RALEIGH — Another insurance rate-hike request has been rejected by Commissioner Mike Causey.
The N.C. Department of Insurance announced Tuesday afternoon that Causey declined a proposal from the N.C. Rate Bureau to increase rates on mobile home policies.
According to DOI, the state average for mobile home policies would rise 82.9% and casualty policies by 49.9%, both over a three-year period.
Per the request, rates on fire policies would rise 24.9% for 2024, 21.2% for 2025 and 20.9% for 2026, according to DOI. The staggered hike for casualty policies would be 15.9% for 2024, 13.9% for 2025 and 13.5% for 2026. The increases would take place on Nov. 1 of each year.
The Rate Bureau, created by the General Assembly in 1977, is not part of the DOI, but is a nonprofit organization that “provides services and programs for the insurance industry in North Carolina for automobile, property and workers compensation.”
“We are not in agreement with the insurance companies’ proposed increases,” Causey said in a press release. “It is now necessary to hold a hearing to reach a resolution that will make the most financial sense for our residents and insurance companies.”
That hearing is scheduled for April 7, 2025, starting at 10 a.m. in the Second Floor Hearing Room at the Department of Insurance, 3200 Beechleaf Court, Raleigh — unless DOI and the Rate Bureau can negotiate a settlement beforehand.
“State law gives the Insurance Commissioner 45 days to issue an order once the hearing concludes,” the press release reads. “Once the order is issued, the NCRB has the right to appeal the decision to the N.C. Court of Appeals. A Court of Appeals order could then be appealed to the N.C. Supreme Court.”
According to DOI, the Rate Bureau filed for an increase in 2022, which led to a settlement of 10% for casualty policies and 15% for fire policies. Those increases took effect Aug. 1, 2023.
Citing the rating agency AM Best, Risk & Insurance magazine reported in March that the property and casualty sector suffered a $38 billion underwriting loss in 2023.
“The property insurance sector is under heavy pressure from poor financial performance due to unexpectedly high inflation, a shift of exposures to higher-risk areas, and rising reinsurance costs,” according to a blog post from the U.S. Office of Financial Research.
“In addition, the insurance industry is incurring rapidly growing losses from modest sized but more frequent weather events such as severe convective storms resulting in large cumulative losses,” the OFR blog continues. “These changes have resulted in the traditional insurance and reinsurance economic models becoming stressed and causing significant disruption in the traditional insurance operating model.”
Earlier this year, Causey rejected a request for what he called a “drastic rate increase” to homeowner’s policies.
Click here to read about the homeowner’s proposal.
Causey met with several local insurance agents in Hamlet this past February, saying he has heard from multiple agencies who said they were paying out more in claims than they were taking in with premiums.
A hearing on those hikes has been set for 10 a.m. Oct. 7, after which Causey will have 45 days to issue an order.
