Personal auto

InsurTechs’ mounting losses and continuing cash burn combined with reinsurance market hardening could spell trouble for the sector.

While Allstate may be beyond the worst of the reserve charges, execution of initiatives needs to go smoothly for it to get back on track.

The company paid out $1.63bn for physical damage claims in the first nine months of the year, which exceeded earlier projections of $1.33bn.

Inside P&C’s morning summary of the key stories to get you up to speed fast.

Third-quarter statutory data reveals premium growth, worsening loss ratio because of increased loss cost trends and Hurricane Ian.

Our Trump/Biden note from yesterday discussed the rotation from growth stocks to value stocks playing out over 2022. Unfortunately, insurance technology stocks have had it the worst, with Lemonade stock down 49%, but still doing relatively better than Root (down 86%) and Hippo (down 80%).

Though still significantly elevated, the CPI appears to have peaked in the short term, which may give carriers a chance to catch up on rate.

The company retained $10mn of $27mn in gross losses from Ian, which accounted for 3.4 points on the loss ratio.

Medical inflation – a key input to long-tail loss costs – increased 5.4% year on year but declined 0.5% from September to October.

Management said there are early signs that inflationary pressures – which have pushed severity in personal auto in recent months – are easing.

The decline was smaller than previous months, with September clocking in at 3% and August's decline at 4%.

Progressive’s superior digital distribution and widening auto margins put it far ahead of the competition.