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Does Bundling Home and Auto Still Make Sense After SB 213?
Texas ended forced bundling in 2025. The bundle that still makes sense is the one the contract earns, and here is how to read yours.
The answer
Yes, when the contract earns it. SB 213 ended forced bundling in Texas on September 1, 2025. A carrier can no longer require you to buy its auto policy to keep your home policy, or the reverse. Bundling itself is untouched, and so is the multipolicy discount. A bundle still makes sense when one carrier covers the house and the cars well, applies one deductible when a storm hits both, and lets an umbrella sit cleanly over the top. Bundle discount stays where other discounts shrink.
What SB 213 changed
In the fall of 2024, homeowners in North Texas opened letters saying their home policy would end unless they bought auto from the same company. The Legislature called it forced bundling and ended it. Since September 1, 2025, a Texas carrier may not make your home policy depend on buying its auto policy, or the reverse. TDI had already proposed a rule against it that February and said it knew of only one company doing it. The law touched the requirement and left the discount alone. SB 213 made the bundle your choice.
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Before September 1, 2025
- The letter that says add auto or lose the home policy
- Allowed, and sent in North Texas
- The multipolicy discount
- Offered
- Who decides whether you bundle
- The carrier could
- What it comes down to
- The carrier's call
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Since September 1, 2025
- The letter that says add auto or lose the home policy
- An unfair trade practice under Chapter 541
- The multipolicy discount
- Still offered
- Who decides whether you bundle
- You
- What it comes down to
- Your call
After a ruling
Before the law, some carriers would not offer the home policy at all unless the auto came with it. That letter is gone, and what can replace it is quieter, a lower limit here, a new cap or maximum on a coverage there. For the next three renewals, read the policy before you sign. Something always changes after a ruling.
Where the bundle still wins on the contract
The discount is the part of a bundle you can see on the bill. The contract reasons are the part you feel on a bad day. Some carriers apply one deductible when a single storm damages the house and the car. One claims desk opens both files from one call. And an umbrella only sits cleanly over the home and auto limits the same carrier wrote. The savings are real, and the contract reasons are bigger.
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One deductible
- What it means
- Some carriers apply one deductible when one storm hits the house and the car
- Where to read it
- The deductible pages of both policies
- Ask the carrier
- Does one storm mean one deductible with you
- What it comes down to
- One storm, one check
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One claims desk
- What it means
- Both claims open from one call, and the adjusters see both files
- Where to read it
- The claims section on both declarations pages
- Ask the carrier
- Who do I call when the house and the car are both hit
- What it comes down to
- One call, both claims
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One umbrella
- What it means
- The umbrella sits over the exact limits the same carrier wrote
- Where to read it
- The underlying coverage requirements on the umbrella
- Ask the carrier
- Does your umbrella accept the limits on my home and auto as written
- What it comes down to
- Clean over both
An umbrella only sits cleanly over both
We get calls every week for an umbrella and nothing else. Almost every umbrella is written over the home and auto with the same carrier, because it has to fit a complicated stack underneath, and every state writes its own rules for what sits under it. A Texas umbrella over a car garaged in California leaves gaps you only find at claim time. A lid only seals the pot it was made for. SB 213 leaves umbrellas out, so a carrier can still ask for the house and the cars first. We unbundle an umbrella rarely, for an underwriting concern, broader coverage, or a claims history, and almost never for price. An umbrella only sits cleanly over the top of both.
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Umbrella with your home and auto carrier
- Sits on
- The exact limits it wrote itself
- The gaps
- Known, because one carrier built every layer
- The price
- Usually part of the bundle
- What it comes down to
- One carrier, one stack
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Umbrella from a third carrier
- Sits on
- Two contracts it has never read
- The gaps
- Unknown until three sets of exclusions are read side by side
- The price
- Usually higher, because it covers none of the rest
- What it comes down to
- Three contracts, three sets of rules
The discount that stays
Most discounts have a clock. The early shopper discount that moved you is cut at the first renewal and cut again at the second, on one schedule we have watched. The bundle discount is built on something that does not expire. The carrier can see the whole household, the house and every car on it, and price a risk it understands. A discount built on knowing your whole household has no reason to shrink.
Share of each discount still on the bill, three renewals on one schedule we have watched
It also compounds. A bundle discount is a line on each policy you hold with the same carrier, home, auto, and umbrella, so the more of the household one carrier covers, the more lines there are. The more coverage you hold with one carrier, the more discounts it carries.
Bundle discount lines on one household, by policies with the same carrier
Why the discount has a ceiling
Each policy has to stand on its own. Texas law requires rates that are fair, reasonable, and adequate, and a home book that leans on the auto book swings with the first bad season. The rate filings lookup shows what your home carrier and your auto carrier each filed this year, live from TDI. One line is never allowed to carry the whole stack.
