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Skyrocketing auto insurance costs helped contribute to inflation accelerating at a faster-than-expected pace in March.
On a monthly basis, car insurance prices as part of the consumer price index rose by an unadjusted 2.7%, while the year-over-year increased by 22.2%, according to data released Wednesday.
The rise in insurance costs is in addition to historically high prices for new and used vehicles since the coronavirus pandemic, as well as rising costs to repair vehicles.

RobertCrum | Getty Images

DETROIT – Skyrocketing auto insurance costs helped contribute to inflation accelerating at a faster-than-expected pace in March and are adding to the ever more expensive costs for U.S. vehicle owners.
On a monthly basis, car insurance prices as part of the consumer price index rose by an unadjusted 2.7%, while the year-over-year increased by 22.2%, according to data released Wednesday. The index is a key inflation gauge and a broad measure of the cost of goods and services across the economy.

Auto insurance costs have been on the rise for some time, growing every month as part of the index since December 2021. Since then, costs have increased by 45.8%, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, auto insurance remains a small portion of the CPI, with a 2.85% weighting.
The uptick comes on top of historically high prices for new and used vehicles since the coronavirus pandemic. It’s also become increasingly more expensive to repair vehicles due to supply chain shortages, mechanic wage increases and additional technologies in vehicles such as microprocessors, cameras and other sensors — all of which contribute to higher vehicle and insurance costs.

“There’s not a single factor, but I think the biggest factor is a combination of new cars and more expensive, so if you total your car the replacement cost is really high and a fender bender is very expensive right now,” said Sean Tucker, senior editor at vehicle valuation and automotive research company Kelley Blue Book. “The technology in the cars, it’s a very specific problem.”
Instead of having to replace a plastic or steel bumper on many vehicles, a simple fender bender can now damage cameras, proximity sensors and varying other technologies used for newer safety features and tools such as cruise control, parking and emergency braking.
“Premiums have been on the rise because the cost of what goes into auto insurance has been rising,” David Sampson, CEO and president of the American Property Casualty Insurance Association, told CNBC. “There’s a long lag time between when the trends emerge and companies see these loss trends existing. It then takes time for them to build that into their rate application filings.”

Earlier this year, Sampson himself had slight damage to a bumper on a 2024 pickup truck on his property that he says was quoted to cost him $1,800 to repair or replace.
“All of the technology that we’ve come to rely on makes makes the replacement or repair of these vehicles really, really, costly,” said Sampson, whose organization is the primary national trade association for home, auto and business insurers.

The insurance cost increases on inflation come more than two years after the Biden administration largely blamed used car prices for pushing inflation higher in January 2022.
Mitchell, an automotive software provider specializing in collision repair and auto insurance sectors, said repair costs were increasing at an annual rate of about 3.5% to 5% prior to the coronavirus pandemic. As of 2022, the increases have been at 10% or above, with the average repairable estimate for a vehicle at $4,721 in 2023.
Consumers and companies alike aren’t happy with the increases. J.D. Power in June reported auto insurers lost an average of 12 cents on every dollar of premium they collected in 2022 — the worst performance in more than 20 years — leading them to raise rates at the expense of customer satisfaction.
“What I always remind folks is that insurance is based on actuarial science, so it’s not a case of insurers just deciding that they want to increase premiums,” Sampson said. “The filings have to be based on actuarial loss trends in their rate applications in each state.”
The cost of vehicle insurance — which is mandatory in almost every state — varies by provider, driver, coverage and location. Nearly all states have minimum requirements for liability coverage, but there are a number of other coverages that may or may not be required in a specific state, according to insurance provider Progressive.
The list of optional and mandatory coverage areas can be quite long and expensive for drivers, which has led many insurance companies to offer usage-based insurance, or UBI, programs that base the cost of a policy on a driver’s behaviors using telematics data.

Customers who are new to an insurer have a UBI participation rate of 26%, according to the J.D. Power’s U.S. Auto Insurance Study from June.
The study, in its 24th year, found UBI usage more than doubled from 2016 to 2023, with 17% of auto insurance customers participating in such programs. Price satisfaction among customers participating in these programs is 59 points higher on average than among non-participants, according to J.D. Power.
Usage in such programs is only expected to increase as costs rise and insurers offer discounts or special prices for safer drivers, according to insurance companies.
Based on J.D. Power’s survey, UBI programs from Geico, Progressive, State Farm and Liberty Mutual were ranked above average by customers. USAA, which services all branches of the military and their families, ranked the highest.
J.D. Power’s study also found the cost increases have led to a more than 20-year low in customer satisfaction with auto insurance companies.
“Overall customer satisfaction with auto insurers has plummeted this year, as insurers and drivers come face to face with the realities of the economy,” Mark Garrett, director of insurance intelligence at J.D. Power, said in a June release.
— CNBC’s Robert Ferris and Jeff Cox contributed to this article.

