Why Did The General Insurance Go Up?

If your car insurance from The General went up, the Texas records show a run of increases for the program it sells there through Old American County Mutual Fire Insurance Company: average increases of 15.1% and 6.4% filed in 2022 and 8.2% and 10.0% in 2023, then smaller changes since ¹. In 2026 the pattern split by product: a 2.7% increase on the GAIS18 product, whose 2025 filing the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) labels "The General of Texas," and a 17.8% increase on the GENGA23 product, whose 2025 filing TDI labels "The General of Georgia" ^{1 2}.

Each percentage is an average for the existing policyholders on that product, not a forecast for any one bill. The General is a brand, and which company's filings apply to you depends on your state and the insurer named on your declarations page. This page lays out what the records show, who owns The General now, and what to check on your own policy. We are not affiliated with the insurers named.

The General's own disclosures say its brand property and casualty coverages "are underwritten by a member of the Sentry Insurance Group," and that online quotes go through an agency, The General Automobile Insurance Services, Inc. ⁶. The same page lists the member companies that issue policies, including Permanent General Assurance Corporation, Permanent General Assurance Corporation of Ohio and The General Automobile Insurance Company, Inc. ⁶.

Two states work differently, according to the same page ⁶:

• Texas: coverages are underwritten by Dairyland County Mutual Insurance Company of Texas or Old American County Mutual Fire Insurance Company. The site's footer calls Old American "a nonaffiliated entity."
• California: coverages are underwritten by Viking Insurance Company of Wisconsin or Permanent General Assurance Corporation.

TDI's records match the Texas arrangement. Its appointment data shows The General Automobile Insurance Services of Texas, Inc. appointed by Old American County Mutual Fire Insurance Company as its managing general agent since May 2, 2018, and The General Automobile Insurance Services Inc. appointed by both Old American and Dairyland County Mutual Insurance Company of Texas ³. TDI also notes that the insurance company name is not the same as the name of the agency that sold you the policy ⁹.

American Family Insurance agreed in September 2012 to buy PGC Holdings Corp. (Permanent General Companies) and its subsidiaries, in a deal reported at $239 million ⁸. Permanent General Companies, Inc. is still the name in the copyright line of The General's website ⁶. Sentry Insurance, a mutual insurer based in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, announced on January 1, 2025 that it had completed its purchase of The General from American Family, a $1.7 billion transaction first announced the previous September ⁷. Sentry said the deal brings together its Dairyland brand and The General, that it would adopt The General as its primary brand for non-standard auto insurance, and that The General would keep its Nashville office ⁷.

A change of owner does not by itself change your rate. Rates still come from each insurer's filings in each state.

TDI's 2025 Market Conditions report lists Old American's filings under the Orpheus Group. It labels Old American's 2025 filings for the products named GAIS18 and GAISTX18 "THE GENERAL OF TEXAS," and those for the products named GAISGA23 and GENGA23 "THE GENERAL OF GEORGIA" ^{1 2}. Both are Texas filings; TDI's data also shows an agency named The General Automobile Insurance Services of Georgia, Inc. appointed by Old American in Texas ³. The report covers 2025 filings only, so the program column below is our own grouping of the other years' filings by those product names, not a TDI label for each row. All are closed with the closed type "Reviewed," which is TDI's wording for a filing it reviewed and closed, not an approval ^{1 9}.

TDI's report, which uses figures the companies report themselves and has not reconciled them to the filings TDI received, lists overall rate changes for The General of Texas of 22.3% for 2022, 17.8% for 2023 and -3.3% for 2024, and 11.7% for 2024 for The General of Georgia ². Filings with a 0.0% change, such as two received December 15, 2025, are left out of the table; TDI says a 0% change means only rules or other items that do not affect premium changed, or that the overall impact is zero ^{1 9}.

Before this arrangement, The General Automobile Insurance Company, Inc. filed its own Texas auto rates. Its last filing in TDI's data with a percent change was a 14.6% increase received June 23, 2022, with a renewal effective date of July 26, 2022 ⁴.

