The NAIC’s Feb. 13, 2026 news release announcing its 2022/2023 Auto Insurance Database Report gives insurance educators and frontline teams something valuable: regulator-sourced, national-level benchmarks on premiums and loss costs—plus a reminder that state-to-state comparisons can be misleading. For licensing candidates, these numbers are a practical way to anchor exam topics like rating factors, underwriting considerations, and how losses flow through to premium. For licensed producers and managers, the same facts help standardize how your team explains premium changes and sets expectations without drifting into unsupported claims.
1) What NAIC reported (and why it matters in training)
NAIC’s release highlights several national findings drawn from data through year-end 2022 and year-end 2023. The headline: the national combined average premium per issued vehicle reached $1,438 in 2023, a 14.42% increase from 2022 to 2023. On the loss side, NAIC reported national total liability incurred losses of $120.5B in 2022 (up 9.4% from 2021) and an increase in the average incurred loss per collision claim from $6,113 (2021) to $7,191 (2022)—a 17.6% jump.
Those are not “market commentary” numbers—they’re useful training anchors. When students can connect “premium movement” to “loss costs and claim severity,” they answer exam questions more cleanly and communicate with customers more credibly.
2) Training implications for licensing exam prep (what to study differently this week)
If you’re preparing for a P&C licensing exam (or any exam section that touches personal auto), use the NAIC release as a structured prompt for how exam writers think:
- Practice the cause-and-effect chain: losses (frequency/severity) and expenses influence indicated rates; underwriting and rating translate that into premium at the policy level. The NAIC figures give you real magnitudes to keep the concepts concrete.
- Drill “why comparisons are hard” language: NAIC explicitly notes that state expenditures and premiums are influenced by underwriting costs, driving environments, accident rates, theft, repair costs, and state laws and coverage requirements, making direct comparisons difficult. Expect exam questions that test your ability to identify multiple drivers rather than a single reason.
- Build a miss-log around rating/underwriting vocabulary: when you miss a question on rating factors, write the term you confused (e.g., “loss costs” vs. “premium,” “incurred losses” vs. “paid losses”) and retest it in a timed set.
Execution tip (14-day sprint): for the next two weeks, do 20–30 minutes/day of timed personal auto questions and spend the same amount of time reviewing only the questions you missed. Your goal is not volume—it’s faster recognition of what the question is truly testing (coverage vs. underwriting vs. rating vs. claims).
3) CE and compliance angle: turning the report into better client explanations
For licensed producers completing CE or running renewal reviews, the NAIC release is a clean way to standardize your “premium change” communication. The operational goal: explain what you know (industry loss-cost pressure and premium movement at a national level) without claiming you know the exact reason for a specific customer’s renewal.
Use the report to reinforce three compliance-safe habits:
- Separate national context from account-specific reasons: you can cite that NAIC reported a higher national combined average premium per vehicle in 2023, but you should still review the customer’s declarations, coverages, drivers/vehicles, and any underwriting notices for the specific drivers of their renewal.
- Avoid simplistic state comparisons: NAIC cautions that differences in laws and coverage requirements (plus risk factors like theft and repair costs) complicate comparisons. Train yourself to say “state rules and risk conditions vary” rather than “your state is expensive because…”
- Document the explanation you gave: in your CRM or agency notes, capture a short summary: (1) what changed on the policy (limits, vehicles, discounts, rating tier, etc.), (2) what the carrier communicated, and (3) what options you reviewed (deductibles, coverage adjustments, eligibility, bundling, telematics, etc.).
This is where CE becomes operational: your education should show up as consistent, repeatable communication and documentation—especially when customers are frustrated.
4) Manager/compliance lead playbook: build a repeatable workflow from the NAIC signal
Managers can use this release as a training trigger to tighten onboarding and supervision. Here’s a practical workflow you can implement this week:
- 1) Create a “premium change explanation” script card: one paragraph that references national context (NAIC-reported premium increases and loss-cost pressure) and then pivots to policy-specific review. Keep it consistent across the team.
- 2) Add a documentation checkpoint: require a note template for any call involving a significant premium increase. Include fields for: carrier-stated reason (if provided), coverage/vehicle/driver changes, options presented, and customer decision.
- 3) Run a weekly quality spot-check: sample 5–10 renewal interactions and confirm producers avoided unsupported statements (e.g., blaming a single factor without evidence) and avoided misleading state comparisons.
- 4) Align training to roles: new hires focus on coverage basics and terminology; experienced staff focus on communication quality, suitability, and documentation discipline. Use the same NAIC facts, but different exercises.
Because NAIC also notes that figures may differ from prior editions due to periodic insurer data updates, managers should train teams not to overfit to a single statistic. The operational rule: use the report for context and consistency, not as a substitute for carrier filings, notices, or policy-level review.
5) How to use the report inside TSI-style study and CE routines
TSI National’s approach emphasizes structured learning plus practice-test discipline. This NAIC release fits that model well:
- For exam candidates: convert the release into 10 flashcards (premium, incurred losses, collision claim severity, and “why state comparisons are hard”). Then run a timed quiz set and track misses by topic.
- For CE learners: build a 30-minute refresher: (1) rating and underwriting concepts, (2) claims severity trends and how they influence premium, (3) documentation standards for renewal discussions.
- For agencies: standardize onboarding with a short module on “how to explain premium changes,” supported by regulator-sourced context and a required notes template.
CTA: If you’re building a faster, more consistent path to passing licensing exams or completing CE on time, explore TSI National’s exam prep and continuing education options at https://www.tsinational.com/.
Source: Original article
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