Feb. 27, 2008, marked a significant anniversary in the history of insurance: 110 years since the first auto insurance policy.
That policy was sold in 1898 by Traveler’s Insurance Co. to Dr. Truman Martin of Buffalo, N.Y., according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The policy gave Martin $5,000 in liability coverage. At the time, Martin would likely have been more concerned with crashing into one of the country’s 18 million horses, rather than another of the 4,000 cars in the U.S.
Oh, how times have changed. More than a century later, cars and trucks outnumber horses 237 million to 9 million.
Martin’s 1898 policy, which gave him coverage well below what most insurers would consider appropriate, cost $12.25.
In today’s dollars, that would be about $316.25.
Today, the average car costs about $821 a year to insure.
Topics Auto
Was this article valuable?
Here are more articles you may enjoy.
Trump Demands $1 Billion From Harvard as Prolonged Standoff Appears to Deepen 
US Appeals Court Rejects Challenge to Trump’s Efforts to Ban DEI 
Florida’s Commercial Clearinghouse Bill Stirring Up Concerns for Brokers, Regulators 
BMW Recalls Hundreds of Thousands of Cars Over Fire Risk From This Issue
