Many Minnesotans are seeing a hike in insurance rates. Here's why.
MINNEAPOLIS — Owning and protecting a home or a car in Minnesota is getting more expensive. Over the last year, the cost to insure your car jumped by 22%. Home rates are up almost 5%.
"I have seen increases anywhere from a few hundred dollars to thousands of dollars, depending upon the risk, the age of the roof, the number of claims," said Roberta Gibbons with Dyste Williams Agency.
The reason for those rate hikes also impacts everyone.
"A lot of that's due to the extreme weather that we've been facing in Minnesota," Aaron Cocking, President of the Insurance Federation of Minnesota. "The last several years, Minnesota has the second most extreme weather of any state in the nation. And we see that in the in the form of these severe convective storms."
"Those huge wind storms, huge hail storms, they do a lot of damage. And they do a lot of damage in a wide area, which results in lots of claims," said Grace Arnold, Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Commerce.
Inflation has also played a factor in making more claims more costly.
"In 2022, in homeowners insurance, insurers paid out $1.92 for every $1 collected in premium," Cocking said.
Unfortunately, just like you can't control the weather, there's only so much you can do about rate hikes. Some options include taking a closer look at your plan with your broker and shopping around
"It's not always pleasant, but it's a really important conversation to have because the last time you want to find out what is or isn't in your policy is when you're making a claim," Arnold said.
"Different companies have different risk appetites depending on what they want their portfolio of business to look like. And so shopping around is always a good idea," Cocking said.
Just last week, Forbes shared more tips for reducing home insurance costs, like raising your deductible or asking about discounts you might not automatically receive.