When we unbundle on purpose
Sometimes the right call is to split the bundle, and we say so. More than four rental properties can hit the ceiling on a carrier's umbrella, because some carriers stop at four, so the umbrella or the whole stack moves to one that will carry all of it. A teen driver can be the moment the autos move to a carrier that does well with teen households, and move back when the risk settles. A car that matters to you may need OEM parts, stated value, or new car replacement that the home carrier's auto policy does not offer. The price is secondary to the product's promise.
Keep the bundle when
- One carrier covers the house and every car well, on contracts you have read.
- One deductible applies when a storm hits the house and the car together.
- The umbrella sits over the same carrier's home and auto limits.
- The discount on the bill is a bundle discount, with no clock on it.
- A claim on both opens from one call.
Split it when
- The household has more than four rental properties and the carrier's umbrella stops at four.
- A teen driver is joining and another carrier does teen households better.
- A car needs OEM parts, stated value, or new car replacement the home carrier's auto policy does not offer.
- The home contract is A1 and the auto side is the problem.
- The discount is the only reason left, and the contracts have fallen behind the household.
Take the break when the household needs it. Coming back is a renewal away.
What happens when you send both
You want one thing from this page. To know whether your bundle deserves you, and to be sure of the answer before anything moves. Here is the whole path.
- 01
Free
Send both
The home declarations page and the auto declarations page, and the umbrella if you carry one. Every discount on each page gets read for its clock.
- 02
On our desk
We read the bundle
The contracts first, the discount second. One deductible or two when a storm hits both, whether the umbrella sits over these exact limits, and what each policy does for a teen driver, a fifth rental, or the car that matters to you.
- 03
Your call
You get one of three answers
Keep it, split it, or move it together, with the reason in writing. About 40 percent of the time we tell homeowners to stay with their current carrier, and sometimes even with their current agent, because that is the right answer for the family.
You decide what the bundle is worth. We show you what it holds.
One storm, one claims desk
The straight line winds of June 21, 2023 put several trees on a client's house in Spring and damaged her car in the same hour. Her home and her auto were with one carrier. One app opened both claims, and the adjusters it sent saw both files. In the hardest week her family had that year, nobody had to juggle two companies. That is the part of a bundle no discount can show you, and it is why I read the contracts before I read the price.
Charles McDade, LUTCF
Questions readers ask
Can my insurance company still require me to bundle home and auto in Texas?
Since September 1, 2025, no. Under SB 213 a carrier may not make your home policy depend on buying its auto policy, or the reverse. Bundles are still offered and the discount still exists. The choice is yours.
What should I watch for on my renewals now that forced bundling is over?
A quieter answer to the law. A limit lower than last year's, or a new cap or maximum on a coverage that used to pay in full. Read the policy before you sign for the next three renewals, because something always changes after a ruling.
Will my bundle discount shrink after the first year like other discounts?
In our experience the bundle discount renews with the policies, because it is built on the carrier knowing the whole household. Early shopper and new customer discounts are the ones with a clock. Ask any carrier, in writing, how long each discount on the quote lasts.
Can I buy an umbrella policy without moving my home and auto?
A few carriers write a stand-alone umbrella. Most are written over the home and auto with the same carrier, because the umbrella has to fit the exact limits and the state rules underneath it. We unbundle an umbrella rarely, for an underwriting concern, broader coverage, or a claims history. A lid only seals the pot it was made for.
Why can't a carrier just make the bundle discount bigger?
Because each policy has to stand on its own. Texas law requires rates that are fair, reasonable, and adequate, and TDI reviews the filings. A home book that leans on the auto book swings with the first bad season, and the price swings with it. A bundle discount that holds is a sign each side can stand.
Sources worth opening before you decide
- Senate Bill 213, enrolled text, Texas Legislature Online, 89th Legislature, effective September 1, 2025
- Bill analysis, Senate Bill 213, Texas Legislature Online, enrolled version
- Proposed rule, 28 TAC Section 21.1008, Prohibited Tying Requirements, Texas Department of Insurance, February 7, 2025
- Home insurance guide, Texas Department of Insurance, updated June 1, 2026
The purpose is to help the reader ask better questions before claim time.
Know if your bundle deserves you
The law gave you back the choice. Now make the bundle earn it.
Send the home and auto declarations pages, and the umbrella if you carry one. A licensed Texas agent reads the contracts before the discount, names what the bundle actually holds, and tells you plainly if the one you have deserves you, client or not. We translate the contract before you sign for another year.
The audit is free. The decision is yours. No broker fees for personal lines clients.
