Pod Insights The Clark Howard Podcast 07.14.25 Auto Insurers Tracking Drivers / Gas Station Credit Card Surcharge Surprise About this episode Clark has recommended shopping for auto insurance as rates keep rising. But it’s also important to know how some insurers are tracking you surreptitiously to set rates, while others offer voluntary programs, or usage-based premiums to earn discounts, which can be a benefit or punishment. Later - Clark is in favor of businesses setting credit card surcharges in the U. S. as they do in other countries, but some gas stations have been caught charging outrageous amounts, and you need to be aware before you go to the pump. Save On Auto Insurance: Segment 1 Ask Clark: Segment 2 Credit Card Surcharges On Gas: Segment 3 Ask Clark: Segment 4 Mentioned on the show: Is Your Smartphone Making Your Car Insurance More Expensive? How to Shop for Lower Car Insurance Do I Need To Unfreeze My Credit To Shop for Car Insurance? Best Auto Insurance Companies and Some of the Worst Warning: Watch Out for This Big Ripoff at the Pump Best Travel Credit Cards: Top Rewards Picks for 2025 Best Cash Back Credit Cards Fidelity® Rewards Visa Signature® Card Review: Invest with 2% Cash Back Clark.com resources Episode transcripts Community. Clark.com / Ask Clark Clark.com daily money newsletter Consumer Action Center Free Helpline: 636-492-5275 Learn more about your ad choices: megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcript 0:00 Speaker 00 This episode is brought to you by Indeed. You're ready to level up your business, but the pressure to find the right person to make that happen is intense. Indeed sponsored jobs can help carry the load. It boosts your job post to help it reach quality talent fast. Cut through the chaos with Indeed sponsored jobs. Get a $75 sponsored job credit at indeed.com/podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring now? Then this is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs.
0:30 Speaker 01 Visible puts the ultimate wireless hack in the palm of your hand. With unlimited 5G wireless data and hotspot designed to keep you connected. Powered by Verizon's 5G network. And no contract holding you back. Plans start at $25 a month or get the premium Visible Plus Pro plan and save $10 on your first month when you use promo code HACK. Make the switch at visible.com. Terms apply. See visible.com for details.
1:04 Speaker 02 It's great to have you here on the Clark Howard Show. You know, our mission is to serve you with advice and information that empowers you so you make better financial decisions in your life. I've talked recently about shopping around for auto insurance with rates going up and up. And you need to know all the weird stuff going on in the insurance industry with insurers surreptitiously tracking you. And then, not weird, the voluntary programs where you allow tracking for discounts. Later, I've talked about how much I'm in favor of businesses being able to charge you surcharges
1:46 Speaker 02 for using credit cards, even though I love using reward cards. I think businesses should be able to explicitly charge me for that. But do you know there are businesses that are cheating you with the surcharges? I'm going to tell you what you need to know about that. So with insurance premiums on autos having gone up, up, up and away in recent years, insurers are becoming profitable again. I know you don't want to cry a river for auto insurers, but they had become unstable. They were losing huge amounts of money. Most insurers were losing real money, some more than others. And it was because a lot of things happened during
2:30 Speaker 02 COVID from the supply shortages and the costs that insurers were having to pay if they totaled somebody's car, they were having to pay much higher money for the total and the delays in getting vehicles repaired, the cost of getting vehicles repaired following an accident. It was a perfect storm for the auto insurance industry. And guess what? They made it a storm for your MyWallet. That is really rearview mirror now, but the harm has already been done to your MyWallet. And other than whatever price increases we're going to have because of the tariffs that are
3:11 Speaker 02 affecting auto insurance, that's a one-time effect. The really bad news is in the past, but now people are trying to do anything to get the rate slower and so many people are turning to usage-based premiums. And this is not a panacea unless you change how you drive. You've got to change how you drive or it's going to be a punishment, not a benefit. Because if you tend to do rapid stops and starts, crazy lane changes, if you are, if your driving experience
3:53 Speaker 02 shows the insurer that you are a menace on the roads, then the fact that you're letting them track you and initially gets you a discount is not going to be your friend over time. So if you take advantage of this, you've got to be really smart about how you drive. You've got to already be somebody who drives very, very cautiously and carefully, or you've got to become that person. Usually what happens when people's behavior is being observed is for a very short period of time, they change their habits, they change their behavior, and then they slip back into old habits.
