Why Your Insurance Premium May Go Up When You Renew

When you receive your insurance policy renewal information, you may discover your premium has gone up and be wondering why, especially if you have not filed any claims recently. There are a number of reasons why your rate may have gone up, which may is usually never explained in your renewal information.

Actuaries assess the risks of insurance policies, using math, financial theory, and statistics to forecast the probability and costs of an event. “In the insurance industry, actuaries spend a lot of time trying to predict how likely customers are to file a claim. The higher the probability, the more they can justify charging you higher insurance premiums.” This is one of the reasons your insurance premium might be going up.

Recent Claims

Have you filed any claims lately with your insurance company? Depending on the type of claim and its cost, your insurance premium may have gone up because of this. Your rate may eventually go back down if you do not have to file another claim within a certain period of time. This is one of the most common reasons for an insurance premium to go up. You should know, however, that most increases because of claim history primarily relate to liability losses. 

Weather Events

The number of hurricanes, storms, wildfires, and tornadoes — along with other extreme weather events — has been rising over the last few years. As these become more frequent, insurance companies may increase their rates too, so they can keep up with the insurance claims for a large and damaging disaster. This is something that the actuaries help calculate.

Increase in Property Value

If you have done any renovations or updates to your home since your last policy renewal, they may have increased your property value enough to where you need to increase your insurance coverage limits. This will, of course, increase your insurance premium as well.

Crime Rate Increase

Another thing actuaries will calculate is if there have been increases in your local crime rate, as well as the likeliness of becoming the victim of a burglar or vandal. If they determine that it is likely enough, your insurance premium will go up to reflect the higher risk for insuring you.

New Big Purchases

If you have made any new expensive purchases that you need to add to your coverage, like new furniture, gym equipment, an expensive new TV, or a computer. This kind of thing may increase your premium so that it will be adequately covered if you suffer a loss and need your new, expensive equipment replaced.

Life Changes

Other things that may increase your premium include merging households with a significant other and updating your insurance to make sure the new belongings are covered.

Having a new baby may also increase your premium since you will likely be making some measures to increase safety in the house.

Conclusion

These are just some of the things that could impact your insurance premium. If you are not aware of any of the things listed here occurring in your area, you can contact your insurance company to ask for more information. Sometimes, the insurance company will simply cite inflation as the reason for the increase, if nothing else can be applied.