Personal auto

Loss costs trends continue to increase in both physical damage and bodily injury coverages for nearly all of Progressive’s commercial auto products, CEO Tricia Griffith wrote in a quarterly update.

The cuts amount to roughly 2% of the insurer’s US workforce.

Ahead of third quarter earnings, many personal lines insurers are pulling several levers to right-size their operations, including conducting layoffs and reducing exposure.

The company expects a net loss of between $140mn-$150mn for the quarter and a net operating loss in the range of $25mn-$35mn.

Data shows Texas developments parallel some of the trends in other troubled states, but it is heading in from a stronger position.

From 2020 to 2023, P&C replacement costs increased by 45% on average, whereas inflation for the overall US economy increased 15% within that same period, though the forecast expects that to change.

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Pricing, reserves and uneven catastrophe losses will be the theme this quarter.

On a year-on-year basis, the all-items index for September increased 3.7% before seasonal adjustment.

This is the second downgrade faced by State Farm and its subsidiaries from AM Best in the last month.

US commercial and personal auto insurer claim payouts combined were up between $96bn and $105bn for the period from 2013 to 2022.

Rating agency cites elevated underwriting results from convective storms, cat events in core states of operation.