Find out exactly why it went up, then fix your side of it and shop the account. A clean record with no claims is the easiest kind to move to another insurer. Most increases with no claims come from the insurer raising rates for everyone, from changes in your payroll or job category, or from a discount that quietly fell off. Who this is for: owners staring at a renewal that costs more than last year with nothing in their claims history to explain it.
The short version
- No claims does not mean no increase. Insurers raise rates for whole trades and states at once.
- Check the numbers your price is built on: payroll, sales, job category, and any discounts. Mistakes there are common and fixable.
- Ask your broker for the reason in writing. "Rate increase" is not an answer. "Base rate up 8% and payroll estimate up 20%" is.
- A clean account with three or more years of history is the easiest kind to shop. Get quotes from insurers that want your trade.
- Do not cut limits or drop coverage to save money. Fix the numbers and move insurers instead.
Why would my price go up if I never filed a claim?
Your claims are only one part of the price. The rest is set before the insurer ever looks at you. Here are the usual causes, in rough order of how often we see them.
| Cause | What it means in plain English | Can you fix it? |
|---|---|---|
| Insurer rate filing | The insurer raised its base rates for your trade or state with the regulator. Everyone in that group pays more. | Not with that insurer. Shop it. |
| Hard market | Across the whole industry, insurers have been raising liability prices for several years running. | Not directly. Shopping still finds the insurer that is hungriest for your trade. |
| Payroll or sales estimate went up | Your premium is a rate times your payroll or sales. If the estimate rose, so did the price. | Yes. Make sure the estimate matches your real plan for the year. |
| Job category changed | The category your payroll is rated under moved to a higher rated one, maybe because of one new type of work. | Often. Ask why it changed and whether payroll can be split. |
| Lost discounts | Discounts for safety programs, years with the insurer, paying in full, or a package expired. | Often. Ask which ones you had last year and why they are gone. |
| Your workers comp claims multiplier went up | A multiplier based on claims history. An older claim can enter the calculation years later. | Sometimes. Check the worksheet for wrong payroll, wrong job codes, or a claim that should have been closed. Corrections go to the rating bureau that produced it, not to your insurer, and in the four state fund states to the state agency. |
How do I find out which one hit me?
Put last year's policy summary (the declarations page) next to this year's renewal and compare line by line:
- Payroll and sales figures. Did the insurer raise the estimate? By how much?
- Class codes. Same codes as last year? Any new one?
- Rates per $100 or per $1,000. If the rate itself rose with the same class, that is a rate filing.
- Credits and debits. Usually a schedule near the back. Compare the list.
- Limits and deductibles. Did anything change that you did not ask for?
Then ask your broker, in writing, to explain the difference. A good broker does this before sending the renewal. See whether your broker actually shopped your renewal.
What can I do about it this year?
- Correct the numbers. If your payroll estimate assumed two hires you never made, fix it today. Waiting until the insurer checks your real payroll at year end means you float the extra money all year.
- Ask for the discounts back. They come from a plan the insurer files with the state, so the range is capped and varies by insurer, state, and type of policy. On workers comp there are none in the states that set the rate (Florida, Indiana, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Idaho, Massachusetts, and New Jersey) or in the four state fund states (North Dakota, Ohio, Washington, and Wyoming). There, ask about dividend plans and correct classification instead.
- Shop it. One application to every insurer that wants your trade this year, including ones that do not quote online. See how to find cheaper contractor insurance.
- Do not cut limits. Your contracts set your limits. A cheaper policy that fails your next certificate check is not cheaper.
How much difference does shopping usually make?
Illustrative examples for a clean account. Results depend on trade, state, payroll, and how many insurers want your work this year.
| Situation | Renewal offer | After correction and shopping |
|---|---|---|
| Painter, 4 employees, payroll estimate overstated by $60,000 | $6,900 | $5,600 with the same insurer after correcting payroll |
| Heating and cooling contractor, 8 employees, rate increase plus lost package discount | $14,200 | $11,800 with a different insurer that wanted heating and cooling work this year |
| Framer, 6 employees, hard market increase across the board | $21,500 | $19,000, because every insurer was up, but one was up less |
The last row is the honest one. In a hard market, shopping does not always get you back to last year's price. It gets you the best price available now. Read more on the hard market and how premiums are calculated.
What this looks like in real life
Illustrative example. It is typical of what we see and is not a promise of how any specific situation would be handled.
The setup: An electrical contractor in New York with seven employees has had no claims in nine years. His renewal comes in at $31,400, up from $25,800. His agent says rates are up everywhere and offers nothing else.
What went wrong: A second broker lines up the two policy summaries. The insurer raised the payroll estimate from $420,000 to $510,000 because the owner mentioned he might hire. It never happened. A longevity discount also fell off when the insurer changed programs.
What it cost: Correcting payroll and restoring the discount brought the renewal to about $27,600. Shopping it to four other insurers produced one at about $26,200 with the same limits and wording. Illustrative figures. The owner saved about $5,200 against the first offer.
The fix: "Rates are up" is sometimes true and rarely the whole story. Ask for the line by line before you pay it.
Frequently asked questions
Q: Why did my business insurance go up even though I had no claims?
Most often because the insurer raised its base rates for your trade or state, your payroll or sales estimate rose, your job category changed, or a discount you had last year fell off. Compare the two policy summaries line by line.
Q: Is it normal for insurance to go up every year with no claims?
Small increases are common. A large jump with no claims still deserves a written explanation and a shopping round.
Q: Can I ask my insurer to explain the increase?
Yes, and you should. Ask your broker for the reason in writing, including any rate change, payroll change, category change, and lost discounts.
Q: Will shopping my insurance hurt my relationship with my insurer?
No. Insurers expect accounts to be shopped, especially after an increase. Many will sharpen their renewal when they know other quotes are coming.
Q: Should I lower my limits to bring the price down?
Usually not. Your contracts set your minimum limits, and a certificate that falls short stops jobs. Fix the payroll, categories, and discounts instead.
Q: How long does it take to shop a renewal?
Two to four weeks is comfortable for most contractor accounts. Send your broker the renewal offer and your claims history 60 to 90 days before the renewal date.
How Morrow helps
Morrow is a licensed independent commercial insurance brokerage that works with contractors and trades every day. Reading a renewal line by line, finding what actually drove the increase, and then shopping a clean account to the insurers that want it is exactly the work we do at renewal time.
- Free contract review. Send us the contract or bid documents and we mark up the insurance section in plain English, whether or not you buy anything from us.
- Free, instant certificates. Clients issue their own certificates of insurance online in about a minute, any hour, any day, at no charge.
- Markets you cannot reach online. One application, shopped across many insurance companies for general liability, workers comp, auto, umbrella, and pollution coverage.
One more thing. This article is general information and is not legal advice or a statement of coverage. Your contract and your policy wording control in every case. Requirements vary by customer, by state, and by insurance company, so have a licensed advisor review your own contract and your own policy before relying on any of it.
Last updated: Reviewed by the Morrow commercial lines team. Last updated September 2026.