4:37 Speaker 02 There's got to be a real behavior mod on your part if you put the devices on your car. Now, I want to talk about all the stuff that's been going on that's not okay, where you're being spied on without proper disclosure to you. Apps on your phone that track how you drive and then sell off that data behind your back, disclose poorly in those 60-page Terms of Service that come with an app. And then I told you before about how GM was tracking its customers and then making money by selling off the data. GM got sued, they apologized, they don't do it anymore.
5:20 Speaker 02 But know that the car you drive, the brand of car you have, they know so much about you. And any of the most modern brands know everything. I drive a Tesla, they know every second what I'm doing. And when I'm on Tesla doing the driving for me, I'm required to be looking straight ahead, and they're tracking my eyes. And if I look down at something in the vehicle, I get a warning. And if I do it again, they, for the rest of that drive, take away automation from me, and I'm like a real driver like the old days.
6:03 Speaker 02 But there is so much spying there, and you've just got to know that there's a lot of things happening, like the thing I told you about with Allstate. Where Allstate got sued by the state of Texas because they were spying on people's driving without disclosing it and using it surreptitiously to raise your rates. It's one thing to tell you and use that as a way to set your rates and you choose that's okay. It's another thing to be sneaky, underhanded like the GM and the Allstate stuff and the apps that are collecting the data and selling it off.
6:47 Speaker 02 That's not okay. As far as shopping, it really is okay to shop for your auto insurance, right Krista?
6:54 Speaker 03 Really is okay. And let's, we have a question to start out about this from James in North Carolina. With car and home insurance being so high, can I find a more affordable combined insurance? I have State Farm and have been told that their rate is pretty good just for the car. It's $120 per month and that's supposed to be a break for combining my insurances.
7:15 Speaker 02 It's like 1500 a year.
7:17 Speaker 03 When I go to some of these sites that claim they can give you a quote, I end up getting a bunch of calls trying to get my business.
7:24 Speaker 02 Okay, James, this is wild that you asked this. Okay, so originally, these sites that set up were actually doing what they said they would do. They were shopping multiple insurers and immediately you knew what was available. If you got a quote in just minutes, you would know from this company, this company, this company, this company, this company. Well, insurers were terrified of this. So they went out in the marketplace, they bought up all these shopping services and they pretend to be independent shopping services. But all they are is they're either owned by an existing auto insurer or they are lead
8:07 Speaker 02 generation services where all they're doing is selling off your information and then you get hassled by call after call after call because they, you gotta give them your phone number, right? So just know that it requires, it's stupid to say this, half
8:26 Speaker 02 Through 25 that you can't easily shop for something like auto insurance on the internet, but the industry doesn't want you to be able to. So we had to put together an analog guide like it's 1975, like it's 50 years ago, to walk you through how to manually shop for auto insurance from different companies. Should it be that way? Nope.
8:54 Speaker 03 And that guide's at Clark.com.
8:56 Speaker 02 But it is, that's the reality is it is that way.
9:00 Speaker 03 Ken in Arizona says, I've heard you say that my credit score in history is a factor in getting the best car insurance and homeowner's insurance rates. Once I'm established with an insurance company, if I normally keep my credit frozen, do I need to thaw it before each insurance renewal? Or can they gather enough information on my credit while my credit is still frozen? How about when shopping for better insurance prices and switching to a different insurance company? Does the credit need to be thawed then, or can it stay frozen?
9:27 Speaker 02 What a wonderful question, Ken, and I'm so glad you asked this because there was a hiccup with credit freezes that pretty much is not present anymore for shopping for auto insurance. In most states, the number one factor in setting your premiums for auto insurance is not how you drive, not if you've had a DUI or DWI. It is what your credit score is, what your credit looks like. And so the industry recognizes, as do the states, that it is common now that this is used. It's also much more common than it used to be that people have frozen their credit, which we all should do.
