The second largest home insurer in the state is raising rates by 8 percent in early 2020.
Allstate will be increasing its Illinois homeowners insurance rates by the largest amount the state has seen in several years. By early next year, policyholders will be paying an average of 8 percent more for their coverage than they are this year.
The Illinois Department of Insurance announced the rate hike in a filing they issued on Halloween.
Allstate is the second largest home insurance provider in the state. It has just about 200,000 policyholders in Illinois, each of whom will be affected to some degree, depending on a range of different factors. The Department of Insurance filing stated that the higher rates would become effective as of January 20, 2020.
This same group of policyholders experienced a much lower increase to their Illinois homeowners insurance rates at the start of this year. In that case, the average hike was just over 5 percent.
The second largest group of policyholders will see their premiums climb by 6.1 percent. Another group of over 29,000 policyholders will be paying an average of a much lower 4.5 percent next year when the increases become effective.
As of yet, Allstate has not officially announced specifically why the premiums for home coverage were increased to that extent in the state. That said, Illinois is a state in which homeowners insurance rates are unregulated. This gives insurers complete control over when and why their rates change.
Still, the law in the state requires insurers to charge rates that reflect their claim costs within that state. Therefore, without another explanation from Allstate, it may be assumed that the high increases to premiums is a reflection of notably increased claim payment costs.
The Illinois homeowners insurance rates are far from the only ones in the country to rise. Many states are watching their home insurers increase their premiums as a result of many factors, particularly weather events linked with climate change. California’s wildfires provides a clear example of this trend.