Commercial auto is where the Midwest moved in September — and the fleets feel it before the average shows it.
Workers comp was quiet this cycle: no qualifying rate increases cleared our screen. Commercial auto carried the page. The approved filings look mild on the surface — low single-digit averages — but each one shifts premium hard toward the risks carriers now want to re-price: liability, high-value rigs, and formerly-capped fleets. Here's what your clients renew into.
Industries in this issue's filings
Also Approved This Cycle
Great West raises Nebraska motor-carrier rates 3.6% — base liability runs hotter
On a $55.6M Nebraska trucking book, base liability for $1M limits rises sharply and physical-damage factors climb on high-value rigs, with several hauling-operation factors raised on top. A companion South Dakota filing (approved Sep 15, 1,096 policyholders) takes 3.8% while lifting liability base roughly 11.5%. Move now: for-hire carriers running $1M limits should model the liability piece, not the average.
Auto-Owners cuts Wisconsin auto 2.6% overall — but capped fleets jump to full manual rates
The book-wide number is a decrease, which is the trap. This revision ends a five-year capping transition, so fleets that had been held below manual rates now move to the full table all at once — an effective increase for exactly the accounts that benefited from the cap. 5,557 policyholders, $23.2M premium. Who feels it: any Wisconsin fleet that renewed flat for years. Move now: check whether a client was capped before you quote the 'decrease.'
Farmers takes 3.2% in Colorado against a ~12% liability need
Farmers reset base rates across liability, collision and comprehensive on a 949-policyholder Colorado book, taking well under its indicated need — liability loss trend points to about 12% — while targeting a 15% return on surplus. A new multi-product discount and revised schedule-modification rules soften the first wave. Move now: a sub-indicated filing usually means another one is coming; lock structure where you can.
Why no workers comp story this month?
No Midwest / Central WC rate increase cleared our screen in September. The comp activity that did land was structural, not rate: a brand-new Builders Mutual program launch in Kentucky, and two carriers exiting comp entirely — Pioneer State Mutual in Michigan and State Auto (now Liberty Mutual) in Kansas. Those are page-3 stories, and they're the reason a client's comp coverage can disappear even while rates hold flat. That contrast is your conversation starter.
Colorado led the non-auto rate action — and every carrier filed well below what it says it needs.
Same screen, every other commercial line: general liability, businessowners and commercial package increases concentrated in a handful of carriers this cycle, most of them in Colorado and the farm-belt states. The common thread is a filed number that trails the actuarially indicated one — so the increase your client sees this year is almost certainly not the last.
Industries in this issue's filings
Three Filings Worth a Closer Look
Travelers takes 9.3% on Colorado businessowners
Inflation, loss development and a catastrophe loading drove the hike on a 2,399-policyholder, $13.8M book — and even at 9.3%, the filed change trails a far larger indicated need. Retail, real estate, professional services and restaurant classes are squarely in scope. Move now: treat this as a floor, not a ceiling, for CO package renewals.
Pekin reprices Iowa packages 8.8% on new ISO building costs
Adoption of updated ISO building loss costs drove a large property increase, and Pekin raised liability multipliers to keep revenue flat even as liability loss costs fell — so the property piece carries the whole 8.8%. 2,609 policyholders, $7.1M premium. Who feels it: Iowa Main Street accounts with owned real estate. Move now: push building-value reviews before renewal.
Philadelphia hits Missouri daycares and pools inside a 2.9% filing
The overall number is small, but it's cosmetic: poor day-care program results and higher pool-related exposure prompted steep segment surcharges and brand-new pool factors on a 2,128-policyholder, $12.2M book. Who feels it: child-care centers and any insured with a pool. Move now: re-rate those two segments individually — the average tells you nothing about them. Effective May 1, 2027.
The Rest of the Qualifying List
| State | Carrier | Line / Sub-type | Severity | Policyholders | Effective |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WI | Erie | CMP — Commercial Package | 3 / 5 | 13,826 | Feb 1, 2027 (filed) |
| CO | Westfield | Other Liability — CGL | 3 / 5 | 1,787 | May 18, 2026 |
Also on the radar
The region's biggest non-auto book is still pending: Erie's Wisconsin commercial package filing seeks 4.5% across 13,826 policyholders and a $48.2M book (indicated 6.6%), driven by building-property losses and underpriced large-deductible accounts — approval would make it the single largest commercial filing of the cycle. Separately, a personal-umbrella rate wave swept the region — Allstate MI +25.4% (28,920 policies), PURE TN +19.9%, Country Mutual CO +18.5% — but those are personal lines, outside our commercial screen; we flag them only because high-net-worth clients will ask.
The 0% filings moved the most this month: carriers are rebuilding how they price without changing the average.
Same region, the filings whose real story isn't the rate line: revenue-neutral GLM rebuilds, new vehicle-history and driver scores, and a run of market exits. A carrier can file 0% overall and still hand one client +110% and the next −23% — the average holds, the premium reshuffles. The Midwest was the epicenter of that this cycle, led by Federated's multi-state rebuild.
Industries in this page's filings
The GLM Rebuild Is the Story — And It's Multi-State
Federated runs the same 0% rebuild across five states at once
Nebraska (527 policyholders, $4.4M) is one node in a coordinated rollout: Federated is swapping legacy BOP hazard plans for GLM liability and property tiers using credit liens, claim counts and aerial roof scores in NE, plus Indiana, South Dakota, Tennessee and Missouri. Every state is revenue-neutral overall; every state produces large individual swings. Move now: if you place Federated anywhere in the region, assume the model changed everywhere.
Acuity scores the truck's history, not the driver's record, in North Dakota
A new TransUnion/CARFAX commercial vehicle-history score now feeds North Dakota rating on a 1,318-policyholder, $14.3M book — revenue-neutral overall, but premium shifts toward fleets with poorer vehicle histories regardless of driving record. Who feels it: operators running older, high-mileage or frequently-retitled rigs. Move now: clean up the fleet's title and odometer story before this renews Nov 13.
American Family's flat Kansas filing hides a −23% to +110% swing
Midvale (American Family) refiled Kansas commercial auto flat overall — its own indication was actually a 5.6% cut — but rebuilt the rating underneath: a steeper driver-score curve, a new years-in-business factor and van/car body-class hikes drive individual swings from roughly −23% to +110%. Who feels it: newer businesses and van-heavy fleets. Move now: the 0% headline is meaningless at the account level — re-quote every one. (Filed Sep 14.)
Carriers Heading for the Exit
Also Filed This Cycle
Also on the radar
The scoring wave runs wider than the cards above: GEICO filed vehicle- and driver-score revisions in Nebraska (+6.6%) and North Dakota (+9.8%) the same month — suppressed from our features but corroborating the trend. On the exit side, Next Insurance is leaving Oklahoma daycare (50 GL accounts, no replacement carrier), State Farm is non-renewing South Dakota daycare and nail-salon policies as too niche, and AmGUARD is closing an Oklahoma care-provider package program (21 policies). And a genuine bright spot: Everspan/Coterie's Kentucky BOP refresh made its assault-and-battery exclusion optional while taking a small rate decrease — appetite moving the right way for once.