Connecticut's Insurance Department publishes the private passenger auto rate changes it approved each year. For Permanent General Assurance Corporation it lists an approved 18.7% overall increase effective November 12, 2024, made up of 21.3% for liability and 8.1% for physical damage, on written premium of $15,317,469 ⁵. Liability covers injuries and damage you cause to others; physical damage is the collision and comprehensive part of a policy.

The filings give percentages, dates and short descriptions, but not reasons. TDI's report describes the February 2025 filing for The General of Georgia as "Base, Discount" changes ². We did not find a public statement from The General, Sentry or the filing insurers that explains these increases, so we do not guess at them.

Even when a recent filing is small, a renewal can rise. Common reasons:

• A different insurer or product. In Texas, policies can be written by Old American or Dairyland County Mutual, and Old American's filings cover more than one The General product ^{6 1}.
• A new accident, claim or ticket on any listed driver.
• A change in vehicles or drivers, such as adding a teen. See adding a teen driver.
• A move to a different ZIP code.
• A lost discount or a coverage change. See why discounts disappear at renewal.
• Timing. A rate change reaches a policy only at its first renewal on or after the renewal effective date, so a policy that renews every six months could absorb several filings in a row.

1. Find the insurer's name on your declarations page. It tells you which company's filings apply to you.
2. Compare the renewal with last term line by line. Our guide to reading a renewal notice shows where to look.
3. Ask The General what changed on your policy: drivers, vehicles, coverages, discounts or the insurer.
4. Look up the filing. Search TDI's rate filing data by the insurer's name ⁹. Our explainer on what a rate filing is covers how to read one. See the Texas and California pages, or browse all states.
5. Compare quotes from several insurers. Prices for the same driver can differ widely. You can compare quotes here.

Sponsored link. QuotePitStop is a lead-generation service and is paid by insurance partners when you request quotes.

For reasons that apply at every insurer, see why car insurance goes up and why car insurance goes up with no accident. The General's former owner has its own page: American Family. Drivers who need a state filing can read what an SR-22 is.

• ¹ Official record: TDI's public rate filing data on data.texas.gov for Old American County Mutual Fire Insurance Company products named GAIS and GENGA (received dates, product names, percent changes, effective dates, status and closed type), checked October 14, 2026.
• ² Official record: TDI's 2025 Market Conditions Annual Report, private passenger automobile rate filing exhibit, for the Orpheus Group listing, the "THE GENERAL OF TEXAS" and "THE GENERAL OF GEORGIA" labels, the filing descriptions and the company-reported overall rate changes for 2022 to 2024, checked October 14, 2026.
• ³ Official record: TDI's active appointment data for The General Automobile Insurance Services agencies, for their appointments by Old American and Dairyland County Mutual, checked October 14, 2026.
• ⁴ Official record: TDI's public rate filing data for SERFF tracking numbers beginning PGAC, for The General Automobile Insurance Company, Inc.'s 14.6% filing in 2022, checked October 14, 2026.
• ⁵ Official record: Connecticut Insurance Department rate review report for calendar year 2024, Exhibit A, for Permanent General Assurance Corporation's approved 18.7% change and its parts, checked October 14, 2026.
• ⁶ Reported: The General's legal disclosures page, for the underwriting companies by state, the footer's description of Old American, the agency name and the Permanent General Companies, Inc. copyright line, checked October 14, 2026.
• ⁷ Reported: Sentry Insurance's January 1, 2025 release on completing its $1.7 billion purchase of The General from American Family, checked October 14, 2026.
• ⁸ Reported: Digital Insurance's September 28, 2012 report of American Family's agreement to buy PGC Holdings Corp. for $239 million, checked October 14, 2026.
• ⁹ Official record: TDI's rate filing page, for the meaning of percent change, the "Reviewed" closed type, a 0% change and insurer versus agency names, checked October 14, 2026.