In April, we should be watching for a bounce back in the prices of many areas where we saw price declines due to the pandemic. This list will include restaurants, hotels, airfares, and auto insurance. The price of auto insurance fell sharply during the height of the pandemic because the CPI uses a gross payments measure which doesn’t deduct payouts for accidents. (This is the opposite of medical insurance where the measure is net of payments for services.) Less driving meant fewer accidents, which meant insurers could give large rebates and still maintain profit margins. When making longer term comparisons, it will ... (full story)