Texas Raises Assigned-Risk Auto Insurance Rates for Private and Commercial Vehicles

Texas assigned-risk auto insurance rates increased on November 1, with a 2.8% overall rise for private passenger vehicles and a 4.9% increase for commercial vehicles. The changes apply to new and renewed policies obtained through the Texas Automobile Insurance Plan Association (TAIPA), the state’s program for applicants who have been rejected by at least two insurers.

The Texas Department of Insurance approved the changes on June 22, 2026. That approval date is distinct from the November 1 effective date: the new rates are taking effect under an order issued more than four months earlier, rather than a new approval issued on November 1.

The increases do not apply across the entire Texas auto insurance market. TAIPA is a separate assigned-risk mechanism intended to make basic motor vehicle liability coverage available to eligible applicants who have been turned down in the regular market. Rates charged by other insurers under their own filings are not automatically changed by this order.

Liability rates rise, but the coverage changes differ

The largest common increase is in bodily injury liability, where base rates rise 5.0% for both private passenger and commercial automobile coverage. Property damage liability moves very differently: it rises just 0.2% for private passenger vehicles but 5.0% for commercial vehicles. The differing changes help explain why the overall commercial increase is larger.

Personal injury protection, which can help pay certain injury-related expenses, moves in the opposite direction for private passenger business. Its base rate falls 5.0%, while the commercial personal injury protection rate is unchanged. That decrease does not cancel out the increases in other coverage categories, nor does it mean every policyholder will receive a 5.0% reduction on an entire policy.

Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage also becomes more expensive under the approved rates. For private passenger auto insurance, the bodily injury component increases 4.6% and the property damage component increases 4.7%. Commercial increases are smaller for those components, at 2.9% and 2.6%, respectively.

Commissioner Amanda Crawford’s June 22 order, No. 2026-9983, approved the two filings without changing territory or class rating factors. The private passenger filing was identified as S737512 and the commercial filing as S737513. The published percentages describe changes to the program’s rates and individual coverage components, not a uniform percentage added to every driver’s or business’s final bill.

What a particular policyholder pays depends on the policy’s applicable coverages and rating characteristics. A policy with bodily injury and property damage liability alone will not have the same mix of charges as one that also includes personal injury protection or uninsured motorist coverage. The statewide overall figures therefore should not be treated as an exact renewal quote for any one applicant.

Who is affected by the assigned-risk increase?

TAIPA exists for a narrower group than Texas drivers generally. An applicant must certify having been rejected for automobile insurance by two companies within the previous 60 days. The association then assigns eligible applications to participating insurers. It is not a government insurer selling a standard personal auto policy directly to every Texas driver.

For drivers using the program, the available liability limits are the state’s minimum 30/60/25 levels: $30,000 for injuries to one person, $60,000 total for injuries in one accident and $25,000 for property damage in one accident. TAIPA also lists personal injury protection and uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage among the available coverages, subject to its program rules.

One important limitation is that TAIPA does not provide physical damage coverage. Its policies do not include collision or comprehensive protection for the insured vehicle. A driver who needs that protection, including someone whose lender requires it, cannot assume an assigned-risk liability policy will satisfy the need.

Applications are made through insurance agents, with TAIPA arranging the assignment to an insurer. Once assigned, that company handles policy issuance, payments, billing and renewals. TAIPA’s guidance for insureds describes the application process and the limits of coverage available through the plan.

The November 1 start date covers both new TAIPA business and renewals. It does not mean a policy already in force necessarily has its premium recalculated midway through its term. Consumers receiving renewal paperwork should look at the actual coverage and premium shown by their assigned insurer rather than multiplying their previous total by the 2.8% or 4.9% overall increase.

This distinction is particularly relevant to commercial operators. The 4.9% figure represents the approved overall change for commercial assigned-risk auto rates, not a finding that every commercial fleet in Texas will pay 4.9% more. Businesses insured outside TAIPA remain subject to their own insurers’ applicable pricing and policy terms.

The filing, the review and last year’s comparison

TAIPA submitted its 2026 rate filings on April 22. The department published notice of the proposal in the May 8 issue of the Texas Register and gave the public an opportunity to comment. The commissioner’s order says the agency received no comments on the filing notice before completing its review.

State law requires the commissioner to assess whether TAIPA’s proposed rates are just, reasonable and adequate without being excessive or unfairly discriminatory. They also must be sufficient to pay claims through their ultimate settlement and cover the cost of writing and servicing the insurance. Unlike the pricing of an individual voluntary-market insurer, TAIPA’s rates require the commissioner’s approval.

The public notice explained that a hearing was not required because the proposed average rate change for each coverage did not exceed 5%. The department nevertheless reviewed the submitted information and the statistical plan data for insurance written through TAIPA. The order approves the requested rates rather than describing a partial reduction or a negotiated alternative.

The filings used different data approaches for the two lines of business. For private passenger auto, TAIPA evaluated annual loss-cost trends using Texas statistical-plan data and several treatments of unusual results and claim frequency. The order also notes an adjustment for earlier rate increases during the period examined.

For commercial auto, the association relied mainly on analyses of how costly claims have been, using voluntary-market data from the 2024 Texas Commercial Auto Liability Benchmark Reports. Because of limitations in that data, it assumed a 0.0% claim-frequency trend. Those details explain the modeling inputs disclosed in the order; they do not establish that every commercial operator’s claim costs have risen by the same amount as the new overall rates.

The 2026 changes follow a different pattern from those approved a year earlier. A July 2025 department bulletin reported overall TAIPA increases of 3.9% for private passenger auto and 1.7% for commercial auto, effective November 1, 2025. This year’s private passenger increase is smaller than the prior year’s, while the commercial increase is larger.

The comparison is useful for showing the direction of annual approved adjustments, but the figures should not be added together and described as a single increase on every policy. Each year’s percentage reflects its own rate base and coverage mix. The two orders also do not disclose a single dollar premium that could be used to calculate what a typical TAIPA customer will pay in 2026.

With the approved rates now effective, the practical change appears when an eligible applicant buys a new assigned-risk policy or renews one under the updated schedule. The assigned insurer’s declarations and billing documents, together with the selected coverages, will determine the amount due.