Travelers Earnings: Car Insurance Renewals Now Cost Less
The average premium on car insurance policies that renewed with Travelers in the third quarter of 2026 was 0.6% lower than a year earlier, the only decline in the quarterly figures its presentations have reported since 2017 and a sharp turn from a 19.5% increase in the third quarter of 2023. Core earnings per share still rose 13% to $9.18, mostly because Travelers had 7.4% fewer shares and released $212 million more in reserves set aside for earlier years, while underwriting profit on this year’s policies slipped.
That underwriting profit, before storms and reserve changes, was $1.736 billion before tax against $1.758 billion a year earlier. Home insurance renewals still rose 5.4%, storms cost more than a year ago, a yearly asbestos charge was the largest in the six years we checked, and higher interest rates pushed book value down even as investment income hit a record. Almost every figure below comes from the company’s own filings and presentations, the few exceptions are named where they appear, and the calculations are ours.
Travelers Q3 2026: earnings and auto renewals
On this page
- Car insurance renewals now cost slightly less
- Home insurance is still rising, more slowly
- Travelers’ third quarter in numbers
- Where the extra profit came from
- Storms cost more than last year
- The asbestos charge that arrives every autumn
- Where each $100 of premium went
- Book value fell this year despite strong profits
- Signals that would show the trend turning
- How we counted
- Frequently asked questions
Car insurance renewals now cost slightly less
The average premium on Travelers auto policies that renewed in the third quarter was slightly lower than a year before, and it is the only negative figure in the five presentations we collected, which reach back to 2017 (the earlier ones cover agency business only, as explained below the chart).
Page 16 of the company’s webcast presentation puts renewal premium change for Automobile, in its Domestic Personal Insurance business, at minus 0.6%. That is Travelers’ estimate of the change in average premium on policies that renew, and it mixes two things, the rates the company charges and changes in what is insured, such as a newer car or an added driver, so it is not the same as a rate cut. A year earlier the figure was plus 3.9%, and in the third quarter of 2023 it was plus 19.5%.
Show the data
| Category | Auto | Homeowners and Other | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Q17 | 7.3% | 2.6% | |
| 2Q17 | 8.8% | 2.6% | |
| 3Q17 | 10.4% | 2.8% | |
| 4Q17 | 11.5% | 3.0% | |
| 1Q18 | 10.8% | 3.3% | |
| 2Q18 | 9.6% | 3.8% | |
| 3Q18 | 7.6% | 3.7% | |
| 4Q18 | 6.3% | 3.9% | |
| 1Q19 | 5.5% | 5.1% | |
| 2Q19 | 4.8% | 6.5% | |
| 3Q19 | 3.7% | 6.7% | |
| 4Q19 | 3.0% | 7.1% | |
| 1Q20 | 2.3% | 7.5% | |
| 2Q20 | 1.6% | 7.6% | |
| 3Q20 | 1.4% | 8.1% | |
| 4Q20 | 0.6% | 8.2% | |
| 1Q21 | 0.5% | 7.5% | From here, all domestic business; before, agency business only. |
| 2Q21 | 0.4% | 8.0% | |
| 3Q21 | 0.5% | 8.7% | |
| 4Q21 | 2.1% | 8.5% | |
| 1Q22 | 4.2% | 12.1% | |
| 2Q22 | 7.4% | 13.3% | |
| 3Q22 | 8.2% | 13.9% | |
| 4Q22 | 11.4% | 14.5% | |
| 1Q23 | 15.4% | 19.7% | |
| 2Q23 | 17.5% | 18.8% | |
| 3Q23 | 19.5% | 19.0% | Auto 19.5%, the peak of the series. |
| 4Q23 | 18.2% | 20.6% | |
| 1Q24 | 17.7% | 12.9% | |
| 2Q24 | 16.4% | 14.7% | |
| 3Q24 | 12.8% | 14.4% | |
| 4Q24 | 10.2% | 14.1% | |
| 1Q25 | 7.5% | 19.0% | |
| 2Q25 | 5.1% | 18.6% | |
| 3Q25 | 3.9% | 17.5% | |
| 4Q25 | 2.4% | 16.2% | |
| 1Q26 | 0.9% | 9.3% | |
| 2Q26 | 0.1% | 6.4% | |
| 3Q26 | -0.6% | 5.4% | Auto minus 0.6%, the only negative quarter since 1Q17. |
We lined up the same statistic from five of Travelers’ presentations, which together cover every quarter from the start of 2017, and the third quarter of 2026 is the only one of those 39 quarters with a negative auto number. Before 2026, the lowest reading was plus 0.4% in the second quarter of 2021. The presentations up to 2020 report agency business only, the policies sold through agents, brokers and other intermediaries, while later ones report all domestic business, so the early part of the line is a close relative of the later part and not an identical series.
