Your Credit Got Better. Your Texas Car Insurer Only Has to Re-Price You If You Ask.

If you live in Texas and your credit is better than it was a couple of years ago, your car insurer may still be pricing you off the old report. State law now makes it pull a fresh one and re-price you at renewal.

You have to ask.

The right nobody mailed you

In 2025 the Texas Legislature passed Senate Bill 1644, and it passed the Senate 29 to 0. It added a section to the Insurance Code for insurers that use credit to set your rate. On renewal, the insurer “shall, on request of an insured or the insured’s agent, re-underwrite and re-rate the policy based upon a current credit report or insurance score.” You get one request per 12 months. It covers policies issued or renewed since January 1, 2026.

Here’s what they don’t tell you. Without a request, the same law only makes the insurer refresh your credit “not less than every 36 months.” That’s three years of paid-off cards and on-time payments your price may not reflect.

On October 2, the Texas Department of Insurance published its updated Consumer Bill of Rights, the pamphlet insurers “must give you” with your policy. The new version spells the right out: “You or your agent may request re-underwriting and re-rating of your insurance policy once in a 12-month period.” It takes effect January 1, 2027.

The law is already on the books. The pamphlet is just catching up.

Does your insurer even use credit?

Almost certainly. TDI’s April 2026 list of auto insurers that answered its price-comparison data call shows 34 company programs using credit, including the State Farm, Geico, Progressive, Allstate, USAA and Farmers companies. Two don’t: American Access Casualty and the Texas Automobile Insurance Plan Association. Texas does bar credit from being the only factor in your price.

What it’s worth

Credit moves car insurance prices a lot. MoneyGeek’s June 2026 national analysis put average full coverage at $2,444 a year with fair credit and $1,597 with good credit. That’s an $847 gap on one driver profile. Texas numbers and your insurer’s tiers will differ, but a jump from one bracket to the next is real money.

If your score went down, don’t ask. The insurer can re-price you either direction.

Do this before your renewal

Pull your free credit reports and check your score. If it’s clearly higher than when you bought or last renewed, call your insurer or agent and say: “Under Texas Insurance Code 559.058, I’m requesting you re-underwrite and re-rate my policy at renewal on a current credit report.” Ask for the answer in writing.

You can’t use it if you’re already in the insurer’s best-priced tier, so ask that question first. If the re-rate doesn’t move your price, take the better credit shopping. Our switching guide covers timing, the Texas page covers state rules, and the best car insurance page and insurance estimator give you a starting number.

If your credit took a hit from a divorce, a layoff or identity theft, that’s a different right. We covered the life-event exception in August.

The detail

The insurer doesn’t have to re-rate if you’re in its most favorably priced tier within its group of affiliated insurers, or if credit isn’t used on your policy. If it takes an adverse action based on credit, it has to use a report no more than 90 days old and tell you about your re-rate right. The same rule package adds another 2025 change to the Bill of Rights: an insurer can’t charge a widowed driver a different rate than a married one.

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