How to question a car insurance rate increase

Ask the insurer what changed

Put your renewal next to last term's declarations page and find the coverages that went up. Then ask the insurer or agent, in writing if you can, for the reasons. A useful question is whether the increase comes from a rate change for everyone in your class, or from something about you: a ticket, a claim, a new driver, a new address, a lost discount or your credit.

• Credit. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, when information in a consumer report leads an insurer to charge you more, it must tell you, name the credit bureau that supplied the report and tell you how to get a free copy. Several states also require the main reasons; Washington and Maine, for example, require up to four.
• Surcharges. Ask which violations or claims are on the policy, the date of each, and when each surcharge ends.
• Discounts. Ask which discounts applied last term and which are gone, such as a course discount whose three years ran out.
• Errors. Ask for the driving record and claims report the insurer used if anything looks wrong.

Our guide to why your premium went up lists the usual causes on both sides. If the answer is a rate increase that applies to everyone, a complaint is unlikely to change your bill, and shopping is the quicker fix.

When a state complaint can change the bill

State insurance departments oversee rates and enforce the rules on how insurers apply them. They don't set your individual price, but they can make an insurer correct one that breaks a rule. Examples of rules a complaint can enforce:

• Maryland: an insurer can't raise your rate over an accident or violation more than three years old. If a renewal increase stems from a claim or ticket, you can complain within 30 days of the notice; if the Maryland Insurance Administration finds it improper, the insurer must refund the overpayment.
• Credit at renewal: Maryland, New York and Pennsylvania don't let insurers raise a renewal premium because of credit, and Oregon allows renewal re-rates only on other factors, apart from a re-rate you ask for or a corrected dispute.
• Georgia: to contest a nonrenewal, send the Commissioner a written request for review within 15 days of the notice.
• Texas: rates aren't approved before use, but if TDI later finds a rate excessive it can order refunds to the policyholders who were overcharged.

Rate review is also widening. Illinois Senate Bill 714 (Public Act 104-0753), signed by the governor on August 4, 2026 and taking effect July 1, 2027, requires insurers to justify their auto rates and lets the Department of Insurance object to rates that are excessive, inadequate or unfairly discriminatory. It also requires at least 30 days' notice before a renewal increase of more than 10%, NPR Illinois reported.

How to file a complaint

1. 1 Give the insurer a chance first. Several regulators, Michigan's among them, ask you to try the insurer or agent before filing.
2. 2 Gather the papers: the renewal notice, last term's declarations page, the insurer's written answer and any adverse action notice.
3. 3 File online with your state insurance department, or by phone or mail. Say what you think is wrong and what you want, such as a corrected premium or a refund.
4. 4 Watch for deadlines, such as Maryland's 30 days for an increase caused by a claim or ticket.
5. 5 Keep shopping while the complaint runs; a quote from another insurer is still the quickest way to a lower price.

Every state cost page lists its regulator; start from the map of all states if yours isn't above.

Read the rate filing yourself

Insurers send rate changes to state regulators, and many states make the filings public through SERFF Filing Access, a site where you can look up an insurer's rate and policy-form filings. Washington's Office of the Insurance Commissioner suggests exactly that if your renewal jumps: find your insurer's filing to see what it asked the state to approve. Nebraska's Department of Insurance links to the same system.

Some states open the process to comments. In West Virginia, the Insurance Commissioner must publish a notice in the State Register and online for an auto liability increase of 15% or more, and consumers may comment until it acts. California publishes notices of rate filings under the prior-approval rules that grew out of Proposition 103.

Check the company's complaint record

Before you renew or switch, see how the company treats other customers. The NAIC's Consumer Insurance Search shows each insurer's complaint record and a complaint index comparing it with others of its size. Several states publish their own: Illinois posts complaint ratios for companies with 10 or more auto complaints, Missouri a Complaint Index, Louisiana an online complaint index, and New York ranks auto insurers by upheld complaints.

If the record looks poor and the increase stands, the answer may be another company. Get three or more quotes on the same coverage and compare them line by line.

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