The vehicle itself is the most common reason a Texas auto insurer turns an applicant away. Make and model appeared on 180,283 of the 464,465 declination notices insurers sent between April and June 2026, or 38.8% (TDI HB 2067 data, Q2 2026). In 112,022 of those cases it was the only reason given.
Those figures come from datasets the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) added to its transparency tool in October 2026, the first personal auto data published under House Bill 2067 (TDI, October 15, 2026). The tool already carried home policy data. A week earlier the same department reported auto rate decreases reaching 4.4 million policyholders (TDI, October 8, 2026). Those two releases describe different sets of drivers: the rate figures cover the drivers insurers accepted, while the declination file counts the ones they turned down.
Key Takeaways
- Make and model leads every declination reason in Texas and stood alone on 112,022 notices, 24.1% of the quarter's file.
- The vehicle decision is made from the application alone: third-party data backed only 2.4% of make-and-model declinations against 30.5% of all declinations.
- Location of risk, the classic territorial factor, barely registers as a stated reason: 1.1% of declination notices, or 5,292, cite it.
- Cancellations run on money, with 71.1% of 2,171,324 notices citing nonpayment; make and model appears on just 312 of them.
- The 15 ZIP codes with the most make-and-model declinations, all Houston, Dallas and Austin suburbs, cite the vehicle on 51.8% of declinations against 38.8% statewide.
What the HB 2067 Declination File Counts
House Bill 2067, passed in 2025, requires an insurer to give a written reason when it declines, cancels or nonrenews a home or auto policy. Each reason is also reported to TDI by ZIP code (Insurance Code 551.006). Reporting began on April 1, 2026, so the auto datasets added in October cover the first full quarter. They publish by ZIP code and policy type, name no insurer, and list no make or model.
The quarter sits in two files, and the actions file, keyed to effective date, records 504,437 declinations between April and June (TDI HB 2067 data, Q2 2026). A reasons file, keyed to the date a notice went out, holds 464,465 declination notices and 2,171,324 cancellation notices. The two declination totals differ because one file counts actions by effective date and the other counts notices by notification date.
A notice can cite several reasons, so the shares in the table sum past 100%. Make and model of vehicle leads the table, with the catch-all category "other, insurer's action" close behind at 169,581 notices (36.5%). In 112,022 declinations, 24.1% of the file, the vehicle stood as the only stated reason, while the most common multi-reason combination cites claims history, liability exposure and credit together, on 84,711 notices. Commissioner Amanda Crawford said: "Expanding this transparency tool is more than a data update; it's a commitment to the Texans we serve" (TDI, October 15, 2026).
| Declination reason | Notices | Share of 464,465 |
|---|---|---|
| Make and model of vehicle | 180,283 | 38.8% |
| Other, insurer's action | 169,581 | 36.5% |
| Claims history or driving record | 164,078 | 35.3% |
| Liability exposure | 94,258 | 20.3% |
| Credit or insurance score | 89,355 | 19.2% |
| At the insured's request | 17,575 | 3.8% |
| License or registration suspended or revoked | 15,493 | 3.3% |
| Location of risk | 5,292 | 1.1% |
Reasons cited on personal auto declination notices sent April to June 2026 (TDI HB 2067 data, Q2 2026); shares exceed 100% because a notice can cite several reasons.
The Vehicle Relativity Applied Before the Rate Filing
Texas carried 22,016,379 insured vehicles at December 31, 2025, across 2,072 ZIP codes (TDI vehicle-count file). Against that base, the quarter's 180,283 make-and-model refusals work out to 8.2 per 1,000 insured vehicles. The units differ (applications or policies against vehicles), so the 8.2 marks scale more than precision. A filed personal auto rating plan carries vehicle relativities, the factors that price a vehicle the insurer agreed to write. A declination attaches a different price: a relativity applied before the filed plan ever sees the risk, and one no rate filing reports.
The rate decreases TDI reported a week earlier cover accepted risks: companies filed auto rate decreases reaching 4.4 million policyholders since July 1, 2026 (TDI, October 8, 2026). Auto Club County Mutual Insurance Company filed a 3% decrease affecting 235,000 policyholders. Loya Insurance Company filed a 10.3% decrease affecting 39,000. For any insurer that screens on the vehicle, the experience behind its vehicle relativities and its rate change comes from a book screened at the door on that same characteristic. Because the declination file names no insurer, it cannot show which of those filings that applies to.