10:12 Speaker 02 So there was a period of time that this would be a problem, but now it's considered to be what's known as a soft inquiry. When an auto insurer checks your insurance, and a number of states have laws that explicitly say that an insurer can check your credit, even if your credit's frozen. So, we don't hear problems from people about this anymore. It may, there may be occasionally a problem with one insurer in some state or something like that, but we don't hear it anymore as something you have to temporarily thaw your credit for.
10:48 Speaker 03 And Todd in Maryland says, "Do you recommend staying loyal to Amica, or should I shop around for home and auto insurance? In the previous years, Clark would recommend Amica fairly often, but lately, he hasn't mentioned them. I'm wondering if something has changed regarding the quality of their service that I may not be aware of."
11:04 Speaker 02 So, in our Team Clark Consumer Action Center, we do get spotty complaints about Amica, but not very many. Amica in surveys still shows to be of the, they're not one of the largest nationwide insurers, but they're one of, they're in the next tier down. They're owned by their policyholders, and they still have a great reputation. This is always a tough thing with auto and homeowners insurance. You've got premium, and then you have what happens when the chips are down. And Amica has been a superior insurer compared to most
11:47 Speaker 02 anybody in the competition in terms of the quality of service you get and the treatment you get when you do have a claim. At fault or not, Amica's been better than others. So, this is a tough one, because is Amica gonna be the cheapest? I don't think so. Is Amica generally superior to other insurers out there on auto and homeowners? I would say absolutely. So, this is a call you've gotta make. Quality in the event something goes wrong versus price when nothing is going wrong.
12:29 Speaker 02 You've been with Amica. You're still with Amica?
12:31 Speaker 03 I am, yeah.
12:32 Speaker 02 How long?
12:34 Speaker 03 It's been at least maybe between 12 and 15 years.
12:39 Speaker 02 And do you ever freak out by the premiums that show up?
12:42 Speaker 03 I mean, they're not cheap, but I feel like they've been amazing when, again, we've had a problem, so.
12:48 Speaker 02 Okay, so I don't know if we helped you make a decision there. I want to talk about something straight ahead. You've got to be really careful about that. Businesses cheating you when you pay with a credit card. You've got to know this.
13:07 Speaker 00 This episode is brought to you by Indeed. You're ready to level up your business, but the pressure to find the right person to make that happen is intense. Indeed sponsored jobs can help carry the load. It boosts your job post to help it reach quality talent fast. Cut through the chaos with Indeed sponsored jobs. Get a $75 sponsored job credit at indeed.com/podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring now? Then this is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs.
13:37 Speaker 01 Visible puts the ultimate wireless hack in the palm of your hand. With unlimited 5G wireless data and hotspot designed to keep you connected. Powered by Verizon's 5G network and no contract holding you back. Plans start at $25 a month or get the premium Visible Plus Pro plan and save $10 on your first month when you use promo code HACK. Make the switch at visible.com. Terms apply. See visible.com for details.
14:07 Speaker 04 Your sausage McMuffin with egg didn't change, your receipt did. The sausage McMuffin with egg extra value meal includes a hash brown and a small coffee for just $5, only at McDonald's for a limited time.
14:19 Speaker 05 Price and participation may vary. Promotion pricing may be lower than meal pricing.
14:24 Speaker 06 Unfocused, foggy, you might be dehydrated. Gatorade Zero powders have been scientifically designed to help improve hydration balance in the body with a clinically proven electrolyte blend and no artificial colors or flavors. Great tasting hydration, no matter where you're going. Shop now online or at retailers nationwide. Gatorade hydrates better than water. Is it in you? Symptoms noted are signs of mild to moderate dehydration. Consult a healthcare professional if symptoms persist.
14:52 Speaker 02 You may or may not have heard this. It was reported on a lot of television stations around the country that there are, and the particular thing people have been talking about is gas stations, that have been cheating people when you pay for gasoline with a credit card by adding a surcharge of a dollar a gallon when you pay with a credit card. Now, under the rules that merchants have in most of their contracts with credit card companies, they can pass on their costs to the customer, but they can't use it as a profit center.
