Drivers warned over common car feature that quietly causes insurance bill to spike – you’ll pay more just for having it ...Middle East

MOTORISTS are being warned that a common feature in most modern cars could quietly increase insurance rates.

In a surprising downside, many details meant to help prevent accidents could make things pricier – mainly because these systems are expensive to fix.

These include driver assistance systems, built to enhance safety and convenience, as well as automatic emergency braking.

While these features can reduce claims by 25% in the UK, a new study reveals they’ve also driven up costs over five years.

That’s because cameras, radar and lidar sensors are all pricey features to replace – with there being more to the process than just simply swapping out damaged components.

That’s according to Car Scoops, who cited an Auto News piece claiming that high-tech systems need to be properly calibrated.

For example, a “sensor misaligned by a single degree – about the depth of a business card – can throw it off target by 66 inches (1,676 mm) at a distance of 100 yards (91.4 meters).”

This also means that only a handful of shops can do the work as they need to have a perfectly level flooring, ideal lighting and “automaker-specific targets to calibrate sensors.”

This equipment, for example, can cost up to $1 million – a serious investment that only certain shops can afford.

“It’s almost becoming too expensive to fix the car,” Hami Ebrahimi, chief commercial officer at Caliber Collision, told Autonews.

What’s more, some owners have been known to simply turn off driver assistance systems because they find annoying – meaning some insurance companies end up paying a lot to repair systems that drivers don’t even use.

According to a ValuePenguin study, the average cost of insurance is expected to hit a record high of $2,101 and tech plays a role in this – with car makers increasingly making advanced safety features come as standard.

This contributes to the rising cost of car ownership, with AAA claiming the average annual cost to own and operate a new vehicle is now $12,297, or about $1,024 per month.

GOT YOUR NUMBER

It comes as an insurance company has been accused of a serious error which saw multiple customer bank accounts drained in an issue that went unnoticed for years.

The driver’s license numbers of some 190,000 individuals through the company’s auto insurance quote platform were left exposed – leading to a class action lawsuit.

Digital insurer Lemonade, used across the US and in parts of Europe, has allegedly violated the privacy of as many as 190,000 drivers after cyber criminals hacked into its auto insurance quote platform.

The complaint, which has been filed in federal court in Manhattan, accuses Lemonade of negligence and violating the federal Driver’s Privacy Protection Act and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) data security guidelines.

Worse still, the data breach reportedly occurred between April 2023 and September 2024 – but was not detected by Lemonade until March 2025.

The company then began notifying affected individuals and regulators on April 10, 2025 – meaning there was a delay of two years.

Meanwhile, drivers are seeing their insurance costs skyrocket after getting a single traffic ticket.

The spike is worsened if you live in certain areas with one state putting an average increase of 49% onto insurance costs.

Car insurance tips

Here are some ways to lower monthly car insurance rates:

Source: Liberty Mutual

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