A State Farm car insurance rate increase coming to 8 states

Over the summer, the insurer issued decreases since people weren’t driving as much in the pandemic.

Drivers in at least 8 states may see a State Farm car insurance rate increase, according to recent filings the insurer made with state regulators.

These higher premiums will follow months of decreases due to reduced miles driven.

Over the summer, State Farm cut its auto policy rates across many states in the US to reflect the lower risk of coverage due to the pandemic. When the COVID-19 crisis struck, lockdowns, workers staying at home and working remotely, and unemployment sharply reduced the number of miles driven. As a result, the number of crashes also fell. Since it wasn’t as expensive to cover the vehicles, the premiums of many customers were decreased.

However, across the last few weeks, the insurer has started to work toward a car insurance rate increases in many states. According to filings the insurer has made with state insurance departments, it looks as though those rate hikes are primarily in the low single-digits. Furthermore, they aren’t high enough to bring most premiums to where they had been before the pandemic began.

The State Farm car insurance rate increase is a turnaround from the decreases that were temporary.

The premiums discounts from the summer were always meant to be temporary. They were meant to reflect the reduced driving and lower cost of paying for claims. As the insurer starts to return the rates to a higher level again, it reflects an increase in driving when compared to the initial lockdowns, but also shows that the company expects new and renewed policies in 2021 to reflect a continued lower driving level on American roads.

Still, the increases remain small enough that they will not completely remove the decreases put into place a few months ago. According to the filings made with state regulators, the average car insurance rate increase changes will be as follows.

• Arkansas (summer decrease 7.5 percent) will increase by 4.1 percent
• Connecticut (summer decrease 10 percent) will increase by 3.7 percen
• Georgia (summer decrease 12.6 percent) will increase by 4.4 percent
• Maine (summer decrease 9.5 percent) will increase by 4.2 percent
• Michigan (summer decrease 12.7 percent) will increase by 4.1 percent
• Pennsylvania (summer decrease 12.5 percent) will increase by 3.3 percent
• Virginia (summer decrease 9.6 percent) will increase by 3.2 percent