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By Lewis Nibbelin, Research Writer, Triple-I

More than 20 requests for auto insurance rate decreases have been filed with Louisana’s Department of �鶹�� by insurers since mid-2025. According to the department, the decreases were driven by reductions in accident frequency and severity.

“I’m glad to see positive movement on auto rates in Louisiana for the first time in years,” said Louisiana �鶹�� Commissioner Tim Temple. “Because fewer accidents are contributing to these lower losses for insurers, we should not necessarily expect to see this level of decrease in future years unless we continue to pursue legal reform that addresses the foundational reasons our rates are the highest in the country.”

Temple said he hopes for further rate changes as the market continues to stabilize, citing Florida’s recent premium reductions after sweeping tort reform legislation in 2022 and 2023.

Longstanding affordability challenges

Among those who filed for rate decreases include Louisiana’s largest auto insurers, with the latest reductions impacting nearly 470,000 Progressive policyholders, or roughly percent of the state’s auto market. State Farm policies also achieved lower average rates implemented this month.

While the statewide decreases can offer relief for drivers in one of the least affordable states for auto insurance, Temple cautioned that rates for individual policyholders will differ based on personal risk factors, urging consumers to shop among the “30 companies that have taken a rate decrease.”

The announcement arrives less than a year after Louisiana lawmakers passed a 2025 to curb excessive lawsuits and a rate of bodily injury claims more than twice the national average. Beyond fueling higher insurance premiums in the state, such practices generate an annual $965 “tort tax” on every Louisianan and cost over 40,562 jobs per year, as highlighted by Triple-I’s consumer awareness campaign to build support for the reforms.

Other 2025 legislative measures, however, stipulate in rate-setting, which can create further strain on an insurance market just beginning to recover. Another bill targeting nuclear verdicts (awards of $10 million or more) also failed to pass, playing a role in the state’s recurring spot on the American Tort Reform Foundation’s annual list of “.”

Noting that reduced accident frequency contributed to the rate changes, Temple said in a that “we should not necessarily expect to see this level of decrease in future years unless we continue to pursue legal reform that addresses the foundational reasons our rates are the highest in the country.”

Lessons from Florida

Measurable benefits from Louisiana’s existing reforms may require a few more years to unfold, Temple added, based on the trajectory of similar legislation in Florida. In 2022, Florida accounted for over 70 percent of the nation’s homeowners claim-related litigation, despite representing only 15 percent of homeowners’ insurance claims, according to the state’s Office of �鶹�� Regulation (OIR). State legislators responded to the crisis with several tort laws that, among other things, eliminated one-way attorney fees and assignment of benefits (AOB) for property insurance claims.

Under the reforms, 17 new insurance companies have entered the Sunshine State and dozens of homeowners’ and auto insurers have filed for rate decreases, with Citizens Property �鶹�� – the state’s insurer of last resort – approved for major average rate cuts this spring, according to a from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

A 50 percent drop in Citizens policies in 2025 helped facilitate the cuts, reflecting the largest transition of policies back to the private market in a decade. Later that year, additional cost-savings achieved through the reforms helped state regulators secure in premium refunds for Progressive auto insurance policyholders in the state.

Though the specific policy levers may differ, Florida’s reforms continue to model the kinds of market improvements that states like Louisiana and can expect after successfully passing their own tort legislation. State government moves like these are essential to eradicating legal system abuse and keeping insurance affordable and available, especially as to legal reform persist.

“Premiums are lowering because we’ve enacted real reforms and withstood the pressure to reverse course,” DeSantis said. “We will hold firm in our commitment not to go back to the broken insurance market of the past.”

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