TROY, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apr 29, 2025--
The rate at which auto insurance premiums increased in 2024 declined to less than 2% at year-end from 13% at the beginning of the year. But, even as auto insurance customers in the United States have gained some pricing relief, the percentage of customers shopping for insurance year over year jumped to 57% from 49%, according to the J.D. Power 2025 U.S. Insurance Shopping Study, SM released today.
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“Auto insurance rate taking reached multi-decade highs in the first quarter of 2024, which put record numbers of customers into the market shopping for lower-priced policies as the year progressed,” said Stephen Crewdson, managing director of insurance business intelligence at J.D. Power. “As rate activity began to fall in the second half of 2024, many shoppers were successful at finding lower-priced policies. That combination of increased shopping and less rate taking created a bit of a snowball effect for much of the year, but we are seeing signs that shopping rates are starting to normalize. A potentially bigger concern for the industry right now might be the increased interest many consumers are showing in embedded insurance providers, like auto dealers, financing companies and manufacturers.”
Following are some key findings of the 2025 study:
Study Ranking
Erie Insurance ranks highest among large auto insurers in providing a satisfying purchase experience for the second consecutive year, with a score of 714. ACG (AAA) (707) ranks second and State Farm (699) ranks third.
The J.D. Power U.S. Insurance Shopping Study, now in its 19th year, captures advanced insight into each stage of the shopping funnel and is based on responses from 12,720 insurance customers who requested an auto insurance price quote from at least one competitive insurer in the previous six months. The study was fielded from April 2024 through January 2025.
For more information about the U.S. Insurance Shopping Study, visit https://www.jdpower.com/business/resource/jd-power-us-insurance-shopping-study.
See the online press release at http://www.jdpower.com/pr-id/2025038.
About J.D. Power
J.D. Power is a global leader in consumer insights, advisory services, and data and analytics. A pioneer in the use of big data, artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithmic modeling capabilities to understand consumer behavior, J.D. Power has been delivering incisive industry intelligence on customer interactions with brands and products for more than 55 years. The world's leading businesses across major industries rely on J.D. Power to guide their customer-facing strategies.
J.D. Power has offices in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. To learn more about the company's business offerings, visit JDPower.com/business. The J.D. Power auto-shopping tool can be found at JDPower.com.
About J.D. Power and Advertising/Promotional Rules:www.jdpower.com/business/about-us/press-release-info
1 J.D. Power defines generational groups as Pre-Boomers (born before 1946); Boomers (1946-1964); Gen X (1965-1976); Gen Y (1977-1994); and Gen Z (1995-2006). Millennials (1982-1994) are a subset of Gen Y.
J.D. Power 2025 U.S. Insurance Shopping Study
LONDON (AP) — Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok is preventing non-paying users from generating or editing images after a global backlash erupted over sexualized deepfakes of people, but the change has not satisfied authorities in Europe.
The chatbot, which is accessed through Musk's social media platform X, has in the past few weeks been granting a wave of what researchers say are malicious user requests to modify images, including putting women in bikinis or in sexually explicit positions.
Researchers have warned that in a few cases, some images appeared to depict children. Governments around the world have condemned the platform and opened investigations.
On Friday, Grok responded to image altering requests with the message: “Image generation and editing are currently limited to paying subscribers. You can subscribe to unlock these features.”
While subscriber numbers for Grok aren't publicly available, there was a noticeable decline Friday in the number of explicit deepfakes that Grok is now generating compared with just days earlier.
Grok was still granting image requests but only from X users with blue checkmarks given to premium subscriber who pay $8 a month for features including higher usage limits for the chatbot.
An X spokesperson didn't respond immediately to a request for comment.
The restrictions for users save for paying subscribers did not appear to change the opinions of leaders or regulators in Europe.
“This doesn't change our fundamental issue. Paid subscription or non-paid subscription, we don't want to see such images. It's as simple as that,” said Thomas Regnier, a spokesman for the European Union's executive Commission. The Commission had earlier slammed Grok for “illegal” and “appalling” behavior.
The British government was also unsatisfied.
Grok’s changes are “not a solution," said Geraint Ellis, a spokesman for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who on Thursday had threatened unspecified action against X.
“In fact, it is insulting to the victims of misogyny and sexual violence,” he said, noting that it shows that X “can move swiftly when it wants to do so.”
“We expect rapid action,” he said, adding that “all options are on the table.”
Starmer, speaking to Greatest Hits radio, had said that X needs to "get their act together and get this material down. We will take action on this because it’s simply not tolerable.”
The U.K.'s media and privacy regulators both said this week they’ve contacted X and Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI for information on measures taken to comply with British regulations.
France, Malaysia and India have also been scrutinizing the platform and a Brazilian lawmaker has called for an investigation. The European Commission has ordered X to retain all internal documents and data relating to Grok until the end of 2026, as part of a wider investigation under the EU’s digital safety law.
Grok is free to use for X users, who can ask it questions on the social media platform. They can either tag it in posts they've directly created or in replies to posts from other users.
Grok launched in 2023. Last summer the company added an image generator feature, Grok Imagine, that included a so-called “spicy mode” that can generate adult content.
The problem is amplified both because Musk pitches his chatbot as an edgier alternative to rivals with more safeguards, and because Grok’s images are publicly visible, and can therefore be easily spread.
AP writers Jill Lawless in London and Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed to this report.
FILE - Workers install lighting on an "X" sign atop the company headquarters, formerly known as Twitter, in downtown San Francisco, July 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Noah Berger, File)