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Moderna has paused plans to build a vaccine manufacturing site in Kenya after a steep drop in demand for its Covid-19 vaccines.
The biotech company said it has not received any vaccine orders for Africa since 2022 and has taken more than $1 billion in losses and write-downs related to the cancellation of previous orders from the continent.
Moderna’s decision aligns with its broader effort to cut costs by resizing its Covid vaccine-manufacturing footprint.

A nurse prepares a dose of Moderna Covid-19 vaccine at Oltepesi Dispensary in Kajiado, Kenya, on September 9, 2021.
Patrick Meinhardt | AFP | Getty Images

Moderna on Thursday said it has paused plans to build a vaccine-manufacturing site in Kenya after a steep drop in demand for its Covid vaccines.
The biotech company said it has not received any vaccine orders for Africa since 2022 and has taken more than $1 billion in losses and write-downs related to the cancellation of previous orders from the continent.

Moderna’s decision aligns with its broader effort to cut costs by resizing its Covid vaccine-manufacturing footprint. The company’s business took a major hit last year as demand for those jabs waned worldwide, with people relying less on protective vaccines and treatments against the virus.
Shares of Moderna fell 45% last year, but the stock is up around 6% this year.
In March 2022, the company said it would invest about $500 million in the Kenyan site and supply as many as 500 million doses of its messenger RNA vaccines to Africa each year. Moderna also had plans to start filling doses of its Covid vaccine in the continent as early as 2023.
But the company has since determined that demand in Africa “is insufficient to support the viability of the factory planned in Kenya,” Moderna said in a statement on Thursday. Still, the company said it is committed to “ensuring equitable access and meeting emerging demands from African nations” for its Covid shot through its global manufacturing network.”
The company said it is also working to develop vaccines for diseases that predominantly affect the African continent, such as HIV and malaria. Those shots are part of Moderna’s broader effort to expand access to vaccines that are out of reach in many parts of the world.

But those jabs are still in the early stages of development, the company noted.
“Given this, and in alignment with our strategic planning, Moderna believes it is prudent to pause its efforts to build an mRNA manufacturing facility in Kenya,” the company said in a statement. “This approach will allow Moderna to better align its infrastructure investments with the evolving healthcare needs and vaccine demand in Africa.”

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Buffalo Wild Wings opened its 100th Go location, which are smaller than its traditional sports bars and limited to delivery and takeout orders.
The chicken wing category saw its sales surge during the pandemic, and off-premise orders now account for a third of BWW’s sales.
BWW’s owner, Inspire Brands. is reportedly considering going public later this year or in 2025.

The 100th location of Buffalo Wild Wings Go opened Wednesday on the Upper East Side in Manhattan.
Source: Buffalo Wild Wings

Buffalo Wild Wings opened its 100th Go location on Wednesday in New York City, four years after unveiling the quick-service offshoot of its sports bar chain.
BWW Go sells the chain’s famous chicken wings and other classic menu items, but its locations are smaller and limited to delivery and takeout orders. For the sports bar chain, it’s a way to make its brand even more ubiquitous, while offering customers more convenience.

Since 2018, Buffalo Wild Wings has been a part of Inspire Brands, which is backed by private equity firm Roark Capital. Initially formed after a merger between BWW and Arby’s, Inspire has since added other chains including Sonic Drive-In, Jimmy John’s, Dunkin’ and Baskin-Robbins.
Inspire is reportedly considering going public in late 2024 or 2025 and seeking a valuation of $20 billion.
BWW is the second-largest U.S. casual-dining chain in the bar and grill category with a market share of 14.4%, trailing only Dine Brands’ Applebee’s, according to Barclays research. It’s carved out a chicken wing dominance among its closest competitors, serving more than 3 million gallons of ranch and blue cheese dressing in 2023.
But the casual-dining segment has struggled, with publicly traded rivals like Chili’s and Red Robin perpetually stuck in turnaround mode.
Buffalo Wild Wings’ revenue fell 1% in 2023 to $2.32 billion, according to franchise disclosure documents. A fast-growing spinoff like Go could make Inspire more enticing to potential public market investors.