15:38 Speaker 02 And depending on the state, it may be illegal to charge people a ripoff add-on fee. But you're the one who's got to know that there are people that are taking something I believe should be the right of a business to not have to swallow whatever ripoff charge a bank crams down their throats for taking credit cards and in turn pass on the fees that they actually pay that are profit destroyers for business. And as you've heard me say over the years, we are the only country in the world that
16:17 Speaker 02 faces merchant processing charges, fees for taking credit cards that businesses face. That's why we've got all these crazy, wonderful reward cards because the banks are ripping off the businesses that accept their credit cards and they act as a cartel. So I'm in favor of businesses being able to pass on the fees. And then I have to choose, am I going to pay with a credit card or not because of the cost that that retailer or restaurant or whoever gas station is facing?
16:54 Speaker 02 This is a whole different thing when a business rips you off by charging a huge additional amount. I was driving on an interstate recently and there was a sign flashing with a low price for gasoline on regular gas. And then would flash again and it was this crazy higher price for credit. Just so price is first cash, then credit. So what should the difference be if they're only passing on their costs? Figure about four cents per
17:33 Speaker 02 dollar of the cost of the gas. So if the gas is $3, that'd be 12 extra cents. But that's not what's going on. The gas station operators have been charging much, much more. And you gotta know this is a ripoff going on. And you're the one who's gotta be your own police officer at the pump or anywhere else where they add on a surcharge. There's a pizza place. I can eat pizza very sparingly now, unfortunately, after having had my heart valve replacement. But they have, what they do is the price that you see on the menu. I'm not looking at a paper menu.
18:18 Speaker 03 You're looking on the wall. Yep. As any, any good pizza place will have. Yeah.
18:23 Speaker 02 So I look up there. The price you see up there is the price if you pay by credit card. And then if you pay by cash, suddenly you're paying less.
18:34 Speaker 03 You feel like you're getting a deal.
18:36 Speaker 02 That's right. That's right. I like that. So there's always that thing of marketing. So you say, here's the price, but if you give us cash, we're probably not reporting to the IRS, you know, you get this lower price.
18:52 Speaker 03 All right, let's go to some questions. Trudy in North Carolina says, there are so many choices of credit cards, i.e. miles versus money. I've gotten a few cards, Delta and American Airlines, that gives me a bonus on miles if I spend X amount of dollars. The problem is-
19:06 Speaker 02 What they're talking about is when you sign up for it, the sign up bonus, yeah.
19:09 Speaker 03 The problem is what to do with the cards after I get the bonus and the free year is up. I don't like paying an annual fee. If I cancel them and get another card with perks, my credit score would be a mess.
19:20 Speaker 02 Yeah. So you dump those cards from Delta and American unless you fly them all the time, one or the other, all the time. And what you do instead is now there are usually cards you can get fee-free that, for the tie-in between the credit card issuer and the airline, that do almost nothing for you, but you still keep the credit active and you're not paying the huge annual fee you now have to pay going forward. And I just want to reemphasize, the credit cards from American, United, and Delta, it is the rare,
20:01 Speaker 02 rare person that benefits from them. And I see people using them all the time. To really make them work, you gotta travel at least more than once a month on that airline, and you have to have a big charge volume on the card in order to make it worth having and paying, because most of the airline cards, the captive airline cards, have extremely high annual fees.
20:29 Speaker 03 Vicky in Florida says, I truly appreciate all the advice I've received listening to you for many years, especially when it comes to travel and how to save money. My husband and I are retired, both from the Army, and traveling a lot, especially since both of our daughters are active duty in the Army, and one is moving to Germany this month.
20:45 Speaker 02 My goodness, what a family of service to this country. Wow.
20:51 Speaker 03 And when the daughter moves to Germany along with our grandkids, this time I have a hint for you that I recently learned by accident and it's going to save me a lot of money. Although I know you don't like spending money for business class, after many trips of arriving early morning and expecting to start the day full blast, I'm happy to pay for that lie flat seat so I can sleep on the trip. For the return trip, which always happens during the day, I don't care about the up front seats. I discovered when booking my flights that I can pick any departing flight in business class for whatever dollar amount, but if I choose the lower priced seat for the return trip, the entire trip totals the cost of the lower priced seat. This was quite a revelation as it saves a lot of money if I don't fly business class
21:33 Speaker 03 on the return trip. So for all the listeners who aren't quite as cheap as you, they may found this tip useful.
