Examples of current inflation - add yours!

[CarbonaNotGlue]

I just received our homeowners insurance renewal package, which includes windstorm coverage here in South Florida) and was dreading opening it for fear of further double digit increases. Much to my surprise, I’ve finally gotten a taste of deflation, with the premium actually decreasing $4 from the prior years coverage. It’s not a lot but I’m thrilled! Also, I posted previously about our auto insurance increasing over 100% to over $3k. After extensive rate shopping, I found a carrier willing to sell me the exact same coverage for “only” a 20% increase over last years premium. So, overall. I’m generally pleased with our big ticket insurance renewal inflation this year.

 

[Car-Guy]

Insurance and utilities alone are hard to overcome. I am amazed some people have overall deflation.

My insurance graph is not much different than the one a few posts ago.

Here's my monthly water bill for 4CCF year to year each September or October.

Year Expense Increase
2018 $68.60
2019 $70.85 3.28%
2020 $73.35 3.53%
2021 $76.49 4.28%
2022 $77.58 1.43%
2023 $81.63 5.22%

I had forgotten that our water bill has gone down in the past year. When we first moved out here, IIRC, is was about $35mo. Over the next 15 years it slowly moved up to ~75mo. Then the two local water companies merged last year and now we're back to ~50mo. (For now)

 

[Walt34]

Oh and I hate the newer paint cans that have plastic lids. I've had them leak before while in the car.

So far I'm liking the plastic paint cans/lids since they don't rust. But then, I haven't had any leak on me yet.

 

[ychuck46]

One thing that has gone down over last year is the price of natural gas. Just got our bill and while it isn't much usage at this time of the year it still reflected using more therms than the same period last year, for a lower price. With any luck those rates can stay lower as we go into the winter months.

 

[Dash man]

One thing that has gone down over last year is the price of natural gas. Just got our bill and while it isn't much usage at this time of the year it still reflected using more therms than the same period last year, for a lower price. With any luck those rates can stay lower as we go into the winter months.

I love that in Pennsylvania we can shop for our gas and electric suppliers. It’s saved us a lot of money over the years.

 

[REWahoo]

I love that in Pennsylvania we can shop for our gas and electric suppliers. It’s saved us a lot of money over the years.

That's an interesting contrast when it comes to electric suppliers here in TX. Many areas of the state are deregulated allowing customers to choose their supplier. We're located in an area served by an electric Co-Op and do not have the ability to choose another supplier. My relatives who live in deregulated areas of the state pay substantially more (50% or greater) for electricity than we pay.

YMMV of course.

 

[ychuck46]

I love that in Pennsylvania we can shop for our gas and electric suppliers. It’s saved us a lot of money over the years.

No such luck here in TN, but our separate electric and gas providers are good (our electric provider, VEC, is a cooperative). But water is a mess here and is rife with corruption among the dozens and dozens of providers in the state. The Knoxville newspaper ran a series of stories on how corrupt a few years back but nothing has changed.

 

[Dash man]

That's an interesting contrast when it comes to electric suppliers here in TX. Many areas of the state are deregulated allowing customers to choose their supplier. We're located in an area served by an electric Co-Op and do not have the ability to choose another supplier. My relatives who live in deregulated areas of the state pay substantially more (50% or greater) for electricity than we pay.



YMMV of course.

We installed solar panels a month ago, so electric bills will be minimal if any. But we still shop for gas prices and always select a company with no cancellation fees because of the volatility of prices.

 

[misanman]

Setting up my monthly IRA withdrawals for 2024. I used the Social Security inflation rate (3.2%) - somehow, it doesn't seem like enough.

 

[Koolau]

I love that in Pennsylvania we can shop for our gas and electric suppliers. It’s saved us a lot of money over the years.

Sounds nice. Here in Paradise, it's HECO or off-grid. Not a great choice to say the least though YMMV.

 

[11522914]

I just received our homeowners insurance renewal package, which includes windstorm coverage here in South Florida) and was dreading opening it for fear of further double digit increases. Much to my surprise, I’ve finally gotten a taste of deflation, with the premium actually decreasing $4 from the prior years coverage. It’s not a lot but I’m thrilled! Also, I posted previously about our auto insurance increasing over 100% to over $3k. After extensive rate shopping, I found a carrier willing to sell me the exact same coverage for “only” a 20% increase over last years premium. So, overall. I’m generally pleased with our big ticket insurance renewal inflation this year.

Thanks for the update. Glad you "only" had a 20% increase - sure beats 100%. IIRC my homeowners insurance went up 24.5% last year so I would love a $4 decrease this year.

 

[MichaelL]

I just got a quote for a crown on a molar, $2,450. The last time I had one, about 5 - 6 years ago it was $800. My insurance will only cover part of it.

 

[Koolau]

I just got a quote for a crown on a molar, $2,450. The last time I had one, about 5 - 6 years ago it was $800. My insurance will only cover part of it.