The decline is small and it is an average across Travelers’ customers, so plenty of individual renewals still went up. It does line up with the wider market. The consumer price index for motor vehicle insurance, published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, was 5.0% lower in September 2026 than in September 2025, by our calculation from the index values of 846.102 and 890.473. We covered the same turn from the other side when Progressive reported earlier this week, in Progressive Earnings: Car Insurance Is Getting Cheaper.
Travelers is also writing less auto business. Domestic auto net written premiums fell 8% to $1.892 billion, policies in force dropped about 3% to 2.769 million from 2.858 million, and new auto business slipped to $293 million from $318 million, according to the same presentation. Progressive, by contrast, reported 7% to 8% more auto policies in force in its September report.
Yet the auto business Travelers kept became more profitable: its underlying combined ratio for auto improved to 87.3% from 88.3%. The release does not say why. One possible reason is that premiums earned in the quarter still include part of the earlier increases, since a premium is earned over the policy term, often six or twelve months; changes in expenses and in the mix of drivers insured can also move the ratio.
Home insurance is still rising, more slowly
Home insurance renewals at Travelers still cost more than a year ago, up 5.4% on average in the third quarter, but that is far below the 17.5% of the same quarter in 2025, and in our series it is the smallest increase since 2019. Homeowners renewal increases had stayed between 12% and 21% in every quarter from the start of 2022 to the end of 2025.
The home book is shrinking more than the auto book. Homeowners and other policies in force fell to 5.373 million from 5.595 million, about 4% fewer, even as new home business rose to $247 million from $224 million and retention, the share of customers who renew, rose to 85% from 83%. Net written premiums for homeowners and other coverage rose 1% to $2.511 billion. The underlying combined ratio for the home line, before storms and reserve changes, was 68.0% in both years, so the underlying margin was unchanged. The reported ratio rose to 80.5% from 78.0% because storms added 5.1 more points, partly offset by 2.6 more points of benefit from reserve releases, according to page 15 of the presentation.
Travelers’ third quarter in numbers
Travelers earned $1.917 billion, or $9.04 per diluted share, in the quarter that ended September 30, 2026, up from $1.888 billion, or $8.24, a year earlier, according to the release filed with the SEC at 6:58 a.m. Eastern time. The company’s preferred measure, core income, which leaves out realized gains and losses on investments, rose 4% to $1.947 billion, or $9.18 a share against $8.14. Before the release, the consensus compiled by Zacks Investment Research stood at $6.90 a share, so the quarter came in well above what analysts had pencilled in.
