Heavy trucks took the hit in March — and the biggest NJ auto book in the region moved.
Approved in March 2026: rate-increase filings touching 1,000+ Northeast policyholders across workers comp and commercial auto. Bodily-injury liability and heavy-truck classes drove the increases, while two bureau-driven workers-comp waves hit Pennsylvania education and religious risks. Here's what your clients are about to feel.
Industries in this issue's filings
Lead Filing
Progressive's NJ book — 32,502 policyholders — takes heavy trucks up 19.5%
Approved March 18, effective January 1. Progressive's Drive NJ company re-prices the region's largest commercial-auto book this cycle: 32,502 policyholders, $307.5M in premium, an 11.1% overall increase with heavy and extra-heavy trucks at +19.5% and towing Onhook coverage +14.2%.
The structural sting is the experience-rating change: Progressive more than doubles the single-loss cap from $100,000 to $250,000, so one large accident now hurts a fleet's premium 2.5x harder than before. Minimum BI limits also rise to 35/70 per state mandate.
Also Approved This Cycle
Arbella raises MA fleet liability ~15% — and holds collision flat
Across a 9,761-policyholder, $93.7M book, Arbella lifts Bodily Injury liability for fleet accounts ~15% while keeping physical damage flat, citing an 8% annual liability loss trend. The split is the point: a renewal that looks stable on collision can still jump on the liability line.
Travelers hits CT contractors with +25%
Travelers raises Connecticut commercial auto ~15% on average, but contractor and service 'Group E' risks take a full 25%, and St. Paul Guardian policyholders average 24.7%. The carrier cites a 21.2% indicated need on its newer TCAP product and adds a composite rating rule for 10+ vehicle fleets. Effective August 1.
Church Mutual raises PA school and church comp ~15%
Two CM Regent / Church Mutual filings lift Pennsylvania workers-comp for education and religious risks: schools and intermediate units up to 24.7%, religious classes +14.5%. The 'All Other' loss-cost multiplier moves from 1.825 to 2.153, and the deductible-discount credit shrinks — a double squeeze on non-profits.
Preferred Mutual lifts MA physical damage ~25%, caps renewals at 30%
Preferred Mutual raises Massachusetts commercial-auto physical damage ~25%, adds a mandatory cyber/data-privacy exclusion and a formal named-driver exclusion, and caps renewals at 30% for three years. As always, a three-year transition cap is the tell that the true need runs higher. Effective October 1.
Why workers comp shows up twice
Pennsylvania's April PCRB loss-cost cycle landed this month, and the niche carriers serving schools and churches passed it through with above-average increases — Church Mutual's two filings both target education and religious class codes. Most other Northeast comp filings adopting bureau loss costs were flat to favorable. The non-profit exception is the story worth raising with those clients.
Property carriers started taking control of your limits — and your liability scope.
Same screen, every other commercial line approved in March. The theme is control: carriers reserving the right to reset building limits at renewal, capping discretionary credits, and pruning coverage scope — changes that outlast any single year's rate number.
Industries in this issue's filings
Lead Filing
Auto-Owners re-prices a 24,682-policy Ohio book — and can reset your limits
Approved March 30, effective April 10. Auto-Owners re-rates a 24,682-policyholder, $107.4M Ohio commercial-package book, with managed real estate +30%, real-estate development +40%, and snow-and-ice-removal contractors +35%. Golf courses, hotels and mobile-home parks all take 25–30%.
The structural change is bigger than the rate: a new Adjusted Value Provision lets Auto-Owners reset your building limits at renewal using its own replacement-cost estimates, the minimum deductible rises from $100 to $250, and experience-rating discounts are being cut companywide. A new data-privacy exclusion narrows scope on top.
Two Filings Worth a Closer Look
Liberty Mutual takes 10% on PA GL — snowplow base rate +45%
Across an 8,867-policyholder, $21.9M book, Liberty Mutual raises Pennsylvania general liability 10% and lifts the snowplow manual rate ~45% (from $19.14 to $27.77 per $1,000 of receipts) against a 282.6% indicated need. Philadelphia-territory and hospitality risks feel it most. Effective July 1.
Travelers re-tiers NJ packages: day spas +40%, laundromats +25%
Across an 8,251-policy NJ book, Travelers reallocates class factors — personal-care day spas +40%, laundromats +25%, med spas +10% — while crediting professional and financial services 25% to win that business. A +/-30% stabilization cap softens year one. Effective March 15.