It's nice you have dental insurance. When I w*rked for Megacorp, we had great dental insurance for about $23/month for the entire family. Coverage was 100% on preventive dentistry and 1/2 of covered things like fillings/crowns.


When I retired, that all went away. We looked at several available replacements and most were simply "pay as you go." IOW, you'd pay $50 or $100/month and then the "insurance" would likely pay out about that much per year as you had dental care (with a chunk kept by the insurance company.) Not a good deal, but such a plan would smooth out dental costs for those who need such budget discipline. We did not need that and we really miss our great coverage in my w*kring life.

 

[ychuck46]

It's nice you have dental insurance. When I w*rked for Megacorp, we had great dental insurance for about $23/month for the entire family. Coverage was 100% on preventive dentistry and 1/2 of covered things like fillings/crowns. When I retired, that all went away.

This is true of all of us that have retired or stopped working. Dental insurance is one of those things that is largely a wash. The benefits rarely equal or exceed the premiums.

 

[karen1972]

I just received our homeowners insurance renewal package, which includes windstorm coverage here in South Florida) and was dreading opening it for fear of further double digit increases. Much to my surprise, I’ve finally gotten a taste of deflation, with the premium actually decreasing $4 from the prior years coverage. It’s not a lot but I’m thrilled! Also, I posted previously about our auto insurance increasing over 100% to over $3k. After extensive rate shopping, I found a carrier willing to sell me the exact same coverage for “only” a 20% increase over last years premium. So, overall. I’m generally pleased with our big ticket insurance renewal inflation this year.

Reading your comment I was pretty nervous to open my renewal, In NC, Home/Auto/Umbrella came in at $2.90 less than last year. Come on deflation

 

[CarbonaNotGlue]

Reading your comment I was pretty nervous to open my renewal, In NC, Home/Auto/Umbrella came in at $2.90 less than last year. Come on deflation

I think much of the homeowners increase in the last few years was driven primarily by the insane housing price appreciation. I guess they would have a real hard time justifying those increases now with valuations dipping in most areas. You’re lucky on your car insurance. We’ve seen rates spike down here in South Florida across all carriers. After exhaustively shopping around, I considered myself lucky to obtain coverage with only a 20% increase. It’s that bad down here. However, I could’ve reduced the increase by about 10% if I agreed to insurance company real-time drive monitoring for our 2 cars, but I’m just not ready for that.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

I got my homeowners insurance today, $100 more from last year, 3,200sqft concrete block with a tile roof built in 2002 in N.E. Fla. I am a happy camper. I honestly expected it to double. If fact I think it is cheap compared to others I have seen. No complaints here.

 

[Breedlove]

Last week I was a jury candidate for a customer sueing an insurance company about a roof on his home . Understand I live in a county of really old people who don’t really care . The insurance company attorney asked everyone to hold their hands up if they had home owners ins. There was quite a few who had no Home Owners insurance . Then he asked had anyone had to deal with an insurance company ? Everyone raised their hands .Then he asked was there anyone who had a negative business deal with their company . Everyone raised their Hand .Then he started asking what was their experience . One old cowboy type was asked …..He said I used to own a pretty successful company when I was younger .I always paid my insurance , my insurance man always sent my family a Christmas gift . Then I had a claim , one of my men was working on a job and lost his fingers . I carried his wife to the hospital and told not to worry because I had a good insurance …Then they told me some BS about something in fine print . He said , to me when you sign a contract and that is what an insurance policy is you stand behind it . You don’t need fine print …
The court room went silly everyone started talking and we got a recess.
They chose 12. Jurors all of them were renters and probably under 40.

 

[Koolau]

Reading your comment I was pretty nervous to open my renewal, In NC, Home/Auto/Umbrella came in at $2.90 less than last year. Come on deflation

Fiat-currency countries (virtually all) hate deflation worse than they hate inflation, so don't look for it any time soon. YMMV

 

[MichaelL]

I just got quoted $1,300 for an exam and a pair of glasses and my co-pay is $595.

 

[Montecfo]

I just got a quote for a crown on a molar, $2,450. The last time I had one, about 5 - 6 years ago it was $800. My insurance will only cover part of it.

Time for a new dentist.

I got one recently. $900.

 

[ncbill]

Time for a new dentist.

I got one recently. $900.

No kidding...my "high noble metal" (shiny yellow gold) crown for a back molar was $800.

 

[misanman]

Ran the truck through the car wash yesterday. Last time I paid for a wash (July) was $11.99. Yesterday it was $15.99. That's a 33% increase!

 

[Surewhitey]

Decided to build a bed & dresser with the best materials... $220/sheet for rift sawn white oak plywood and $1200 later... But it's looking nice. "Regular" plywood is still in the $50's for comparison.

 

[jfn111]

Got our cable bill yesterday and it went up $5.00. The $5.00 isn't a big deal but they seem to find a reason every few months to raise it some amount.