Freeway Insurance has released new findings from its latest Auto Insurance Report, showing average auto insurance premiums among its customers declined in several states between the first quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026.
The data adds to a growing body of evidence that auto insurance pricing pressure eased over the past year following several years of steep increases.
Unlike many industry reports based on quoted or estimated pricing, Freeway's analysis draws on completed policy purchase transactions within its own customer base, giving it a narrower but more concrete view of realized pricing rather than quoted rates.
Florida recorded the largest year-over-year decrease in average monthly premiums among Freeway customers, down 19%, followed by Oregon at 15%. New York and Illinois both fell 11%, Arizona and Alabama each declined 10%, Wisconsin dropped 9%, and Colorado, Georgia and Texas each fell 8%. Florida, New York and Oregon also posted the largest dollar declines, with average monthly premiums down more than $30 during the period.
Freeway cautioned that the figures reflect aggregated data from its own customer base and should not be read as statewide rate reductions applying to all drivers, since individual premiums continue to vary based on driving history, age, location, vehicle, coverage selections, insurer, underwriting criteria and available discounts.
The pricing relief lines up with a sharp turnaround in insurer profitability. The personal auto line posted a net combined ratio of 91.8 in 2025, a 3.5-point improvement on 2024 and among the best results the segment has recorded in the post-pandemic period, according to the Insurance Information Institute.
State Farm and USAA have both issued unusually large policyholder dividends based on 2025 results, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence, a further sign that carriers are returning some of that improved performance to customers rather than retaining it.
Freeway's report points to several conditions likely contributing to lower average premiums in some states, including improved insurer profitability, increased carrier competition, moderating claims frequency, stabilizing vehicle repair costs and broader shifts in underwriting conditions.
That pattern lines up with independent market data. Insurify's own 2026 report found the average annual full-coverage premium fell 6% nationally in 2025, following a 46% rise between 2022 and 2024, with 39 states seeing prices fall and eight recording declines of 15% or more. Fewer, less costly claims appear to be a factor, too.
The National Insurance Crime Bureau recorded a 23% drop in car thefts in the first half of 2025 compared with the same period a year earlier, while the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported an 8.2% decline in crash fatalities over the same period, both of which reduce the comprehensive and bodily injury claims insurers pay out.
Not every state has followed the same trajectory. Insurify identified four states with double-digit premium increases in 2025, led by New Jersey at 20%, followed by Washington, D.C. at 18%, Rhode Island at 13% and Michigan at 12%. New Jersey's new minimum coverage requirements, including higher uninsured and underinsured motorist limits that took effect in 2026, could add further upward pressure there.
Separately, ValuePenguin's analysis found Texas had the largest five-year premium increase in the country, up nearly 61% between 2020 and 2025, even as Freeway's data shows Texas premiums easing by 8% over the past year.
Taken together, the figures suggest 2026 is shaping up as a year of divergence rather than uniform relief, with carriers in some states passing improved loss experience through to customers, while others, often those with recent regulatory changes or elevated litigation and repair costs, continue to see upward pressure.
For insurers and brokers, that divergence points to a market where state-level underwriting and pricing strategy, rather than a single national trend, will determine where growth and retention opportunities lie through the rest of the year.
