RALEIGH — As one proposed rate hike sits in limbo awaiting a hearing, North Carolina’s insurance companies are asking for yet another.
The N.C. Department of Insurance announced Thursday that the N.C. Rate Bureau has filed a request to raise rates on mobile home policies.
According to DOI, the Rate Bureau has requested an “overall state average” increase of 82.9% for mobile home fire policies — 24.9% for 2024, 21.2% for 2025 and 20.9% for 2026 — and a 49.9% hike for mobile home casualty policies — 15.9% for 2024, 13.9% for 2025 and 13.5% for 2026 — both over a three-year-period.
“Unlike standard homeowners’ programs, both … include flood coverage,” DOI said in a press release. “The two programs are similar. However, the MH-F program provides coverage for a broader range of perils.”
If approved, the proposed increases would affect 148,000 policyholders and go into effect Nov. 1 of each year, according to DOI.
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.”
A public comment period on the proposed hikes is open until April 30. Comments can be sent: by mail to Kimberly Pearce, 1201 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, N.C. 27699-1201; or by email to 2024MH@ncdoi.gov.
Earlier this year, the Rate Bureau asked for a “drastic rate increase” to homeowner’s policies that Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey declined.
Click here to read about the congressional opposition to the proposal.
Click here to read the follow-up story.
“Homeowners were shocked with the high amount requested by the insurance companies, and so was I,” Causey said in February.
The proposal came after the industry reported a $32.2 billion net underwriting loss during the first three quarters of 2023.
During a visit to Hamlet on Feb. 29, Causey said he had spoken with several representatives of State Farm and Farm Bureau who told him, “We’re paying out more in homeowner’s claims than we’re taking in in premiums.”
“A lot of companies don’t want to write homeowners’ (policies) right now because it’s not profitable,” Causey said. “People understand there’s a lot of pressure, but they don’t want to see an increase.”
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.