Opening a traditional Buffalo Wild Wings location requires anywhere from $2.44 million to $4.83 million in initial investment, depending on the restaurant’s location and other factors, according to franchise disclosure documents. In comparison, a Go location will set a franchisee back roughly $560,000 to $1.05 million.
While a BWW sports bar is around 6,000 square feet on average, a Go location is roughly 1,500 square feet. That means cheaper real estate that’s faster to build and easier to operate.
“With the ability to fit into smaller footprints, it has the recognition of an established brand with the unlimited potential of an emerging one,” said Jack Litman, president of the Munson Group and franchisee of the 100th Go location.

Taking over takeout

The Go format is primarily meant to reach the customers who sometimes don’t want to ditch their couches for a sports bar.
Before the pandemic, off-premise orders accounted for 15% of Buffalo Wild Wings sales, according to John Bowie, brand president at BWW. Now, takeout and delivery make up roughly a third of the BWW’s sales.
“This was an opportunity for us to take the takeout portion of the business, put it inside a freestanding unit and put it very conveniently located to where our customer is,” Bowie told CNBC.
As of Wednesday, BWW has branded its entire off-premise business under the Go name, too.

Buffalo Wild Wings Go
Courtesy: Buffalo Wild Wings Go

BWW’s off-premise growth mirrors that of the broader chicken wing category, which soared in popularity during the pandemic. Like pizza, chicken wings travel well when delivered, but they also offer more variety, with an array of sauces and rubs to switch up the flavor.
While pizza chains like Domino’s and Pizza Hut have seen their sales struggle since the pandemic as pizza fatigue sets in, chicken wings haven’t slowed down in the same way.
For example, fast-casual chain and stock market darling Wingstop has reported strong same-store sales growth for the last year and half, bucking industry trends. Bernstein analyst Danilo Gargiulo wrote in a February research note that Wingstop has the potential to be “the next Domino’s.” (Roark Capital previously owned Wingstop but exited its investment a year and a half after the chain’s IPO.)
Other chains are now also looking to chicken wings to bolster their sales. Restaurant Brands International’s Popeyes added chicken wings to its menu permanently last year.
BWW Go also gives the chain the opportunity to compete better with its fast-food rivals. The chain can tweak its limited menu to appeal to the customers looking for a convenient dinner.
BWW Chief Marketing Officer Tristan Meline told CNBC in the future the chain may lean into offering more special sauces, menu items or deals to Go customers.

Growing interest

BWW plans to keep adding to its current footprint of more than 1,300 sports bars, but Go will be opening locations at a much faster rate, according to Bowie.
“It takes a long time to get a sports bar approval and to build a sports bar, but we’ve already seen with the 60 franchisees we have now that they can start stamping these out, and the growth will be very exciting,” he said.
BWW already has nearly 600 commitments from franchisees to open additional Go locations. About 85% of its operators also franchise with other chains owned by Inspire, like Dunkin’ or Arby’s.
But the calls to franchise are also coming from outside of Inspire; Bowie said that he’s been hearing from large franchisees that already operate multiple concepts.
The chain plans to open another 50 Go locations by the end of the year. More

Cities of Success

TUNE IN & WATCH: CNBC will air a one-hour primetime special, “Cities of Success: Denver & Boulder,” on April 11th at 10 pm ET

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The aerospace industry has grown 88% over the past two decades in the Denver and Boulder metro areas, according to a CNBC analysis.
The region’s corporate roster ranges from the biggest contractors such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Northrop Grumman to the newest commercial space and defense tech startups.
The area also benefits from industry partnerships and Colorado’s robust military presence.

These giant white structures called radomes at Buckley Space Force Base in Colorado house massive satellite dishes.

This story is part of CNBC’s quarterly Cities of Success series, which explores cities that have transformed into business hubs with an entrepreneurial spirit that has attracted capital, companies and employees.
In the shadow of the Rocky Mountains, with an elevation one mile closer to space than sea level, lies an area that’s home to a burgeoning cluster of aerospace businesses.