Governor Greg Abbott said the filings show lower rates for many Texas homeowners and drivers, and they do, for the drivers whose vehicles cleared the screen. That decrease statistic describes accepted risks only, and the 180,283 refusals carry no rate at all. Two other screening reasons feed filed rating plans as well: credit or insurance score, cited on 19.2% of declination notices, and claims history or driving record, cited on 35.3%. Location of risk, the classic territorial factor, appears on 1.1%: territory is priced inside the filed plan and rarely used to refuse at the door. The vehicle is priced inside the plan and also used to turn applicants away.
A make-and-model decision also needs nothing beyond the application: at least one reason relied on third-party information, such as a credit report or a claims or driving database, in 141,604 declinations (30.5%). Among the 180,283 make-and-model declinations, only 4,257 did (2.4%). An applicant states the vehicle, and the decision follows from that line of the form. The public sees that screen only as a count by ZIP code.
The 60-Day Cancellation Window and the ZIP Code Map
Texas law gives an insurer one place to reconsider a vehicle after binding: Insurance Code 551.104(g) lets it cancel a personal auto policy that has been in effect less than 60 days. After that, cancellation narrows to grounds such as nonpayment, a fraudulent claim or a suspended license (551.104(b) and (d)). If the vehicle screen ran after the sale, the first 60 days is where it would surface.
Insurers use that window for money and for customers walking away: they sent 843,702 cancellation notices (38.9%) inside a policy's first 60 days (TDI HB 2067 data, Q2 2026). Nonpayment accounts for 501,621 of them and the insured's request for 311,474. Claims or driving record appears on 1,733 and make and model on 270. After day 60 the pattern holds, with nonpayment covering 1,042,005 of 1,327,622 notices. Over the quarter, make and model appears on 312 cancellation notices against 180,283 declinations: a vehicle decision is made once, before the policy exists, and leaves nothing for the window to revisit.
Geography adds a pattern the stated reasons do not name: suburbs of Houston, Dallas and Austin supply the 15 ZIP codes with the most make-and-model declinations. Missouri City 77459 leads with 1,255 and Katy 77494 follows with 1,157. Together the 15 hold 5.0% of the state's insured vehicles and 8.0% of its make-and-model declinations. Make and model is cited on 51.8% of their declinations against 38.8% statewide. They log 12.9 vehicle declinations per 1,000 insured vehicles against 8.2 for the state. In Sugar Land 77479, 67% of 1,391 declinations cite the vehicle.
The ranking was built by count, so it describes the map and settles nothing about cause. Location of risk is the one reason insurers almost never give: 5,292 notices, 1.1% of the file. ZIP code is also the only geography the file discloses; it names no insurer and no vehicle, and another 169,581 notices sit in "other, insurer's action," nearly as many as cite the vehicle. A regulator can now see where a quarter's 180,283 vehicle refusals landed and which category each fell into. Turning that count into a relativity would take the insurer and the model, the two things the published file leaves out.
Further Reading
- Texas's Price-Optimization Ban Sends Homeowners Rating Plans Back to Cost-Based Relativities – the other 2025 Texas law pushing insurers toward filed, cost-based relativities.
- Auto Insurance CPI Falls 5.1% in a Year While Repair Costs Rise 5.2% – national auto prices falling while repair costs, which vary by vehicle, keep rising.
- CCC Crash Course 2026: Total Losses Hit 23% Record as ADAS Calibration Costs Compound Repair Severity – why repair severity differs so much from one model to the next.
- Congress Probes Credit-Based Insurance Scores as Rates Climb – the scrutiny facing credit, cited on 19.2% of Texas auto declinations.
Sources
- Texas Department of Insurance, TDI adds auto data to transparency tool showing why policies are declined, canceled, or not renewed (October 15, 2026)
- Texas Department of Insurance, Reasons home and auto insurance policies are declined, canceled, or not renewed
- Texas Open Data Portal, 89R HB 2067: reasons for personal auto declinations, cancellations, and nonrenewals
- Texas Open Data Portal, 89R HB 2067: actual number of personal auto declinations, cancellations, and nonrenewals
- Texas Open Data Portal, 89R HB 2067: vehicle counts
- Carrier Management, Texas Reports Downward Trend in Home, Auto Insurance Rates (October 8, 2026), reporting the TDI release of the same date
- Texas Insurance Code, Chapter 551 (Sections 551.006 and 551.104)