Q4 2024 Auto and Property Insurance Shopping Increased 20% Compared to Q4 2023

February 18, 2025 at 09:26 AM EST

CHICAGO, Feb. 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Both auto and property insurance shopping saw 20% year-over-year increases in Q4 2024, according to TransUnion (NYSE: TRU) research. However, profitability for auto and property insurance was uneven.

While auto insurance has come close to achieving rate adequacy, the property insurance market has been constrained due to limited rate increases and losses from natural disasters, like hurricanes Helene and Milton. What’s more, 2025 is already off to a bad start with wildfires in southern California posing significant losses for insurers.

Both auto and property insurance shopping were driven primarily by consumers’ continued search for lower rates. These findings and more are included in TransUnion’s latest quarterly Insurance Personal Lines Trends and Perspectives Report.

“The current market provides great potential for acquisition,” said Patrick Foy, senior director of strategic planning for TransUnion’s Insurance business. “The best moves insurers can make to procure high quality prospects is to use data segmentation enabling them to market to the best potential customers.”

Traffic court data proves indispensable
Driving record information is one of the most predictive variables for assessing an individual across the policy lifecycle. Legacy approaches, like referencing state motor vehicle records (MVRs), can have gaps and limitations—and are expensive to obtain.

However, traffic court records cost significantly less to access, and they provide a more comprehensive picture of a driver’s past violations. For example, TransUnion’s latest report estimates that 11% of drivers have a ratable violation that can be identified by traffic court records but remain absent from MVRs.

Insurers who access traffic court data through solutions like TransUnion’s TruVision™ Driving History solutions suite, can improve the quality of leads and increase customer lifetime value. These solutions can be deployed at any time across the policy lifecycle.

In addition, understanding generational preferences can help insurers be effective across channels. While younger shoppers prefer a seamless digital experience, Baby Boomers still prefer the phone channel for discussing policy details. TruAudience® suite of marketing solutions can help insurers with identity resolution, audience building and measurement.

Read the latest Insurance Personal Lines Trends and Perspectives Report.

About TransUnion’s Insurance Personal Lines Trends and Perspectives Report
This quarterly publication examines trends in the personal lines insurance industry, including shopping, migration, violation, credit-based insurance stability and more. The Trends and Perspectives Report research is based almost entirely on TransUnion’s extensive internal data and analyses. It includes information on insurance shopping transactions from July 2023 to December 2024. However, the report excludes shopping data from insurance customers in California, Hawaii (auto), Massachusetts (auto), and Maryland (property), where credit-based insurance scoring information is not used for insurance rating or underwriting.

About TransUnion (NYSE: TRU)
TransUnion is a global information and insights company with over 13,000 associates operating in more than 30 countries. We make trust possible by ensuring each person is reliably represented in the marketplace. We do this with a Tru™ picture of each person: an actionable view of consumers, stewarded with care. Through our acquisitions and technology investments we have developed innovative solutions that extend beyond our strong foundation in core credit into areas such as marketing, fraud, risk and advanced analytics. As a result, consumers and businesses can transact with confidence and achieve great things. We call this Information for Good^® — and it leads to economic opportunity, great experiences and personal empowerment for millions of people around the world. http://www.transunion.com/business