It might not be obvious to someone driving around Denver and Boulder that there are hundreds of companies actively working on some of America’s most complex national security needs and building innovative products like those that might be seen in a sci-fi film.
But the local industry’s liftoff has been undeniable: Aerospace grew 88% over the past two decades, more than any other emerging industry in the Denver and Boulder metro areas during that time period, according to a CNBC analysis. Now, 191 aerospace businesses are supporting 29,000 jobs in the region, the Colorado Space Coalition reports.
“When we were creating Voyager and thinking through the best growth markets where we could have access to talent … Denver really rose to the top,” Dylan Taylor, chairman and chief executive of Voyager Space, told CNBC’s Morgan Brennan in an interview on CNBC’s “Manifest Space” podcast. He founded the privately held multinational space conglomerate in 2019 in Denver.

Voyager Space CEO Dylan Taylor traveled to space on a Blue Origin flight in 2021.
AFP via Getty Images

“I think talent coupled with alignment from the government were really important considerations, and then also if you look at other elements of Denver, whether it’s access to capital, this is an emerging venture capital market, especially the Boulder corridor,” he added.
The region’s corporate roster ranges from the biggest, oldest, prime contractors such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Northrop Grumman to the newest commercial space and defense tech startups such as Ursa Major and True Anomaly. United Launch Alliance, BAE Systems and RTX also have a presence in the area, as do private space stalwarts in addition to Voyager such as Sierra Space and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, which has been expanding its local footprint aggressively in recent years.

Follow and listen to CNBC’s “Manifest Space” podcast, hosted by Morgan Brennan, wherever you get your podcasts.

“I think aerospace has become a fulcrum of our whole economy now,” said U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., who previously served as Colorado’s governor and before that as mayor of Denver.
“It’s a community that works together in terms of aerospace,” said Hickenlooper, who is cited by local business executives as being a key space proponent for the region and the state. “It’s not dog eat dog. It’s all dogs working together. It’s hunting like wolves.”
For Voyager, that’s been true. The company has so far made seven acquisitions — the first two of which were local startups. “We’re circa 700 employees now and, you know, quite a bit of revenue, looking to enter in the public markets at some point,” Taylor said.
Its most high-profile project, Starlab, is an effort to replace the aging International Space Station. Voyager has teamed up with Airbus in a joint venture to build the commercial space station, with Mitsubishi recently announced as a strategic partner and equity owner. The space station is expected to launch to orbit on SpaceX’s powerful Starship rocket system, which is under development.
For Taylor, who has been to space himself after a trip on Blue Origin’s New Shepard, the Denver-Boulder space story extends beyond Voyager too. He’s spent years investing in the sector personally, as an early backer in more than 50 startups, including Orbit Fab.

Orbit Fab employees manufacturing the company’s refueling ports for satellites.

Backed by neighboring Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, Orbit Fab moved into a roughly 60,000-square-foot manufacturing facility after relocating from California in 2021.
“We started the company in Silicon Valley. We moved to Colorado mainly because of the workforce. There’s a bigger aerospace workforce here,” said Daniel Faber, Orbit Fab’s CEO and founder.
Since making the move, the company has grown from six to 60 employees, and is focused on building “gas stations” in space to refuel satellites. Historically, many satellites have been decommissioned not because their payloads or hardware no longer work, but because they have run out of power.
“If you ran out of fuel on a highway, AAA can come and deliver you fuel. That’s actually the typical way that we’ll do it in space,” Faber said. The startup recently revealed a refueling port — or gas cap — that’s been flight qualified and is commercially available for $30,000 per unit.

Denver area startup Orbit Fab is building refueling ports for satellites that will allow them to fuel up in space.

Like many companies in the area, Orbit Fab counts the U.S. military, specifically the Space Force, among its biggest customers. One thing that makes the broader Denver-Boulder region so unique is its robust military presence, including three separate U.S. Space Force bases, the U.S. Space Operations Command and the U.S. Air Force Academy in nearby Colorado Springs.
“I think the location matters greatly,” said Col. Heidi Dexter, commander of Space Base Delta 2 at Buckley Space Force Base in Aurora, Colorado. “The partnership that we have with all of the local defense contractors and the startups allow us the opportunity to drive down the cost of space operations, as well as innovate very quickly so that it’s crucial to national defense.”
Colorado now boasts more private aerospace employees per capita than any other state, according to the Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation.
“What an executive, a CEO for a rapidly growing company, wants to hear is that young people will be attracted,” Hickenlooper said. “Once you attract young people, eventually the entrepreneurs come, the businesses start.”
TUNE IN: The “Cities of Success” special featuring Denver and Boulder will air on CNBC on April 11 at 10 p.m. EDT. More