Reviewed by Preetam Gadekar