Updated Jun 17, 2026
After two years of relentless premium increases that pushed auto insurance costs up 46% between 2022 and 2024, COUNTRY Financial is now handing savings back to drivers across 11 states.
That reversal is no small thing. According to Insurance Business, the Illinois-headquartered insurer is reducing auto rates in Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Oregon, Tennessee, and Wisconsin, citing measurable improvements in accident frequency and claims costs. The announcement signals that the brutal correction cycle that defined the post-pandemic insurance market may finally be losing its grip on American households.
COUNTRY Financial slashes rates in 11 states after two brutal years of increases
COUNTRY Financial serves approximately one million households and businesses across 19 states. Its decision to cut rates in 11 of them reflects growing confidence that the claims environment has fundamentally shifted.
Colorado drivers are seeing the deepest relief, with a 10% rate reduction. Illinois follows at 8%, while Oregon and Wisconsin each receive a 7% cut. The remaining states in the announcement, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, and Tennessee, are also in line for reductions, though their specific percentages were not detailed beyond what Insurance Business reported.
Kelvin Schill, senior vice president of property and casualty operations at COUNTRY Financial, framed the cuts as a direct response to real-world claims data.
"As costs come down, we look for ways to help our clients manage their expenses, especially during a time when inflation and other economic pressures continue to impact household budgets."
That consumer-first framing carries weight when you consider just how hard the previous cycle hit ordinary drivers. The 46% surge between 2022 and 2024 was not gradual. It was a wall. This is the first time many of these policyholders will see their premiums move in the right direction.
Why claims trends are finally moving in drivers' favor
The root cause of the post-pandemic rate explosion was a perfect storm: riskier driving behavior as roads reopened, supply-chain-driven repair inflation, and elevated claims severity across the board. Carriers hemorrhaged money trying to keep up.
The Industry-wide tide turned in 2024. Data from the Insurance Information Institute showed that US personal auto insurers posted a net combined ratio of 95.3 that year, their strongest post-pandemic result. That came after carriers recorded nearly $17 billion in underwriting losses in 2023 alone.
A combined ratio below 100 means the industry is writing profitable business. At 95.3, carriers had room to breathe.
With margins restored, the competitive logic flipped. Holding rates high while losses normalized became a liability, not a strategy. Carriers that moved first on cuts stood to retain existing policyholders and pull in new ones. COUNTRY Financial's announcement fits that pattern precisely.
The average annual cost of full-coverage auto insurance declined 6% nationwide in 2025, falling to $2,144, with rates dropping in 39 states. That broad-based retreat reflects just how thoroughly the underwriting math has changed.
How COUNTRY Financial's cuts stack up against industry giants
COUNTRY Financial is not acting alone. The COUNTRY Financial auto rate cuts are happening inside a market-wide repricing, and the numbers from the major carriers tell a consistent story.
| COUNTRY Financial | Cuts in 11 states (up to 10%) | Reducing rates in CO, IL, OR, WI + 7 others |
| State Farm | Auto combined ratio 95.3 improved to 93.5; $4.6B underwriting profit | Rate reductions across 40 states + $5B dividend |
| Allstate | Auto combined ratio improved 10 points to 85.0 | Rate competitive moves |
| Progressive | Net income of $11.3B for full-year 2025 | Actively competing on price |
State Farm's auto combined ratio improved to 93.5, more than 10 points better than the prior year. That turnaround generated an auto underwriting profit of $4.6 billion and prompted State Farm to announce a $5 billion dividend payout to qualifying policyholders alongside rate reductions across 40 states.
Allstate posted an auto combined ratio of 85.0, a 10-point improvement. Progressive reported net income of $11.3 billion for full-year 2025.
COUNTRY Financial's move is not an outlier. It is a carrier of roughly one million customers participating in a structural market reset driven by fundamentally better loss data.
Which states are seeing the deepest reductions, and why
Colorado's 10% cut leads the pack, and that is not an accident. States that experienced the sharpest premium spikes during the hard market cycle are now recording some of the largest corrections. If you have been tracking Colorado auto insurance costs over the past two years, the scale of that previous run-up makes a double-digit reduction feel both welcome and long overdue.
Illinois, at 8%, is COUNTRY Financial's home state. It is also a market the carrier knows intimately. ValuePenguin analysis of rate filing data projects Illinois among the states recording the largest rate decreases nationally in 2026.
Oregon and Wisconsin, both at 7%, reflect similar dynamics. Oregon auto insurance shoppers and Wisconsin auto insurance policyholders have dealt with rising costs through the same post-pandemic period. A 7% rollback is meaningful for households already stretched by broader inflation.
Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, and Illinois are also projected by ValuePenguin analysis to be among the states with the largest rate decreases nationally in 2026. That the four overlap directly with COUNTRY Financial's cut list is no coincidence.
"We look for ways to help our clients manage their expenses, especially during a time when inflation and other economic pressures continue to impact household budgets," Schill said.
The Save Max Quote Index, drawn from 3.3 million+ real quote requests, consistently shows that drivers in Midwest states rank among the most active shoppers when renewal notices arrive with material price changes. Rate cuts of this magnitude give those shoppers genuine leverage to negotiate or switch.
Tariffs on auto parts threaten to reverse the relief
Here is the catch.
The same repair cost environment that allowed margins to recover is now facing a new threat: tariffs. Approximately six out of every ten auto replacement parts used in US repair shops are imported. A 25% tariff on vehicles and auto parts runs through every fender bender, windshield replacement, and total loss claim in the country.
The full effects of tariffs have not yet hit repair costs, but they are likely to rise in 2026. Crucially, insurers have not yet passed those costs to drivers via higher premiums.
That lag is temporary.
For carriers currently competing on price to win back market share, an uptick in physical damage costs could quickly compress margins that have only recently been restored. The industry found profitable ground after years of losses. Tariff-driven parts inflation threatens to erode that ground before carriers have finished celebrating.
Per the SMQI, shoppers who lock in lower rates now, before any tariff-driven corrections hit the filing cycle, are positioning themselves ahead of what could be another round of upward pressure.
What this means for you
If you live in Colorado, Illinois, Oregon, Wisconsin, or any of the other nine states in COUNTRY Financial's announcement, check your renewal notice immediately and confirm whether your specific policy reflects the new rates. Do not assume the reduction is automatic without reviewing your declaration page.
Shop competing quotes now, while the market is broadly soft. Illinois auto insurance rates and Iowa auto insurance rates are both projected to drop further in 2026, giving you real comparison leverage. Set a calendar reminder to requote again before year-end, because tariff-driven repair cost increases could push premiums back up faster than most policyholders expect.
About Brooke Grissom
Brooke Grissom is an Independent Insurance Analyst at Save Max Auto, licensed in Property & Casualty and Health insurance. She covers data-driven market trends, cross-state premium comparisons, and carrier financial analysis. Read more from Brooke Grissom →
Edited by Kyle Greenwood.
Methodology
This article is grounded in the source linked above. Save Max Auto data points referenced here are drawn from the Save Max Quote Index (SMQI), a proprietary instrument reflecting 3,364,317 real consumer quote requests submitted to savemaxauto.com. State and carrier rankings reflect the lifetime dataset; year-over-year shifts reflect a rolling 12-month window. The index is refreshed monthly. External authority figures referenced (NAIC, NHTSA, state regulators) reflect the most recent public data releases available at time of writing.
Sources
- Primary source: Insurance Business, "COUNTRY Financial cuts auto rates in 11 states as claims trends improve"