The Rest of the Qualifying List
| State | Carrier | Line / Sub-type | Severity | Policyholders | Effective |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MA | Various | CMP — Commercial Package | 3 / 5 | 6,009 | Nov 1, 2026 |
| MA | Various | Other Liability — GL | 4 / 5 | 6,050 | Jun 15, 2026 |
| NJ | Standard Fire (Travelers) | CMP — Commercial Package | 3 / 5 | 8,251 | Mar 15, 2026 |
Also on the radar
A wave of severity-3 and -4 general-liability increases just clears or just misses our bar with serious reach: 8,867 PA policyholders (Liberty Mutual, Jul 1) and 6,050 MA policyholders (Jun 15). And the State Farm PA umbrella rebuild approved April 12 — a 58% indicated need behind a small visible move — is the early signal that excess-liability pricing in Pennsylvania is the next pressure point.
Carriers stopped asking and started deciding — building limits, driver rosters, coverage scope.
Same region, the structural changes the rate number hides: scoring models, underwriting revisions and coverage cuts approved in March. The pattern this month is carriers taking unilateral control — resetting limits, excluding emerging exposures, and shifting risk onto the insured.
Industries in this page's filings
Lead Filing · Structural Signal
Auto-Owners reserves the right to reset your building limits — without asking
Approved March 30, effective April 10. Beyond its 30%+ rate increases (page 2), Auto-Owners' Ohio package filing introduces an Adjusted Value Provision (AOUDC832) that lets the carrier unilaterally adjust building limits at renewal using its own replacement-cost estimates or index factors.
It also raises the minimum property deductible from $100 to $250, adds a broad data-privacy and confidential-information exclusion, and cuts experience-rating discounts companywide. Owners lose control of their own limits and their safety credits in one filing — across 24,682 policyholders.
New Scoring Models — The Trend Is Real
Progressive doubles the single-loss cap that defines your experience mod
On its 32,502-policy NJ book, Progressive more than doubles the experience-rating loss cap from $100,000 to $250,000 — so a single large accident now moves a fleet's premium 2.5x more than before. Refined pricing factors also re-weight driver age, violations and claims. The rating engine, not just the rate, changed.
Travelers launches composite rating built on Mississippi proxy data
Travelers' CT commercial-auto filing adds a Composite Rating Plan for 10+ vehicle fleets and sets its new TCAP product's rates using legacy Mississippi loss patterns as a Connecticut proxy — a 21.2% indicated need behind the 25% contractor hikes. Out-of-state data is quietly shaping in-state price.
Preferred Mutual adds a named-driver exclusion to a 25% PD hike
Preferred Mutual's MA filing pairs a ~25% physical-damage increase with a formal Named Driver Exclusion and a mandatory cyber/data-privacy exclusion, all on a new Guidewire platform. The 30% three-year renewal cap confirms the underlying need outpaces what's visible today.
Underwriting Guideline Changes
AIG opens a coverage gap for ambulances mid-policy
AIG's National Union NJ filing raises ambulance rates 56.3% and fire-department rates 29.8% — but the structural risk is a new exclusion for liability while loading or unloading persons, pushing that exposure to professional liability. If an operator's malpractice cover isn't perfectly synced, patient-handling claims fall into the gap.
Church Mutual trims the deductible credit while raising rates
Beyond the 14.5% class-code increases, Church Mutual cuts the deductible-discount factor (.685 to .668) on PA workers-comp — so insureds choosing a deductible get less credit for it, raising net cost even where base rates held. A quiet erosion stacked on a visible hike for schools and ministries.
Coverage Contraction
Auto-Owners adds a data-privacy exclusion and cuts safety credits
The Ohio package filing layers a broad Data Privacy and confidential-information exclusion onto every policy and reduces experience-rating discounts companywide — so even claim-free risks pay more. Paired with the auto-adjusting building-limit provision, it's a coordinated shift of risk and cost onto the insured.
Preferred Mutual excludes cyber and data privacy from auto
Preferred Mutual adds a mandatory Cyber Incident and Data Privacy Exclusion (PCA 35 51) to all Massachusetts commercial-auto policies — closing a quiet avenue of coverage many insureds assumed was there. Fleets relying on the auto form for any data-related exposure now have a defined gap.
Liberty Mutual re-prices snowplow risk by 45% at the manual
Liberty Mutual's PA GL filing lifts the snowplow class (00812) manual rate ~45% on a 282.6% indicated need — a near-repricing of an entire class. Snow-and-ice operators face a step-change in cost, and the Philadelphia territory and hospitality sublines see the broader 10% book increase. Effective July 1.
Also on the radar
The control theme echoed across the region: a State Farm Massachusetts package filing (effective Jan 2027) introduced a proprietary rating index plus crypto and PFAS exclusions, and State Farm's PA umbrella rebuild (a 58% indicated need) raised per-layer minimums. On the auto side, credit-and-tier scoring kept spreading. The renewal lesson for March: read the endorsements, not just the rate page — limits, driver rosters and emerging-risk scope are all in motion.
