Commercial auto is the story across the Northeast — and New York is the epicenter.
Every approved increase here cleared one screen: high-impact, rate-increase filings touching 1,000+ policyholders, approved in May 2026, across workers comp and commercial auto. Commercial auto dominated — New York alone cleared a dozen qualifying auto filings. Workers comp stayed quiet. Here's what your clients are about to feel.
Industries in this issue's filings
Lead Filing
Erie's 31.6% average hides a 72.9% reality for NYC fleets
Approved May 4, effective June 1. Erie's New York commercial auto book — 20,248 policyholders, $161.4M in premium — takes an average 31.6% increase. New York City truck, tractor and trailer risks fare far worse: increases up to 72.9%, with one waste-management fleet facing a $772,000 premium jump. Erie's own actuarial indication was 61.1%, so this is unlikely to be the last filing. The company is set to collect roughly $50.9M in new premium from New York businesses.
Also Approved This Cycle
Berkshire Hathaway GUARD lifts NY auto 34% — contractor factors up 67%
AmGuard's New York book takes an average 34.25% increase, with some policies up to 46%. Contractor secondary rating factors jump 67% and towing-program liability climbs 22%. A companion filing withdraws the telematics discount and adds a mandatory punitive-damages exclusion. The liability indication was 141.5%.
National General doubles PIP add-on rates in New York
12.3% overall, but the math hides a lot: PIP Additional, Excess and OBEL base rates rise 100%, PIP Basic +40%, BI +14%. Electricians at minimum limits see up to 31.4%, and one frozen-food wholesaler's premium jumped over $17,000. The carrier's own indication was 25.2% — another filing is likely.
AIG's Glatfelter program hits NY ambulance corps with 33.8%
National Union (AIG's Glatfelter niche programs) raises emergency-services auto after adopting current ISO loss costs: non-profit ambulance corps +33.8%, fire departments +24.9%, religious-organization fleets +25.1%. A new claim-free deductible waiver helps, but the old 5x physical-damage deductible cap is gone.
Selective scraps its own auto rules for ISO — PA reach is huge
A 13% average increase (10.8% filed) across 10,492 Pennsylvania policyholders and $116.7M in premium. Selective drops its proprietary non-owned auto rating for ISO procedure, where the countrywide indication for that coverage is +148.9%. Ambulance and paratransit risks draw 3.0x liability deviations. A matching Maryland filing moves another 5,002 accounts.
Where's the workers comp?
There isn't a qualifying WC rate increase in the Northeast this month — and that's the story. Bureau loss costs are flat-to-down across New England and the Mid-Atlantic, and every large approved WC filing this window was favorable or neutral for policyholders (Michigan, Illinois, Delaware and DC all cleared loss-cost decreases or dividend plans). When a client's comp premium still rises in a soft market, it's experience-mod or carrier-deviation driven, not the bureau. That contrast is your conversation starter.
The package and liability market is re-pricing Main Street — and stripping the caps that softened it.
Same screen, every other commercial line: businessowners, CMP and general liability dominated this cycle across nine states. Two carriers rebuilt their whole small-business program around new pricing algorithms, and several quietly removed the renewal caps that used to slow the blow. Restaurants, retail, contractors and healthcare are squarely in scope.
Industries in this issue's filings
Lead Filing
Hiscox re-rates NJ businessowners up to 40% — and bolts on a wall of exclusions
Approved May 5, effective July 20. Hiscox rebuilds its New Jersey businessowners book on a 35.4% property indication: health practitioners and personal services see industry modifiers up 40%, clothing and furniture stores 20–30%. The bigger story is coverage. New mandatory exclusions arrive for pre-1978 lead, cannabis (all retail and restaurant classes), PFAS, asbestos, biometrics and swimming pools. A new schedule-rating plan offers up to 25% credits for clean risks — so the spread between well-managed and average accounts just widened.
Three Filings Worth a Closer Look
AmTrust files for a 53.7% need, caps the first wave at 30%
The only severity-5 BOP rate increase in the region. AmTrust (ARI, Wesco, Technology Ins) replaces its four-tier NJ businessowners structure with 250 risk-assessment bands — explicitly benchmarked against Travelers' 10,000 price points — and overhauls liquor liability. A stabilization rule caps year-one renewals at 30%, but the filed need is 53.7%, so expect a second wave.
Fortegra retires its WV BOP and rebuilds it at +45.9%
Fortegra replaces its entire West Virginia businessowners program with the Attune Mainstreet platform at a 45.9% average increase (62.7% indicated). A new model prices off commercial credit scores, restaurant sales-to-limit ratios and crime/density indices, caps contractor subcontracting at 30%, and adds mandatory asbestos, lead, nuclear and cyber-incident exclusions.
Cincinnati's 9.7% GL hides near-100% hikes for PA schools
9.7% on average across 9,359 Pennsylvania policyholders, but the dislocation lands on specific classes: trade and vocational schools, elementary and junior-high schools, civic clubs and amusement parks face increases near 100%. Cincinnati also fixes the extended-reporting-period charge at 2x annual premium and strips underwriter discretion on rate ranges.
