Insurers continued implementing rate increases to attain profitability in the third quarter of 2024. (Credit: tommaso79/Shutterstock)
The number of U.S. consumers on the hunt for new auto insurance policies continues to skyrocket.
Shopping and new policy growth have reached 'nuclear' levels, according to a report by LexisNexis, growing 31.2% year-over-year in the third quarter of 2024, and up considerably from the second quarter’s 16.1% spike.
Shopping and new policy volumes became even more explosive in the third quarter as some insurers continued to implement rate increases to attain profitability while others reignited marketing programs to attract consumers looking to mitigate the rate increases in their auto and home policies, LexisNexis said in the report.
Meanwhile, rate increases drove shopping among preferred and long-tenured customers, including the 66 and over demographic.
At the same time, new auto policy volumes jumped 25.9% year-over-year, notching a 19.5% increase from the second quarter, the data showed, while direct channel shopping rates went up 67% and new policies grew 54%. Independent agent carriers posted a 26% hike in shopping growth.
“Looking at trends, typically, soft markets spur aggressive marketing and targeted U.S. rate adjustments to enhance segmentation,” said Chris Rice, vice president, strategic business intelligence, LexisNexis Risk Solutions. “Following an especially challenging four years, U.S. insurers must closely monitor industry trends, including stabilizing claim severities, increased frequency of weather-related events, rate adjustments and whether the recent shopping by long-tenured customers has motivated these consumers to entertain future shopping events.”
Other key insights include:
- August achieved the highest volume of new policies in a single month.
- Direct-to-consumer carriers led the way, growing 54%, followed by independent agent carriers with 26% growth.
- States with the highest year-over-year growth included Wyoming (80%), California (67%), New York (58%), Louisiana (54%) and Montana (47%), while states like Texas (33%), Florida (38%) and Michigan (19%) were among the top five states experiencing the highest growth by volume.
- States with higher populations like New York and California ranked in both volume and percentage categories.
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