How much more you have to pay to insure your home now

CHARLOTTE — You may have to pay more to insure your home from now on after new rates went into effect in North Carolina this week.

Action 9 investigator Jason Stoogenke breaks down what that means for you specifically.

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North Carolina is the only “Rate Bureau” state. In other states, individual companies ask the state for permission to raise rates. In North Carolina, companies are part of the Rate Bureau which asks the state on behalf of the industry.

In this case, the Bureau applied for the rate increase in January 2024. They asked for an average hike of more than 42%. The Insurance Commissioner said no.

They eventually agreed on 7.5% for the average homeowner. The highest: 16% in some beach areas. The lowest: nothing more in some mountain counties.

More specifically:

Mecklenburg, Iredell, and Union: 9.3% more.
Cabarrus: 4.8% more.
Gaston: 6.3% more.

Guardian Service insurance agent Jon Ruggiero says, in dollars and cents, the average Charlottean will pay $213 more per year, but still well below the state average ($640 more).

“Charlotte’s essentially playing catch-up on the rates,” he said.

Ruggiero said to expect similar increases each year since the Rate Bureau didn’t get the 42% increase all this year.

“They couldn’t get that today, so what that means is that carriers are going to introduce incremental increases. Period over period more aggressively than they historically have,” he said.

His prediction is “a 9% increase this year. A 9% increase next year. A 9% increase the year after that.”

Stoogenke asked six major insurance companies, including Allstate, Erie, Farmers, Liberty Mutual, Progressive, and State Farm, how much more or less their average customer will pay. Only one responded in time for this report. None shared dollar figures.

It’s important to note that if you already have a policy, that rate shouldn’t change, but it could change when you renew it or get a new policy.

Find out how much your rate is changing at ncdoi.gov.

Think you’re paying too much? The N.C. DOI suggests:

Shop around. You may be able to find a lower premium from a different insurance company. When shopping around, make sure you’re making apples-to-apples comparisons, such as coverage amounts, deductibles and endorsements.
Consider increasing your deductible. Higher deductibles generally result in lower premiums. There’s no one-size-fits-all deductible. Consider what you can afford to pay out of pocket should your home be damaged or destroyed.
Make sure you’re covered for the correct amount. You don’t want to pay for too much insurance.
Ask your insurer if you’re eligible for any discounts or deviations. Some insurers offer discounts for bundling services, having an alarm system, among other things.

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