A quiet month for comp and auto in the Southeast — and the one story that cleared the screen is a rate cut.
This cycle's screen — approved rate changes touching 1,000+ policyholders at severity 4–5 in workers comp and commercial auto — surfaced no qualifying rate increases in either line. Not one WC hike, not one commercial-auto hike. The single filing worth your attention runs the other way: Progressive cut Mississippi commercial auto 11.9%. It's the exception that proves how quiet the front of the book is — and a talking point for the insureds who benefit. The action this month is on Pages 2 and 3.
Industries in this issue's filings
Also Approved This Cycle
Why is Page 1 quiet this month?
Because the Southeast produced no qualifying workers-comp or commercial-auto rate increase this cycle. Nothing in either line cleared our impact bar — severity 4–5, rate-increase effect, 1,000+ policyholders — so there is no hike to lead with. That's genuinely favorable for comp and fleet insureds in the region right now, and Progressive's Mississippi cut is the clearest sign of it. The market isn't sitting still, though; it's just moved off the front of the book. Every pressure story this month is in the wider commercial market (Page 2) or buried in scoring models, cat-model swaps and a market exit (Page 3) — that's where your renewal conversations are this cycle.
The pressure is in the package market — and Georgia is where the pent-up need shows.
Same screen, every other commercial line: the qualifying increases this cycle cluster in Georgia's package and umbrella books. AmTrust leads it with a 13.9% businessowners hike filed against a 94.8% indicated need — one of the widest gaps we've charted — while Auto-Owners' 5.8% package move reaches nearly 28,000 policyholders. The headline rates look modest; the indicated-vs-filed gaps behind them do not.
Industries in this issue's filings
Two Filings Worth a Closer Look
Auto-Owners takes 5.8% on Georgia commercial package — the month's reach story at nearly 28,000 policyholders, against a 12% indicated need
This is the filing that touches the most Georgia businesses this cycle: Auto-Owners raised its commercial-package book 5.8% across 27,872 policyholders and $136.6M in premium, against a 12.0% indicated need — so the headline is roughly half of what the carrier says it needs, and monoline habitational GL risks face the steepest pressure inside the average. The coverage edits matter as much as the rate: a new Broad Abuse or Molestation exclusion is added, Named Perils coverage is withdrawn on monoline equipment and tools floaters, Inflation Guard is replaced by an Adjusted Value Provision endorsement, and the property minimum deductible rises from $100 to $250. Apartment, hospitality and habitational accounts should read the exclusion and floater language, not just the 5.8%.
Central Mutual raises Georgia commercial umbrella 12.8% — and rebuilds how it rates auto-umbrella exposure
Central Mutual took 12.8% on its Georgia commercial umbrella book — 1,928 policyholders, $6.1M in premium — but the structural change is the story: its single auto-umbrella factor table is replaced with seven separate tables keyed to vehicle weight and type, so accounts running heavier or mixed fleets under an umbrella can move well beyond the 12.8% average. The filing also raises the per-layer minimum premium $100 and moves golf courses, stone cutting and cabinetmaking into a higher minimum-premium group. Contractors, specialty trades and any insured leaning on an umbrella over a heavy-vehicle schedule should price the new weight tiers, not the book average.
The Rest of the Qualifying List
| State | Carrier | Line / Sub-type | Severity | Policyholders | Effective |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NC | Auto-Owners Insurance Group | CMP — Commercial Package | 3 / 5 | 31,223 | Nov 14, 2026 |
Also on the radar
The abuse-and-molestation exclusion is quietly becoming standard package language in the Southeast: Auto-Owners added a Broad Abuse or Molestation exclusion to its Georgia commercial-package book above, and Philadelphia Indemnity's new Georgia BOP program carries a mandatory abuse/molestation exclusion (plus a new PFAS exclusion) — both carried on Page 3, where the structure is the story. And in a very small but sharp move, AmTrust took 47% on a 13-policy North Carolina commercial-auto book as an "ISO catchup" after a 206% liability loss ratio — a preview of the correction pressure that hasn't yet reached the region's larger auto books.
Under the rate line: a class gets non-renewed, predictive models keep spreading, and a cat-model swap redraws coastal pricing.
Same region, the filings whose real story isn't the headline rate: a market exit, three new predictive-scoring builds, a catastrophe-model switch and an advisory loss-cost cut, all approved in August. In a quiet rate month, this is where the Southeast actually moved — insureds get sorted, re-tiered, or shown the door regardless of what the average says.
Industries in this page's filings
New Scoring & Predictive Models — The Trend Is Real
AmTrust rebuilds Mississippi BOP pricing on a 250-band gradient-boosted-tree model — some restaurants and offices up 100%+
AmTrust's Mississippi businessowners filing shows 25.9% on average against a 74.8% indicated need, but the engine is the story: pricing is rebuilt around 250 Risk Assessment Bands driven by a gradient-boosted-tree model, so individual accounts scatter far from the average — some restaurants and offices see increases above 100%. A 1.60 renewal stabilization cap softens year one and a new $150 minimum liability premium is added. The book is tiny, but the model is the same one AmTrust is pushing region-wide; where each small account lands is decided by the tier, not the headline.
Federated goes rate-neutral in Louisiana — and swaps underwriter judgment for predictive tiering that swings −42.8% to +81.5%
Federated's Louisiana BOP filing is 0% overall, but revenue-neutral hides a total re-sort: discretionary hazard credits are withdrawn and replaced with mandatory predictive Property and Liability tiering that pulls in Betterview aerial roof data. The result is individual swings from −42.8% to +81.5% on a flat book average — the same account can win big or lose big depending purely on where the model and its roof score place it. Accounts with older or lower-scoring roofs are the ones to review before the February 2027 effective date.
Philadelphia launches a new Georgia BOP program built on LexisNexis / ISO Risk Analyzer scoring — with mandatory coastal deductibles
Philadelphia Indemnity rolled out a brand-new Georgia businessowners program at 0% — new business on an empty book — but the framework is the tell: LexisNexis and ISO Risk Analyzer scoring drive placement from day one, mandatory 1–5% wind/hail deductibles attach to coastal locations with TIV over $250k, and PFAS and abuse/molestation exclusions are mandatory. Add-on Cyber, MPL and EPL suites and new PHLY PAC enhancement endorsements round it out. It's a pricing-and-coverage architecture, not a rate action — and the coastal-deductible and exclusion terms are what new Georgia accounts inherit at bind.
Cat Models, Driver Tiers & Coverage Cuts
Also Filed This Cycle
Also on the radar
The through-line this month is abuse and molestation exposure being written out of the market from every direction. Next Insurance exited Mississippi day care entirely (this page's lead), while Auto-Owners added a Broad Abuse or Molestation exclusion to its Georgia package book (Page 2) and Philadelphia's new Georgia BOP program made the exclusion mandatory (above). Youth-serving, child-care and social-service accounts across the Southeast are the ones feeling the combined squeeze of exclusions and exits — and they're the accounts to review first this cycle.
