Ohio Auto Insurance Rates Expected to Fall

February 22, 2006

Insurance officials and company representatives are predicting that automobile insurance rates in Ohio are likely to drop this year, and homeowner insurance bills should remain mostly unchanged.

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Insurance Director Ann Womer Benjamin said that there has been a three-year trend of dropping auto rates and that she hopes it will continue, according to a story in the Blade Business Journal. Benjamin said that lower or unchanged rates are possible due to the large number of insurers that write business, creating a highly compeititive market in Ohio.

The Department of Insurance reported that auto insurance rates last year decreased an average of 1.6 percent and homeowner insurance went up only 0.3 percent. The Department is hoping the trend will continue.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners ranks Ohio seventh lowest in the nation in homeowner premiums and 15th lowest in the nation in automobile insurance.

For 2003, the most recent year available, the average premium in Ohio for a homeowner policy was $478, which is $199 less than the national average of $667. The average automobile insurance in the state was $671, which is $150 less than the national average of $821.

The largest drop in auto rates in Ohio last year was by the State Farm Group, which reduced premiums by 4.3 percent.

It lowered homeowner policy premiums an average of 2.5 percent. The company has the largest market share in the state for both types of insurance. A State Farm spokesperon said it was too early to determine Ohio rates for 2006 because the company is still assessing loss history for both auto and homeowners insurance.

Other companies have requested lower rates. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. in Columbus, said that firm has two requests pending before the insurance department that, if granted, would lower auto rates by 5.1 percent effective March 6 and would drop homeowner rates by 5.1 percent effective April 22.

American Family Mutual Insurance Co. in Madison, Wis., announced last month it will drop its auto rates an average of 18 percent and homeowner rates 2.8 percent in Ohio.

Tim O'Connor, a Holland, Ohio, agent for American Family, said clients have called because they think something is wrong with their bills. People are used to everything going up, so when something like this happens, there's disbelief, he said.

Rate changes depend on a variety of factors, he cautioned, but one of his clients with both homeowner and full auto coverage with American Family recently had a drop in the monthly bill to $130 from $180.