Workers comp got loud in the Northeast this month — and an ISO reset just doubled the floor for long-haul trucking.
These cleared our screen for June: approved, unfavorable, high-severity rate increases touching 1,000-plus policyholders across workers comp and commercial auto. Comp carried the volume this cycle; the single biggest auto move wasn't a carrier at all — it was ISO. Here's what your clients are about to feel.
Industries in this issue's filings
Lead Filing
ISO just reset Vermont long-haul trucking rates up 91.7% — and every carrier inherits it
Approved June 9, effective November 1. An ISO advisory loss-cost revision lifts Vermont's zone-rated (long-haul, interstate) commercial-auto loss costs an average 91.7%, with heavy-tractor collision up 116.4% and some fleet-semitrailer factors far higher. A companion filing swaps the old age and original-cost discounts for a single Vehicle Value Factor and trims high-deductible credits, so even safe fleets pay more. This isn't one carrier's rate — it's the floor every trucking writer in New England now builds on.
Who feels it: interstate and zone-rated motor carriers with New England origin or destination. Move now: pull the renewal date on any fleet running beyond a 200-mile radius and start remarketing before November hits.
Also Approved This Cycle
United Farm Family caps NJ farm auto at 30% — the filed need is 188%
Approved June 4. United Farm Family adopts ISO Risk Analyzer loss costs on its NJ farm and commercial-auto book: miscellaneous vehicles run +96.3% indicated, trucks/tractors/trailers +16.8%, and some risks show a 188.8% need held to a 30% cap per renewal. A 30% renewal isn't the end of the story — it's year one. Who feels it: farm and ag fleets. Move now: warn clients the cap resets annually and shop before the next one lands.
Berkshire Hathaway takes 8.1% on the region's biggest WC book
Approved June 22, effective July 1. Berkshire auto-adopts PCRB loss costs for an 8.1% average across 27,494 Pennsylvania policyholders — the largest confirmed comp book this cycle — and raises its minimum-premium multiplier from 250 to 290 (+16%), which lands hardest on small accounts and multi-state clients with thin PA payroll. Who feels it: small PA employers and multi-state books. Move now: audit minimum-premium accounts — Berkshire also admits correcting multi-state allocation coding errors.
Argo takes 15% in PA comp — with a 29% need still behind it
Approved June 17, effective September 1. Argo Group (Rockwood, Colony, Somerset) implements 15% against a 29% indicated need, adopting PCRB and Coal Mine Bureau loss costs. Leased-cab driver payroll is reset to $67,350 and coal-mine risks carry LCM factors up to 1.745. Who feels it: taxi fleets and mining operators. Move now: the gap between 15% taken and 29% needed says more increases are coming — line up comparisons.
Next Insurance raises MD comp ~11% across every tier
Approved June 15. Next lifts its Maryland loss-cost multipliers about 11% across all five tiers, from Ultra Preferred to Ultra Non-Standard, while cutting its minimum premium from $500 to $300 to court micro-accounts. The low entry point hides an 11% rate-per-payroll increase for everyone else. Who feels it: contractors and trades on Next. Move now: don't let the $300 minimum distract from the per-dollar rate — compare the effective cost.
Why so much workers comp this month?
Comp is unusually active in the Northeast this cycle — three qualifying rate increases cleared (PA twice, MD) against a quieter commercial-auto month whose biggest moves were an ISO advisory reset and a farm-fleet reprice. Two more auto stories just miss our bar: a Transverse RPS fleet-trucking book at roughly 43% in Wisconsin (small premium), and GEICO's 19% Indiana commercial-auto hike (up to 60% on some accounts), which we drop under our low-relevance screen. The contrast is the conversation: comp is where the confirmed dollars moved this month.
The package market is moving on the fine print: abuse coverage, not the headline rate, is where the money went.
Same screen, every other commercial line: more approved rate increases qualify this cycle across CMP, businessowners and general liability. The largest books show flat averages that hide brutal class-level moves — abuse and molestation, human-services and NYC liability. The average is the disguise; the class factor is the story.
