If your insurance went up at your last renewal, the first thing to know is that it wasn’t personal. Rates across Arizona climbed sharply in 2024, and most households in Maricopa County felt it. The second thing to know is that you’re not stuck with it.
Bundling your home and auto insurance is one of the most straightforward ways to bring those costs back down — but it’s not as simple as just calling your current carrier and asking for a deal. There’s a right way to do it, and a way that leaves money on the table. Here’s what you actually need to know.
Car Insurance Rate Hikes in Arizona: Why Your Bill Keeps Going Up
Arizona car insurance rates were expected to increase by 22% by the end of 2024, according to Insurify. As of mid-year, the average Arizona driver was already paying around $2,026 for auto coverage — and that number was projected to climb to $2,195 before the year was out. In Maricopa County specifically, Phoenix drivers were paying roughly $300 more per year than they had the year before.
None of that is tied to anything you did. The biggest driver of rate increases is the estimated cost of claims for the upcoming year — and when repair costs, medical expenses, and litigation costs all rise, every driver’s premium goes up, regardless of their record. Understanding that is the first step to not just accepting the increase and moving on.
What’s Actually Driving Auto Insurance Costs Higher in Maricopa County
Maricopa County has some specific factors that make the rate environment here harder than in other parts of the country. The Phoenix metro carries enormous traffic volume — the region’s freeway network handles some of the highest vehicle miles traveled in the Southwest, and more miles driven means more accidents, more claims, and higher costs passed on to every driver. Arizona saw roughly 967 fatal crashes in 2020, up from 811 in 2015. That trend doesn’t reverse quickly, and insurers price accordingly.
Then there’s the growth factor. Maricopa County is one of the fastest-growing counties in the United States. More residents, more vehicles, more congestion — and higher repair costs in a market where labor and parts have both gotten more expensive. A fender bender that cost $1,800 to repair a few years ago might run $3,200 today. Insurance companies are pricing for that reality.
The monsoon season adds another layer. From June through September, Maricopa County sees hail, flash flooding, and wind events that generate significant homeowners and auto claims. That claims activity affects what carriers charge, and it’s one of the reasons that home and auto rates in this region tend to move together. When one goes up, the other often follows.
The point isn’t to make you feel worse about your renewal notice. It’s to explain that the increases aren’t arbitrary — and that understanding what’s driving them helps you make a smarter decision about how to respond. Bundling your policies is one of the most direct responses available to most households, and when it’s done right, the savings are real.
How Much Can You Actually Save by Bundling Home and Auto Insurance?
The honest answer is: it depends on the carriers you’re comparing. But the ranges are meaningful. Bundling home and auto policies can save consumers anywhere from 5% to 30% depending on the insurer, and in dollar terms, that often translates to $900 or more per year for households that make the right switch. Some of the carriers we work with — including American Family, Liberty Mutual, and Allstate — offer bundling discounts that reduce your auto premium alone by 23% to 40%.
What most people don’t realize is that the discount applies to the base premium before other savings are calculated. That means if you’re also adding a second vehicle, using a telematics program, or qualifying for other discounts, the bundling discount stacks on top of those. For families in the East Valley suburbs — Gilbert, Queen Creek, Chandler — where multi-car households are the norm, those stacked savings can add up fast.
The other thing worth knowing is that bundling isn’t always the right move for every household. Sometimes the best deal is two separate policies from two different carriers. We run both scenarios and tell you which one actually comes out ahead — not just which one earns us a cleaner sale. That’s a meaningful distinction, and it’s one of the reasons working with someone who has access to dozens of carriers matters more than most people think.
We’ve had customers save $600 a year on homeowners insurance alone, then switch their auto coverage over as well once they saw the numbers. That kind of outcome doesn’t happen by calling your existing carrier and asking if they have any deals. It happens when someone shops the full market on your behalf.
Why Bundling Through an Independent Agent Gets You a Better Deal
Most people assume that bundling means staying with their current carrier and adding a policy. That’s one option — but it’s rarely the best one. When you bundle through a captive agent or go directly to a carrier’s website, you’re only seeing what that one company can offer. You have no way of knowing whether a different carrier would have given you a better combined rate.
