Why Did My Premium Go Up?

This year, you may have noticed an increase in your home and auto insurance premiums, even if you didn’t make a claim. Understandably, you may have questions about why. Here are some common questions we hear from customers:

Q: Why did my insurance premium increase when I didn’t make a claim?
A: Rate increases are not always the result of a claim being made against your policy. They can occur for a variety of reasons outside of your personal claims experience, such as:

• Increased cost of repairs due to inflation
• More severe storms
• Supply chain issues
• Labor shortages
• Increased medical care costs

How much you drive also increases your risk for an auto accident-related claim. You may remember in 2020 when we lowered auto insurance rates because people drove less (and as a result, fewer accidents occurred) due to the pandemic. Now people are driving more, and more accidents are happening.

In addition, Mother Nature has not been kind to anyone in recent years, and we’ve seen an increase in these storms becoming catastrophic, causing people to lose their homes and cars. Consider catastrophic losses like these combined with increased costs of repairs and rebuilding, and the expense needle moves higher. Keeping rates the same makes it difficult to balance the need for reasonable premiums against these rising costs and our ability to prepare for the potential of future catastrophic storms.

Q: What is Shelter doing to help control insurance costs?
A: Shelter has modernized our auto insurance rating plan to help ensure we rate customers appropriately based on risk. Although we hope all our insured drivers have a good driving record, we can’t be 100% certain they won’t have accidents. (That’s why car wrecks are called “accidents,” after all.) We do offer a number of articles about driving safely, protecting your home thieves and protecting it from damage caused by severe storms and fire. These articles can be found in the Learning Center on our website.

Besides encouraging our customers to drive safely and articles about how to protect their homes from disasters, we encourage them to create a My Shelter account and use it or the My Shelter app to pay premiums, view the status of a claim, view policies and ID cards, sign up to go paperless and much more.

Q: Is there anything I can do to lower my rate?
A: All of the following can impact your rate:

• Your personal driving record, including tickets and accidents
• The number of drivers on your policy
• The ages of the drivers on your policy
• Vehicle characteristics, such as the make and model of your vehicle
• The number of miles you drive each year
• Your credit score (so it’s a good idea to check your credit annually and have any inaccuracies removed, if possible)
• The age of your home
• Your home’s location

To avoid more increases, drive safely and take proactive action when it comes to preventing claims. These are easy things to do, like finding a garage to park in during a hail storm, cutting limbs back or removing dead trees or limbs so they don’t become hazardous during high winds, cleaning your fireplace each year, checking your roof and gutters every year and more.

It’s also a good idea to schedule a Personal Protection Review with your agent to discuss your insurance needs. During this meeting, your agent will go over your coverages and deductibles to discuss your options for getting the best value while still providing the right coverage for your situation. They will also go over what discounts may apply to you. In some cases, these discounts can add up to significant savings. That personal touch of having an agent really takes our award-winning customer service up a notch. 

Price increases seem to be everywhere these days. We hope that by providing some explanation and offering solutions that help offset the increases will make it easier. We hope for better days ahead, fewer storms and safe travels for you wherever you go.

• Saving Money

  

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• Getting Answers

  

  Still wondering what factors influence insurance rates? This article might provide you with more insight.
  
  

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• Getting Value

  

  The best way to make sure you’re getting the best value for your insurance dollar is to schedule a Personal Protection Review with your agent.

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