Louisiana Insurance Commissioner: State Farm Cutting Auto, Homeowners Rates
Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon has approved overall base rate decreases of 3.5% for homeowners’ policies issued by State Farm Insurance Co., which follows his approval of an additional decrease of 2.3% for State Farm auto policies in March.
“In uncertain times like these, good news is hard to come by and I wanted to share a bit of good news for State Farm’s policyholders. These decreases are directly attributable to competition in our marketplace and again demonstrate that competition remains the preeminent safeguard for policyholders,” said Donelon. “In Louisiana, State Farm auto insurance reductions over the past 18 months have led to other major insurers lowering rates in the private passenger market and I believe this decrease will produce a similar result in the homeowners’ market.”
Donelon said State Farm auto insurance rate reductions in Louisiana over the year and a half have led to decreases by other major insurers in the state’s private passenger market. In a statement released by the Louisiana Department of Insurance, Donelon said he believes State Farms homeowners rate decrease “will produce a similar result in the homeowners’ market.”
State Farm provides homeowners’ coverage to more than a quarter of a million policyholders in Louisiana. The statewide homeowners’ market in Louisiana has seen only a 1% increase in each of the past six years and this rate experience is a direct result of Louisiana adding 31 new insurers writing homeowners’ coverage in the state, according to the LDI.
State Farm’s current 2.3% auto insurance reduction follows approved decreases of 4.5% in 2018 and 6.5% in 2019, for a total of 13.3% over the past 18 months. State Farm provides auto insurance for more than a million Louisiana policyholders.
The effective dates of State Farm Mutual ‘s reductions are May 1, 2020, for auto policies and July 1, 2020, for homeowners’ policies.
Source: Louisiana Department of Insurance