The Rest of the Qualifying List
| State | Carrier | Line / Sub-type | Severity | Policyholders | Effective |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CT | Philadelphia Indemnity | GL — Daycare / Habitational | 4 / 5 | 2,169 | Mar 1, 2027 |
| IN | Auto-Owners | Commercial Umbrella & Excess | 4 / 5 | 6,026 | Jun 26, 2026 |
| NJ | Philadelphia Indemnity | Other Liability — SAM / Combinations | 4 / 5 | 1,273 | Mar 1, 2027 |
Also on the radar
A wave of severity-3 package and GL increases just misses our impact bar but carries serious reach: The Hartford's NY Spectrum hits 97% of policyholders (6,363 accounts, janitorial at the +9.7% max), Travelers' NY legacy BOP moves 4,863 accounts at ~7% while disclosing an 83.8% indicated contractor need, and Michigan Millers is stair-stepping NY GL up to 24% for industrial risks across 2,785 policyholders. Encova reworked its PA general-liability forms across 1,686 accounts — that one's on page 3, because the exclusions matter more than the rate.
The fine print moved more than the rates did — scoring models and new exclusions are the real story.
Same region, the changes a rate percentage can't show: approved May actions whose substance is a new scoring algorithm, an underwriting restriction, or a coverage cut. Third-party data is now openly pricing Northeast commercial risk, and a stack of new exclusions — war, generative AI, cannabis, electric trucks — quietly rewrote what's actually covered.
Industries in this page's filings
Lead Filing · ISO Advisory — Market-Wide Signal
ISO's new cyber forms: war "by any means" excluded — and generative AI loses media coverage
Approved May 20, effective April 2027. This advisory forms filing rewrites the base cyber policy most carriers build on. A mandatory War Exclusion (CY 20 83) broadly excludes war "by any means" — including cyber-attacks deemed acts of war. A new Generative AI exclusion (CY 20 85) strips media-liability coverage for AI-generated content. And a Litigation Funding Mutual Disclosure endorsement lets insurers demand details on third-party claim funding. Every adopting carrier inherits all of it, so the floor is moving for the whole market, not one book.
New Scoring Models — The Trend Is Real
AmTrust replaces 4 tiers with a 250-band algorithm
The NJ businessowners filing rebuilds pricing around 250 Risk Assessment Bands, explicitly benchmarked against Travelers' 10,000 price points per peril. The 30% renewal cap softens year one; the 53.7% indicated need defines the rest. Restaurants with liquor sales take a second hit from the liquor-liability reprice.
State Farm adds a LexisNexis index that swings premium 2.5x
A new mandatory Customer Rating Index uses external LexisNexis data to adjust CT commercial-auto premium by as much as a factor of 2.5 — based on data the insured may not know is tracked. State Farm also removes the 100/200, 300/500 and 500/1000 BI limits, pushing insureds into pricier brackets. BI liability is up 23.5–27.5%.
Occidental scores the carrier's business, not just the driver
A true motor-carrier filing: Occidental (IAT Group) refines its Insurance Business Score for PA truckers and expands 'years in business' to 1-year bands up to 25 years. New ventures at 0–3 years and thin-file or no-hit scores draw the steepest factors, with non-zone liability up 40% and a 79.3% maximum increase.
Underwriting Guideline Changes
Great American bans electric and hybrid trucks outright
A mandatory exclusion (CA 87 12) strips ALL zero-emission and hybrid trucks — including plug-in hybrids — from non-trucking liability and physical damage, and redefines Symbol 52 to exclude them. The carrier's stated reason: it has no rates in its system to price them. An owner-operator who adds an electric rig mid-term may be running bare without knowing it. Effective Aug 29.
Utica First pulls EPLI from 476 NY policies after its partner exits
Utica First withdraws Employment Practices Liability and Identity Recovery coverage from 476 New York businessowners policies because its partner carrier, HSB, stopped offering the forms. Auto-repair shops and small retailers relying on that 'bolt-on' employment-lawsuit protection need a standalone replacement or go bare. Effective Jun 1.
Coverage Contraction
Encova's new exclusions: kava, kratom, cannabis, firearms — and reasonable force
A total exclusion for kava and kratom products, mandatory cannabis exclusions (hemp and 5mg low-THC excepted), a new firearms/weapons exclusion, and an assault-or-battery exclusion whose 'reasonable force' exception survives only for select classes — bars, apartments and day cares lose it. Enhancement endorsements that used to be standard now cost up to 15% of GL premium.
Selective makes contractor additional-insured status 150% pricier
Selective splits its ElitePac contractor extension into Basic and Broad tiers and raises the Broad additional-insured endorsement from 3% to 7.5% of GL premium, with the minimum doubling to $1,500 and the max climbing to $7,500. General contractors who require AI status from subs just got more expensive to work for. Across a 9,061-policy, $34.8M book. Effective Nov 1.
Philadelphia removes the 25% renewal cap on abuse-and-molestation cover
Philadelphia Indemnity scraps the rule that capped NJ abuse-and-molestation (SAM) renewal increases at 25% — so a single renewal can now jump as far as the rating math dictates. Daycares, mental-health facilities, social services and religious orgs face a 12–13% base increase on top, against a 9% annual loss trend. Effective Mar 2027.
Also on the radar
A genuine bright spot: Chubb launched its 'Advanced Auto' platform in Rhode Island — a multivariate model with mileage-based rating and film-industry usage factors that cut some liability costs up to 65%, though it adds new exclusions for mobile-medical-office liability and attached medical/fire equipment. Fortegra's WV rebuild (page 2) is also a scoring story: its new model prices off commercial credit and crime-index scores. And State Farm's LexisNexis CRI sits on page 1 of this issue — third-party data is now pricing Northeast commercial from three directions at once.