Industries in this issue's filings
Lead Filing
Erie quietly reprices abuse coverage 70–79% on the region's biggest package book
Approved June 26, effective January 1, 2027. Erie's Pennsylvania package book is the largest filing in the region this cycle — 94,417 policyholders and $375.8M in premium. The overall average is small, but that's the disguise: Abuse & Sexual Molestation coverage moves from a flat charge to exposure-based rating, pushing apartments and habitational risks +70.2% and hotels/motels +78.6%, with day cares +25.1% and religious orgs +20.2%. A new algorithm also ties cyber premium to a percentage of your underlying GL.
Who feels it: apartment owners, hotels, day cares and religious organizations. Move now: check the ASM line item on every habitational and hospitality renewal — the headline rate won't show this one.
Three Filings Worth a Closer Look
Berkshire GUARD hits NYC liability up to 90% — the region's only sev-5 increase
Approved June 1. GUARD (AmGuard, NorGuard) raises its NY businessowners book about 28% overall, but NYC carries it: five-borough liability loss costs climb toward 90% while upstate stays near zero. Apartments and auto-service risks in the city are hit hardest, and a companion filing moves gas stations to a 'gallons of gas' base and apartments to per-unit rating. Who feels it: NYC habitational and auto-service accounts. Move now: city insureds are subsidizing the book — remarket before renewal.
The Hanover reprices MD residential care +130% — per bed, not per facility
Approved June 23. For the first time in 16 years, The Hanover reprices Maryland human-services professional liability: residential facilities switch from per-facility to per-bed rating for a 130% increase, school and educators legal/EPLI base rates rise 40%, and developmentally-disabled residential risks jump from medium to high hazard. Who feels it: group homes, care facilities and schools. Move now: per-bed rating punishes larger facilities — model the new basis before the quote lands.
Next Insurance swings MA liability up to 47% by class
Approved June 3, effective July 31. Next's new Market Group Factor averages just 1.2% across 9,200 MA general-liability policyholders but swings hard by class: day-care centers and auto-service shops face up to 45–47%, while many construction classes are actually cut up to 11% to win business. Who feels it: day cares and auto shops. Move now: the average is meaningless here — check your client's class factor directly.
The Rest of the Qualifying List
| State | Carrier | Line / Sub-type | Severity | Policyholders | Effective |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NJ | Philadelphia Indemnity | GL — pools & habitational | 4 / 5 | 3,295 | Mar 1, 2027 |
| CT | Utica National | BOP — child care / religious | 4 / 5 | 2,182 | Jan 1, 2027 |
| NJ | The Hanover (Citizens) | GL — abuse & OL&T | 4 / 5 | 1,450 | Apr 1, 2026 |
| DC | Hiscox | GL — property management | 4 / 5 | 1,142 | Oct 19, 2026 |
| MD | Ohio Casualty (Liberty Mutual) | Commercial Umbrella | 4 / 5 | 1,118 | Sep 1, 2026 |
| CT | Pharmacists Mutual | BOP — new firearms exclusion | 4 / 5 | n/d | Nov 1, 2026 |
Also on the radar
A wave of severity-3 package increases just misses our impact bar but carries serious reach: State Farm's NJ commercial package touches 22,796 policyholders (approved Jun 17 — on page 3 for its new scoring model), Erie's Indiana package 20,660 (Jun 22), and Selective's $109M New York GL book 9,265 (Jun 18, page 3). And an approved ISO Pennsylvania general-liability advisory raised the benchmark 6% overall with contractor classes up 18–20% — the floor for every adopting carrier.
The structural moves outran the rate moves: ISO rewrote the cyber policy, and third-party scoring keeps spreading.
Same region, the changes a rate percentage won't show: approved June actions whose real story is a new scoring algorithm, a coverage cut, or a carrier walking away. Cyber forms, State Farm's CRI score, Erie's sublimit cuts and three market exits all cleared this cycle — the fine print is doing the heavy lifting.
Industries in this page's filings
Lead Filing · ISO Advisory — Market-Wide Signal
ISO's cyber rewrite lands in New England: war "by any means" excluded, generative AI loses media cover
Approved June 9 in Maine, effective April 2027, with matching filings clearing this cycle in Rhode Island and Michigan. This advisory forms package rewrites the base cyber policy most carriers build on. A mandatory War Exclusion (CY 20 83) excludes war "by any means," including cyberattacks 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 condition (CY 20 84) lets insurers demand details of third-party claim funding. Every adopting carrier inherits all three.