21:39 Speaker 02 Okay, so I get the idea of going over and paying the business class fare over on a round trip ticket and then saving a huge amount of money by going back in economy. But the round trip fare should not be like what economy would be round trip. I think you found a fluke or something very lucky. I want to give you a tip since you're happy to fly economy if it's not an overnight flight. Do you know there's more and more flights from the East Coast of the United States to Europe that are daytime flights? So you get to Europe in the evening, you go to your hotel, you get a good night's sleep in a big bed, not the lie flat on an airplane, and you
22:24 Speaker 02 save a ton of money because of that hotel night versus the cost of the business class seat. So the airlines charge more for those daytime flights in coach than they do for regular overnights because those flights very heavily have business travelers, but they're still a lot cheaper than what business class would normally be. You get a hotel room, you get 300 square feet. Well, in Europe, you might get 200 square feet. Got a big bed instead of the little bed you have in business class. Just an idea.
23:01 Speaker 03 Arlene in Illinois says, I received a credit card offer from Fidelity with 2% cash back, and I believe the cash back has an option to put it in a Fidelity account. Is this a good deal? And Fidelity, is they in the credit card business now?
23:14 Speaker 02 They actually have been doing credit cards for a long, long time. And I love the Fidelity credit card product. The money can go into a variety of Fidelity accounts. It can go in a Fidelity college savings plan, 529 plan. The money can go into a Fidelity retirement account, go into a Fidelity traditional investment account. 2% cash back, everything you spend. It's a great card. It's one of the ones we have on our great cash back cards list on Clark.com. Different ones for different people's purposes, different situations. But cash is king. Points, not so much. There may be more of the clown prince.
23:59 Speaker 02 So, thank you so much for joining us on today's podcast. And I hope your Bastille Day has been wonderful. And know what we're all devoted to, that's you. With a variety of ways for you to be empowered. From free one-on-one advice from our Team Clark Consumer Action Center, to our newsletters, our social media, our websites, Clark.com and ClarkDeals.com, our podcast, our YouTube show, our YouTube shorts, all there. Not because I always wear shorts all the time, I mean, shorter versions clips on YouTube. I mean, think about it. Why would you not wear shorts? Think how much less fabric's involved.
24:45 Speaker 02 How much cheaper the clothes are. Absolutely. Shorts rock.
24:52 Speaker 02 Should we show my legs to our YouTube viewers?
24:55 Speaker 03 Sure, go for it.
24:56 Speaker 02 You don't think we'll make them throw up?
24:57 Speaker 03 Show them the cargo shorts.
24:59 Speaker 02 See, I'm wearing, these are from Walmart. Got my legs right there.
25:04 Speaker 03 You can tell when Clark's getting his phone out because you hear that from this, the, what do you call that? Velcro.
25:09 Speaker 02 Velcro, yeah. So these are George shorts from Walmart. They're pretty expensive. I think they're $11.
25:18 Speaker 03 Wow.
25:18 Speaker 02 More than I like to spend, but I'm telling you.
25:21 Speaker 03 But they double as a purse, a merce.
25:24 Speaker 02 A merce by having the pockets. Yeah, so the other night I was at a nice restaurant with friends and I checked the dress code before I went. And it was okay to wear shorts there. But the couple I was going with tend to be dressier. So I hated to do it. I changed clothes, put on dress up shoes, long pants, still wore a golf shirt. And I get there and walking all around the restaurant, guys in shorts and tennis shoes. Aw, man.
26:06 Speaker 02 What a waste being that uncomfortable. What did that have to do with anything? Nothing at all, but have a great, great day and we'll be with you on Wednesday.
Previous 07.11.25 Clark Answers His Critics on Clark Stinks / For Job Seekers Next 07.15.25 Ask An Advisor With Wes Moss Page updated November 7, 2026 · transcript and summary are machine-generated
