If you drive in Connecticut and your car insurance renews in the next few months, some of the biggest carriers in the state have filed to charge less. Farmers Casualty filed an average cut of about 14%. State Farm’s two Connecticut auto companies filed about 8.4%.
Before you count the savings, check two things: whether your carrier is on the list, and whether the cut is on the coverage you actually carry.
Here’s what happened. On October 16, the Connecticut Insurance Department said it had combed through recent filings and found 19 personal auto filings from 14 companies “that included rate decreases for certain consumers.” Liberty Mutual Personal Insurance Company filed about 6%, for about 11,500 policyholders. Travelers, Hanover and Utica filed decreases too. The commissioner called them “a positive development.”
They are. After two years of increases, a cut is real money.
Then the release gets to the fine print. Rate changes vary “by insurer, coverage, and other rating factors, so not everyone will see lower premiums.”
That sentence is doing a lot of work. Here’s how much.
The department publishes every approved auto filing once a year. In 2025, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, the biggest single filing on the list at about $431 million in premium, got approved for an overall 2.7% increase. Sounds mild. It was a 10.9% increase on liability and a 9.2% cut on physical damage, meaning collision and comprehensive.
Translation: the driver with full coverage on a newer car landed somewhere around the 2.7% average. The driver with liability only on an old car got the full 10.9%.
So “an average decrease of 8.4%” tells you about the average State Farm customer. It doesn’t tell you about you.
Statewide, the department’s numbers show auto rates up 8.9% in 2024 and another 4.1% in 2025. Stack those and a premium that tracked the average is about 13% higher than it was two years ago. An 8.4% cut on top of that leaves you roughly 4% above where you started. On a $2,000 policy, 8.4% is about $168 back. Farmers’ 14% would be about $280.
And the list is short. Fourteen companies filed some kind of decrease. The same 2025 report lists 56 auto filings with a rate change, several of them double-digit increases, Central Insurance at 19.9% among them. If your carrier isn’t one of the 14, nothing in this announcement touches your bill.
Here’s the move.
Pull your current declarations page and write down three numbers: total premium, liability premium, and collision plus comprehensive. When the renewal arrives, compare line by line. If you’re with State Farm, Farmers, Liberty Mutual, Travelers, Hanover or Utica and your premium didn’t drop, call and ask which part of your bill the filed decrease applied to.
If your carrier isn’t on the list, shop. Your renewal notice gives you a window, so use it for three quotes, including at least one from a carrier that just filed a cut. Start with our auto insurance estimator for a number to compare against, then check our picks and the auto insurance hub.
One more thing coming. Starting January 1, Connecticut insurers have to explain a premium increase in plain terms within twenty business days if you ask. Here’s how that works. Use it if your “decrease” turns out to be an increase.
A cut on someone else’s coverage is a cut for someone else.
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Sources
- Connecticut Insurance Department Highlights Auto and Home Insurance Rate Decreases (October 16, 2026)
- Connecticut Reports Major Carriers Lowering Rates for Auto, Home Insurance (Insurance Journal, October 23, 2026)
- Property Casualty Insurance Rate Reviews For Calendar Year 2025, Exhibit A: Status of Private Passenger Auto Rate Filings (Connecticut Insurance Department, January 2026)