The combined ratio, which is claims plus expenses as a share of premiums, so that anything below 100% means the insurer made money on its policies before counting investment income, improved to 86.8% from 87.3%. The underlying combined ratio, the same measure with storm losses and changes to old reserves stripped out, edged the other way, to 84.1% from 83.9%, with business insurance a little worse at 88.9% against 88.3% and personal insurance better at 76.7% against 77.7%. Net written premiums, the new and renewed business booked in the quarter, were flat at $11.48 billion; the year-earlier figure still included $240 million from Canadian operations that Travelers sold in the first quarter, and without them premiums grew 2%.
| Third quarter | 2026 | 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Net income per diluted share | $9.04 | $8.24 | +10% |
| Core income per diluted share | $9.18 | $8.14 | +13% |
| Core income | $1.947 billion | $1.867 billion | +4% |
| Combined ratio | 86.8% | 87.3% | 0.5 pts better |
| Underlying combined ratio | 84.1% | 83.9% | 0.2 pts worse |
| Catastrophe losses, pre-tax | $538 million | $402 million | +$136 million |
| Net written premiums | $11.480 billion | $11.473 billion | flat (+2% without Canada) |
| Core return on equity | 22.1% | 22.6% | 0.5 pts lower |
The release gives no numerical forecast for the rest of the year. The earnings call was scheduled for 9:00 a.m. Eastern, and the figures here come only from the documents published before it.
Where the extra profit came from
Reserve releases and investment income supplied all of the positive pieces of the gain in pre-tax core income, together $277 million, more than the $86 million net increase, while storms, a slightly lower underlying underwriting profit and higher other expenses took $191 million away. The release’s own explanation says the same thing in one sentence; the chart below puts a size on each piece, using the figures in the release’s consolidated results table and its reconciliation of underlying underwriting income.
Show the data
| Step | Value |
|---|---|
| Q3 2025 | $2,317M |
| Reserves | +$212M |
| Investments | +$65M |
| Storms | -$136M |
| Underwriting | -$22M |
| Other | -$33M |
| Q3 2026 | $2,403M |
Pre-tax core income rose $86 million, from $2.317 billion to $2.403 billion. Net favorable prior year reserve development, which is money an insurer had set aside for claims from earlier years and no longer expects to pay, added $212 million more than a year earlier. Net investment income, a record $1.098 billion, added $65 million, helped by higher yields on the bond portfolio. Catastrophe losses took $136 million away, and the underlying underwriting income, the profit on this year’s policies before storms and reserve changes, came in $22 million lower at $1.736 billion. Other expenses, interest included, took the last $33 million. After tax, the extra reserve releases were worth $169 million ($185 million against $16 million), more than twice the $80 million rise in core income.
The step from 4% growth in core income to 13% growth per share is mostly arithmetic. Travelers bought back 4.0 million of its own shares in the quarter, at an average $376.00 for $1.508 billion, and its diluted share count averaged 210.6 million against 227.5 million a year earlier, 7.4% fewer, a reduction built up by repurchases over several quarters, of which this quarter’s were one part. Spread over fewer shares, the same profit counts for more per share. The supplement puts core income available to common shareholders at $1.933 billion; divided by last year’s 227.5 million diluted shares, that would have been about $8.50 a share, up roughly 4%, so by our calculation the smaller count accounts for about two thirds of the $1.04 increase.
Storms cost more than last year
Catastrophe losses rose to $538 million before tax from $402 million in the third quarter of 2025, and the release puts them down mainly to "severe wind and hail storms in multiple states." That is more than last year but well below the third quarters of 2023 and 2024, when the same line reached $850 million and $939 million.
Show the data
| Category | Value |
|---|---|
| 2022 | $512M |
| 2023 | $850M |
| 2024 | $939M |
| 2025 | $402M |
| 2026 | $538M |
Most of the storm cost fell on the personal side. Personal Insurance carried $380 million of the $538 million, which added 9.2 points to that segment’s combined ratio against 6.0 points a year earlier, and segment income fell to $706 million from $807 million. Across the first nine months of 2026, catastrophe losses were $1.817 billion against $3.595 billion in the same months of 2025, and the release names lower catastrophe losses as the main reason the nine-month combined ratio improved to 86.3% from 93.2%.
