BULLETIN
February 28, 2018
Iowa Personal Auto Rating Changes – Eff. 4-1-2018
Western National has been working on an update to our rating methodology for our Iowa Personal Auto program. The addition of new and/or modified rating elements allows for more granular pricing to generate premium charges that better reflect the attributes of each vehicle and driver. You may already be familiar with these rating elements (i.e., vehicles symbols that vary by coverage and separate rating factors for age, gender, and marital status) because many insurers already use this rating methodology. We will implement these rating elements for new and renewal policies effective April 1, 2018 and later.
As a result of this change, you will notice the following:
- Vehicle / driver classification codes are being replaced by individual rating factors for vehicle use and for each driver’s age, gender, and marital status.
- Vehicle symbols and vehicle / driver classification codes will no longer be visible in our system or on policy declarations.
- New vehicles without validated symbols will require entry of the Cost New field for rating. You will no longer be required to call us for the correct symbol for entry in AgentsXpress.
Rate Capping
The addition of these new rating elements creates a significant change to how policy premiums have been developed at Western National historically. Large premium swings on individual policies are possible. Rate capping is a new feature being added to help control the disruption for you and policyholders. Although we expect most policies to renew without the need for rate capping, this new feature will prevent six-month renewals from increasing more than 10%, and annual policies from increasing more than 20%.
If a policy meets rate capping requirements, you will see the following on the Summary Page in AgentsXpress when processing a change to the policy:
Western National is committed to providing agents and policyholders with the highest quality personal lines products and services. Please contact your Portfolio Underwriter or Regional Agency Manager if you would like to discuss this change in greater detail. They are happy to provide additional information to help you manage this change with policyholders.
Thank you for your ongoing partnership!
