DENVER — Colorado is No. 3 in the country for rising car insurance rates, according to the latest study from The Zebra, a car insurance search engine.

Its 2018 study reports that premiums in the state have increased 54 percent in the past six years.

“Unfortunately, we are on a collision course with all those different risk factors in Colorado,” said Carole Walker, the executive director of the Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association.

Those risk factors include more people on the roads as Colorado gained about 77,000 residents last year.

Plus, deadly crashes continue to increase. More than 600 people died in traffic crashes last year, the most in more than 10 years.

And more people are distracted when they drive and are crashing their cars more often.

“And the cost to repair those cars has gone up exponentially,” Walker said. “All that cool, new technology we have in our vehicles is also very expensive to repair.”

For instance, a bumper that used to cost a few hundred dollars to fix now costs a few thousand dollars.

Also, there’s damage from Mother Nature. Colorado has the second-most claims for hail damage. A big storm in May caused $1.4 billion in damage.

The increase in premiums affects just about all of the state’s insurance companies. Still, experts say it never hurts to shop around and see what and how much coverage is needed..