The asbestos charge that arrives every autumn
Travelers reviews its asbestos claims in depth every third quarter, and in each of the six years we checked, the review led to an addition to reserves. This year’s was $295 million, the largest of the six third quarters we checked. It sits inside the $234 million of net favorable reserve development, which means the releases from other lines were bigger than the headline: without the asbestos addition, favorable development would have been $529 million, our calculation from the release.
Show the data
| Category | Value |
|---|---|
| 2021 | $225M |
| 2022 | $212M |
| 2023 | $284M |
| 2024 | $242M |
| 2025 | $277M |
| 2026 | $295M |
The series comes from six third-quarter releases: $225 million in 2021 and $212 million in 2022 (both in the 2022 release), $284 million in 2023, $242 million in 2024, $277 million in 2025 and $295 million this year. Because it recurs, it is better read as a regular cost of old liabilities than as a one-time surprise, and the 2023 release says in so many words that the company "completes its annual in-depth asbestos claim review in the third quarter of each year."
Where each $100 of premium went
Out of every $100 of premium Travelers earned in the quarter, about $58 went to claims and the cost of handling them, about $29 to running the business and paying agents, and about $13 was left as underwriting profit before any investment income. Those shares come from the release’s calculation of the combined ratio, a loss ratio of 57.9% and an expense ratio of 28.9% on $11.103 billion of earned premium. It is an accounting split that includes reserve estimates and fee adjustments, not the cash paid out during the quarter.
Show the data
| Part | Value | Squares |
|---|---|---|
| Claims | $58 | 58 |
| Expenses | $29 | 29 |
| Underwriting profit | $13 | 13 |
The claims share fell from 58.7% a year earlier, helped by the reserve releases, while the expense share rose from 28.6%. The underlying margin has been unusually steady: the underlying combined ratio stayed between 82.2% and 85.3% in each of the last seven quarters, according to the company’s financial supplement, while the reported ratio swung from 102.5% in the first quarter of 2025 to 80.2% at the end of that year.
Book value fell this year despite strong profits
Book value per share, the shareholders’ equity behind each share, fell 6% this year to $141.48 at September 30 from $151.21 at the end of 2025, even though Travelers earned $5.836 billion in the first nine months. All of the drop, and more, came in the third quarter, when book value per share fell to $141.48 from $158.81 at June 30 after rising in the second quarter, according to the supplement. The release names higher unrealized investment losses, buybacks and dividends, and it puts the larger unrealized losses down to higher interest rates. When rates rise, the bonds an insurer already holds lose market value on paper, and Travelers’ net unrealized investment losses grew to $8.049 billion before tax from $1.862 billion at the end of 2025.
The release credits the record investment income to a higher yield and growth in average invested assets, and our reading is that higher rates work both ways for an insurer, lifting income as money is reinvested while marking down the bonds it already holds, which is why the quarter shows a record income line next to a smaller equity line. The company’s adjusted book value per share, which leaves out those unrealized losses, rose 9% this year to $172.47. The board declared a quarterly dividend of $1.25 a share, payable December 31 to holders of record on December 10.
Signals that would show the trend turning
The clearest signal for drivers will be the next auto renewal figure. A second negative quarter would show that the 0.6% decline was more than a one-off, while a return to small increases would point to prices settling flat. For homeowners, the question is whether the slowdown from 17.5% to 5.4% keeps going.
For the company’s earnings, the underlying combined ratio matters more than the headline ratio, because reserve releases cannot be counted on every quarter. The business side is worth watching too: in domestic business insurance excluding National Accounts, renewal rate change, which strips out changes in what is insured, slowed to 0.9% from 4.3% a year earlier, according to the webcast presentation, so most of the 4.1% renewal premium change now comes from changes in what customers insure. Chubb, another large commercial insurer, plans to release its third quarter results after the market closes on October 20, according to its announcement, which will show whether the same pattern appears elsewhere. For a longer view of Travelers’ numbers, the Travelers financials page and the company overview carry the reported history.
