Texas Market Q2 Updates

Texas continues to offer both change and opportunity for agents as we move through the second quarter of the year.

This season has brought an unusually high volume of hail, wind, and flood damage compared to recent years. The impact has been most strongly felt in the already struggling homeowners market, which continues to seek much-needed rate increases—even as many consumers grapple with rising costs. This trend is particularly evident in the Houston area and coastal cities, where a surge in home listings reflects homeowners’ efforts to escape escalating insurance and tax expenses.

The effects of May’s severe weather are reverberating all the way to the reinsurance markets. As noted by Kane Wells of Gallagher Re, “With a preliminary insured loss estimate ranging from $4 billion to $7 billion for the severe weather events across the U.S. between May 14 and 20, Gallagher Re’s Chief Science Officer and Meteorologist, Steve Bowen, has argued that it’s well beyond time to abandon the semantic classification of severe convective storms (SCS) as a ‘secondary peril’ within the U.S. insurance market.”

Alinsco’s largest weather event so far in 2025 has been flooding in the Rio Grande Valley. The majority of related claims were paid and closed within two weeks—once again proving that you can count on Alinsco to outperform the market in OTC events.

The 89th Texas legislative session is now just days from conclusion, and most of the bills that posed concerns for our industry have failed to pass both houses. Alinsco’s legislative team worked tirelessly this year to help defeat measures that would have led to further rate increases or reduced agents’ market options. One bill likely to pass is SB 458, a modest appraisal bill. It formalizes existing practices, stating the appraisal provision “is intended to provide a type of dispute resolution process solely to determine the amount of loss when that amount is in dispute between the policyholder and the insurer.” (RDN 2025)

In the non-standard auto sector, we’ve seen several rate adjustments, including Alinsco’s own reduction in down payments. Our Enhanced and Zoom programs continue to grow and serve as strong complements to our flagship Bravo program.

Agents are reporting a better-than-average start to Q2, with encouraging momentum coming out of the 2025 tax season. This is welcome news as consumers continue to seek savings.

Q1 brought notable growth across the market. According to Autobody News, “Auto insurance shopping activity rose by 16% year-over-year, according to LexisNexis Risk Solutions. This surge was influenced by factors such as tax refund season, new vehicle purchases ahead of anticipated price increases due to tariffs, and heightened activity among older consumers (ages 66+), who led all age groups with a 19.7% increase in shopping activity.” TransUnion also reported a 10% year-over-year increase in auto insurance shopping in Q1 2025, continuing the trend of elevated consumer engagement across recent quarters.

Digital purchasing behavior continues to accelerate. Now is a great time to take advantage of Alinsco’s digital sales capabilities. Our Alinsco Sales Widget and integration with your online comparative rater make it easy to sell auto insurance online with speed and efficiency.

Over the past month I've had the opportunity to spend time in all of our offices as we celebrated the start of our 21st treaty year. Our thanks to you for your use and support of Alinsco. You've built us into one of the largest and one of the best.