Most Commercial Lines Experienced Premium Increases in August

All commercial insurance lines except workers compensation experienced increases in year-over-year average premium renewal rates in August, according to the August IVANS Index, a regular premium renewal rate index compiled by the IVANS insurance exchange service.

Workers compensation saw a negative change in premium renewal rate year-over-year, according to the IVANS Index.

Month-over-month, August premium renewal rates increased across general liability, commercial property, businessowners policy (BOP), umbrella, and workers compensation, IVANS said, while commercial auto renewal rates trended downward in August.

August premium renewal rates included the following.

• Commercial auto: 3.2 percent increase, down from a 5.01 percent increase in July
• BOP: 5.0 percent increase, up from a 4.38 percent increase in July
• General liability: 3.61 percent increase, up from a 3.45 percent increase in July
• Commercial property: 5.48 percent increase, up from a 5.42 percent increase in July
• Umbrella: 3.27 percent increase, up from 3.23 percent in July
• Workers Compensation: 2.51 percent decrease, up from a 2.66 percent decrease in July

"As the pandemic progresses, we continue to see a hardening in the market across all lines of business, but August showed a noticeable downshift in commercial auto as compared to July," Brian Wood, vice president of Data Products Group, IVANS Insurance Services, said in a statement. He added that commercial auto "will be a line of business to watch closely."

Released on a monthly basis, the IVANS Index analyzes more than 120 million data transactions to measure premium renewal rate change year-over-year across the US market.