Who feels it: any business using AI to create content, and anyone counting on cyber for state-sponsored attacks. Move now: read the endorsement schedule on cyber renewals — these forms arrive quietly.
New Scoring Models — The Trend Widens
State Farm's CRI score spreads across lines and states
State Farm rolled its Customer Rating Index — a third-party-data score refreshed every two years that can swing premium sharply — into its NJ commercial package book (22,796 policyholders), its West Virginia package book, and Indiana commercial auto (10,936), where the maximum CRI surcharge factor now hits 2.5. NJ apartments take +11.5% and catastrophe claims now count in experience rating. Ask for the score; clients can't see it otherwise.
Berkshire's THREE adds wildfire, storm and hotel scores — max +381%
Approved June 8. Berkshire Hathaway's THREE program in Indiana layers Wildfire, Storm/Hail, Hotel-Grade and liquor Exposure-Size scoring on top of ISO Risk Analyzer auto symbols. The average is 6.7%, but the new segmentation allows individual increases up to 381% — the model, not the filing, sets your client's rate.
Erie's Cyber 3.0 cuts sublimits by half across three states
The same Erie package overhaul leading page 2 clears in Indiana (20,660 policyholders) and Wisconsin (13,182) as well as Pennsylvania: cyber extortion, computer-fraud and social-engineering sublimits drop from $25,000 to $10,000, and finance and insurance risks pick up a 30% cyber hazard load. 'Expanded' cyber coverage that actually halves your protection.
Market Exits & Underwriting Pullbacks
Intact pulls its non-trucking-liability program for Indiana owner-operators
Approved June 19, effective November 1. Atlantic Specialty (Intact) withdraws its entire Non-Trucking Liability and physical-damage program for leased owner-operators, deletes the Named Driver Exclusion — so one bad MVR can now non-renew a whole account — adds physical-damage deductibles up to $250,000, and installs a five-tier score that penalizes newer businesses and young or older drivers. Motor carriers on this paper need a plan before November.
Accredited block non-renews its Michigan BOP book — into Fortegra
Approved June 16. Accredited Surety & Casualty non-renews its entire Michigan businessowners program — 255 policyholders written through Attune — and mandates transfer to Lyndon Southern/Fortegra. Wireless and electronics retailers are prominent in the book. Insureds get moved to a carrier they didn't choose; that's a shopping trigger.
Main Street America retires its Vermont package line
Approved June 26, effective July 31. Main Street America Assurance discontinues its Commercial Package Policy product in Vermont entirely, non-renewing Main-Street retail, restaurant and service accounts as it exits. The expiration date has nothing to do with loss history — the carrier is leaving.
Coverage Contraction
Selective raises additional-insured cost 150% for NY contractors
Approved June 18, effective November 1. On a $109M New York GL book (9,265 policyholders), Selective splits Additional Insured coverage into Basic and Broad tiers and lifts the Broad charge from 3% to 7.5% of GL premium — a 150% jump — while narrowing the cheaper Basic trigger to work 'caused in whole or in part' by the named insured. General contractors requiring AI status just got more expensive to work for.
Great American excludes electric and hybrid trucks outright
Approved June 25, effective August 29, with matching filings clearing in RI, NJ and WV. A mandatory exclusion (CA 87 12) strips all zero-emission and hybrid trucks — including plug-in hybrids — from non-trucking liability and physical damage, because the carrier has no rates to price them. An owner-operator who adds an electric rig mid-term may be running bare without knowing it.
Pharmacists Mutual adds a broad firearms exclusion in CT
Approved June 25, effective November 1. On top of a 13% Connecticut businessowners increase, Pharmacists Mutual adds a mandatory Firearms and Weapons Exclusion that voids coverage for any injury arising from firearms — regardless of fault — catching pharmacies and life-sciences insureds with armed security. Read the exclusion before assuming the rate is the only change.
Also on the radar
An approved ISO Pennsylvania general-liability advisory reset contractor benchmarks 18–20% (page 2). Two more genuine motor-carrier moves echo Great American's electric-truck exclusion — the same ZEV/hybrid form cleared in Rhode Island, New Jersey and West Virginia this cycle. And the ISO Vermont zone-rated reset leading page 1 is structural in its own right: a new Vehicle Value Factor and thinner deductible discounts, not just a rate number.
