If you have an auto insurance policy with the Progressive Auto Insurance company, you may have questions regarding their pricing policies for premiums. With the opaqueness regarding the price structure of different auto insurance policies, this is not surprising. Typically, it’s due to the ferocious competitiveness in this industry. Prices will only differ slightly between insurance providers. When a provider does raise a rate, they will often do this without providing any type of explanation regarding the reason for the change.
Progressive Auto Insurance Rate Raises
If you have been a customer of Progressive Auto Insurance for a long period of time, there is a possibility that they will raise your rates without any type of warning. While Progressive is known for its top ratings as an insurance company that provides attentive customer service and quick returns on claims, they do have a tendency to bump up the rates that they charge, even though you may have no accidents on your record.
Recalculating Premiums
Progressive has the ability to review policies after each six-month interval. This is an uncommon practice in the industry as most insurance providers price their policies for a whole year. By examining premiums twice during the year, It gives Progressive the ability to recalculate premiums. This can be detrimental to your insurance rate if you have been involved in an accident or traffic stop that preceded the six-month review. Typically, your rate will be bumped up by as much as 25 percent for most traffic citations.
Comprehensive Credit Checks
You will also want to make sure that you keep your credit clean as the six-month review will also involve a comprehensive check to see if you have any new dings on your credit that would affect your creditworthiness. If you have any challenges such as a bankruptcy, foreclosure or late payments involving your mortgage or credit card payments, you can expect to receive notice that your auto insurance premium will be increased.
Is It Legal?
Unfortunately, these credit checks are perfectly legal for Progressive to perform. Typically, individuals who have a problem with their credit are more likely to become delinquent in other payments as well. Progressive is wary of these type of customers. If they believe that you are a higher risk due to your creditworthiness, they may decide to raise your rates. While this isn’t a “technical” reason, they have the right to do it.
Jim Treebold is a North Carolina based writer. He lives by the mantra of “Learn 1 new thing each day”! Jim loves to write, read, pedal around on his electric bike and dream of big things. Drop him a line if you like his writing, he loves hearing from his readers!