We shop your bundle across multiple carriers simultaneously. We work with more than 40 top-rated personal lines carriers, which means when you ask us to find you the best bundled rate, we’re actually comparing dozens of options — not just presenting you with one and hoping you say yes.
Bundling With Your Current Carrier vs. Shopping the Full Market
Here’s a scenario that plays out regularly: a homeowner in Mesa has been with the same insurer for eight years. Their rate goes up at renewal. They call and ask if there’s anything the carrier can do. The carrier offers a modest loyalty discount — maybe 5% — and the homeowner accepts it because they don’t want the hassle of switching.
What they don’t know is that a different carrier, one that’s actively competing for their business, would have offered them a combined home and auto rate that was several hundred dollars lower per year. That gap exists because insurance carriers price based on their own claims history, their own risk models, and their own appetite for certain types of customers. A carrier that had a rough year in Arizona might raise rates across the board. A different carrier that’s trying to grow its market share in the Phoenix metro might be pricing aggressively right now.
This is especially relevant for homeowners in areas that carry specific risk profiles — properties near the urban-wildland interface in Cave Creek or the McDowell Sonoran Preserve boundary in Scottsdale, manufactured homes, or high-value properties where specialty carriers like Chubb or Cincinnati Financial are often the better fit. Not every carrier will write those risks, and not every agent has access to the ones that do.
For families adding a teen driver, the same logic applies. Teen drivers spike auto premiums significantly, and the difference between carriers on that specific risk can be dramatic. Pairing a telematics program with the right carrier — and bundling with a competitive homeowners policy at the same time — is how families in the West Valley suburbs of Glendale, Peoria, and Surprise are managing those costs without just absorbing the increase.
What People Get Wrong When They Try to Bundle Insurance on Their Own
Online comparison tools have made it easier to get a quote quickly, but they come with real limitations. Most aggregator sites surface a narrow set of carriers, and they can’t account for Arizona-specific underwriting nuances — things like wildfire zone classifications, carrier restrictions on certain property types, or the difference between a standard homeowners policy and one designed for a high-value home. You can get a number fast, but you might not be getting the right number for your actual situation.
The other common mistake is treating bundling as a set-it-and-forget-it decision. Rates change every year. Carriers adjust their pricing, their appetite for risk, and their discount structures. A bundle that was competitive two years ago might not be the best option at your next renewal.
We serve our clients by reviewing policies proactively — before the renewal hits — and flagging when something better has opened up. When a client’s renewal is coming up, we’re looking at whether the current carrier is still competitive or whether it’s worth running the numbers again. That’s not something a national call center does. It’s something a local agency with real staff — people who know your file and your situation — can actually deliver.
One more thing that stops people from switching: the hassle of canceling existing policies. We handle that on your behalf. Once you’ve decided to move forward with a new bundle, we take care of the transition, including canceling your old policies so you’re not doubling up on coverage or dealing with the paperwork yourself. That removes the last real friction point in the process, and it’s part of why customers who’ve been through it tend to say they wish they’d done it sooner.
Is Bundled Insurance the Right Move for Your Maricopa County Household?
For most households in Maricopa County — homeowners with one or more vehicles, families with teen drivers, new Arizona residents setting up policies for the first time — bundled insurance is worth running the numbers on. The savings are real, the process doesn’t have to be complicated, and the only way to know what you’d actually save is to compare your current rates against what’s available right now.
The key is doing it through someone who can actually shop the full market, not just the carrier you’re already with. Car insurance rates increase year over year in this state, and the gap between the best available rate and what most people are paying tends to widen the longer they go without shopping.
If your renewal is coming up — or if it already went up and you haven’t done anything about it yet — that’s the moment to act. Reach out to Premier Choice Insurance and let us run the comparison for you. It costs nothing, takes less time than you’d expect, and you’ll know exactly where you stand.
