Commercial premium increases mostly accelerated in Q1

This isn’t the kind of growth that finance departments like.

Insurance premium renewal rates accelerated in all but one major line of businessduring the first quarter, according to new data from Ivans, a software developer for insurance agents and brokers—meaning CFOs are likely to see higher insurance bills soon.

For instance, premium renewal rates on commercial auto insurance policies increased an average of 9.09% YoY in Q1, compared to an average bump of 8.79% in Q4 2023. Other insurance policies that saw premium increases included general liability, commercial property, umbrella, and business owner policies (BOP), which t combine various forms of coverage and are typically offered to smaller businesses.

The premium renewal rates show “continued hard market conditions,” Kathy Hrach, SVP of product management at Ivans, said in a news release. A hard market refers to a phase of the insurance market cycle characterized by rate increases and capacity tightening.

“The continued rate increases of the hard market is being closely tracked across the industry as renewals and remarketing become more and more important,” Hrach said.

Any guesses on which insurance coverage didn’t see premium increases? Of course, it was workers’ compensation! The bright spot in the property/casualty insurance world kept on shining in Q1, logging an average premium decline of 0.88% YoY, more than the 0.64% decrease in the previous quarter.

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