How we counted
The renewal series combines the domestic personal insurance statistics page of five Travelers webcast presentations, for the fourth quarters of 2018, 2020, 2022 and 2024 and the third quarter of 2026, each of which shows two years of quarters. That gives 39 quarters from the first quarter of 2017 to the third quarter of 2026. The 2017 to 2020 figures cover agency business only, as those presentations label them, and later figures cover all domestic business.
The profit bridge subtracts the 2025 column from the 2026 column of the release’s consolidated results table and its reconciliation of pre-tax underlying underwriting income; the five pieces add up to the $86 million change. The share-count effect compares core income growth (1,947 divided by 1,867, plus 4.3%) with the change in diluted shares (210.6 divided by 227.5, minus 7.4%). The asbestos figures are the pre-tax additions stated in each third-quarter release, and the favorable development without asbestos adds the $295 million back to the reported $234 million. The CPI change compares the September 2026 and September 2025 values of the not seasonally adjusted series.
Measures used. Core income, underlying combined ratio, underlying underwriting income and adjusted book value per share are Travelers’ own measures, which are not defined by accounting rules; the release reconciles each of them to the reported figures. Renewal premium change is an estimate the company describes as subject to change.
Frequently asked questions
Did Travelers beat earnings expectations in the third quarter of 2026?
Yes. Core income was $9.18 per diluted share, against a consensus of $6.90 compiled by Zacks Investment Research before the release. Net income was $9.04 per share, up from $8.24 a year earlier.
Why is Travelers insurance so expensive?
Its renewal premiums rose sharply from 2022 to 2025; auto renewals were up as much as 19.5% on average in the third quarter of 2023 and home renewals as much as 20.6% at the end of that year, according to its presentations. In the third quarter of 2026 the average auto renewal cost 0.6% less than a year earlier and the average home renewal 5.4% more. Any one policy depends on the state, the car or house and the claims history, so an individual renewal can differ a lot from the average.
Is car insurance getting cheaper in 2026?
On average, yes, by two measures. The consumer price index for motor vehicle insurance was 5.0% lower in September 2026 than a year earlier, and Travelers’ average auto renewal premium fell 0.6% in the third quarter. Both are averages, so an individual driver’s renewal can still go up.
Does Travelers stock pay a dividend?
Yes. The board declared a regular quarterly dividend of $1.25 per share, payable December 31, 2026 to shareholders of record on December 10, 2026, according to the third-quarter release.
Where can I follow Travelers results and filings on StockTitan?
StockTitan carries each Travelers press release on its news page, the reported figures on the financials page, and a company summary on the overview page. To compare an insurer’s price with its earnings, the P/E ratio calculator does the arithmetic.
Sources
- Travelers third quarter 2026 results release, on StockTitan
- Travelers third quarter 2025 results release, on StockTitan
- Travelers third quarter 2024 results release, on StockTitan
- Travelers third quarter 2023 results release, on StockTitan
- Travelers third quarter 2022 results release, on StockTitan
- Chubb third quarter 2026 results date announcement, on StockTitan
- Travelers financials, on StockTitan
- Travelers company overview, on StockTitan
- Progressive September 2026 results release, on StockTitan
- Progressive Earnings: Car Insurance Is Getting Cheaper
- Travelers Form 8-K, exhibit 99.1, press release, October 16, 2026
- Travelers Form 8-K, exhibit 99.2, financial supplement, October 16, 2026
- Travelers third quarter 2026 webcast presentation
- Travelers fourth quarter 2024 webcast presentation
- Travelers fourth quarter 2022 webcast presentation
- Travelers fourth quarter 2020 webcast presentation
- Travelers fourth quarter 2018 webcast presentation
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI motor vehicle insurance, U.S. city average
The information provided in this article is for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute financial advice, investment recommendation, or an endorsement of any particular investment strategy. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investors should conduct their own research and consult with a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions.