“Connecticut families continue to face challenges with insurance affordability,” Insurance Commissioner Josh Hershman said on October 16, in announcing that his department had found auto rate decreases waiting in the filings it reviews. He called the filings “a positive development.”

The Connecticut Insurance Department counted 19 personal auto filings from 14 companies that include rate decreases for certain consumers. State Farm, Farmers and Liberty Mutual are the three large names with numbers attached.

The department’s words are careful, and so is the picture for any one driver. The cuts are for certain consumers, not all of them, and Hershman said changes vary by insurer, coverage and other rating factors. A driver with one of these companies may see a lower premium, a higher one, or no change at all.

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Three insurers with numbers

In the department’s press release, two affiliated State Farm companies reported an overall average decrease of approximately 8.4%. Farmers Casualty Insurance Company reported an average decrease of approximately 14%.

Liberty Mutual Personal Insurance Company reported an average decrease of approximately 6%, affecting about 11,500 policyholders. State Farm and Farmers are listed without policyholder counts.

Insurance Journal, a trade publication, carried the same three averages on October 23, which puts the department’s list in front of agents and insurers as well as consumers. The averages themselves have not changed since the October 16 release.

Who else filed a decrease

The release also names Travelers, Hanover and Utica as insurers with auto decrease filings, and it gives no percentage or policyholder count for any of the three. That brings the named auto companies to six, out of the 14 that filed.

The department does not list the remaining insurers. Because 14 companies account for 19 filings, some companies filed more than once, and a driver whose insurer is not named in the release cannot tell from it whether a decrease applies.

That gap is why the three large averages are the numbers that matter most to readers. They are the only auto figures the department attached to a company name, and each one is an average across that company’s book, not a quote for any one policy.

Flagged by the regulator, not yet announced as in force

Hershman’s department says it reviewed recent rate filings and highlighted the ones that include decreases. The department has not announced that these filings are approved, and it gives no effective dates for any of them.

That makes the department’s list a flag, not a rate card. An auto policyholder in Connecticut will see a change only when the insurer applies a filed rate at renewal or mid-term, and the renewal notice will carry the actual premium.

Homeowners had a list of their own

The same release covers homeowners policies: 19 filings from 16 companies that include decreases for certain consumers. Liberty Mutual and its affiliates reduced rates for more than 30,000 policies, with decreases of approximately 5%.

Nationwide, Merrimack and Utica are named in the homeowners list as well, again without percentages or counts. Auto and homeowners are separate lines, so a decrease in one says nothing about the other.

What the department tells policyholders to do

Hershman said the department “will continue working to ensure rates are actuarially justified and reflect the risks being insured.” For consumers, the department advises asking an insurer or agent to explain the premium, reviewing coverage, asking about discounts and comparing options from other insurers.

Policyholders with a question about an insurance issue can reach the department at [email protected], (860) 297-3900 or toll-free at (800) 203-3447. Since September 8, 2026, in-person services are at 280 Trumbull Street, Floor 7, in Hartford.

The open question for Connecticut drivers is whether their own insurer is one of the 14, and whether its decrease reaches their policy at the next renewal.

Will the Connecticut auto cut reach this renewal?

Connecticut’s list shows decreases of about 8.4%, 14% and 6% for some drivers, with no approval status and no start dates. A household that assumes a lower premium at renewal can end up short when the notice arrives unchanged.

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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.