The “Prog Garden St” line on your Progressive statement is the New Jersey Property-Liability Insurance Guaranty Association surcharge, a state-mandated charge that every property and casualty insurer in New Jersey must collect from policyholders. Progressive isn’t keeping the money. It’s passing along an assessment the law requires, calculated as a small percentage of your premium.
What the Charge Pays For
Behind the shorthand on your bill is the New Jersey Property-Liability Insurance Guaranty Association, known as PLIGA. The legislature created it under N.J.S.A. 17:30A-6 as a nonprofit that every property and casualty insurer must join as a condition of writing coverage in the state.1Justia. New Jersey Code 17:30A-6 – New Jersey Property-Liability Insurance Guaranty Association Its job is to pay valid claims when a member insurer goes bankrupt, so policyholders aren’t left with nothing when their carrier fails.
N.J.S.A. 17:30A-16 lets the state’s Commissioner of Banking and Insurance authorize insurers to recoup their PLIGA assessments through a surcharge on your premium.2Justia. New Jersey Code 17:30A-16 – Surcharges Progressive pays the assessment to the association, then collects it back from New Jersey customers under a formula the state approves.
How Much It Is
The PLIGA Board of Directors sets a new assessment rate each year as a percentage of each insurer’s net direct written premiums. For the 2025 cycle, the board authorized 0.3% based on each carrier’s 2024 premiums.3New Jersey Property–Liability Insurance Guaranty Association. NJPLIGA Bulletin 2025-003 – NJPLIGA Assessment Rate The 2025 recoupment order allows insurers to add a surcharge of up to 0.3% on policies issued or renewed on or after October 1, 2025.4New Jersey Property-Liability Insurance Guaranty Association. 2025 Recoupment Order>
The math is straightforward. Multiply your base premium by the current surcharge rate. At 0.3%, a $1,500 auto policy adds about $4.50, a $2,000 policy adds $6, and a $1,200 homeowners policy adds $3.60. Because the board resets the rate each year, you may see small changes from one renewal to the next even if your coverage hasn’t moved.
If the dollar amount on your bill doesn’t line up, two things can explain the gap. The surcharge is calculated on net direct written premium before other fees, so the base used for the surcharge may not match your total bill. Insurers can also carry forward amounts from prior assessment years that weren’t fully recovered, though the total surcharge still can’t exceed the authorized percentage cap.5New Jersey Property-Liability Insurance Guaranty Association. 2025 Recoupment Order You can verify the current rate at njguaranty.org, which publishes the assessment bulletins and recoupment orders.6New Jersey Property-Liability Insurance Guaranty Association. Bulletins – New Jersey Property-Liability Insurance Guaranty Association If the figure still looks wrong, call Progressive and ask for the breakdown.
Can You Avoid It
No. The assessment applies to every “member insurer,” which the statute defines as any licensed insurer admitted to transact covered lines of insurance in New Jersey.1Justia. New Jersey Code 17:30A-6 – New Jersey Property-Liability Insurance Guaranty Association Switching carriers won’t eliminate the charge, because the next insurer has to collect it too. It appears on auto, homeowners, renters, and commercial property coverage written in the state.
Some policies don’t carry the surcharge because PLIGA doesn’t cover those lines. The association excludes life insurance, accident and health insurance, workers’ compensation, title insurance, annuities, surety bonds, credit insurance, mortgage guaranty insurance, municipal bond coverage, fidelity insurance, ocean marine insurance, and pet health insurance.7New Jersey Property-Liability Insurance Guaranty Association. FAQs – New Jersey Property-Liability Insurance Guaranty Association That’s why you won’t see this line on a separate life insurance bill.
What You Get for the Money
If a New Jersey insurer becomes insolvent, PLIGA takes over its outstanding obligations to policyholders and claimants. The legislature set the association’s purpose as minimizing financial loss to claimants, avoiding excessive delay in payment, and protecting policyholders from personal liability for damages the failed insurer should have covered.8New Jersey Legislature. New Jersey Legislature – Bill A1936 Collected funds pay covered claims, refund unearned premiums to policyholders who paid ahead, and cover the costs of winding down the failed company.
The protection has hard caps. PLIGA will pay up to $300,000 per covered claim. For claims arising from no-fault personal injury protection auto coverage under N.J.S.A. 39:6A-4, the cap drops to $75,000.9New Jersey Property-Liability Insurance Guaranty Association. Notice to New Jersey Policyholders and Claimants If your policy limits sit above $300,000 and your insurer fails, you’re personally exposed for anything over that ceiling, which is why the financial strength of the company you buy from still matters even with the guaranty fund in place.
There’s also a statutory ceiling on the association side. No single insurer can be assessed more than 2% of its net direct written premiums in any one year for insolvency-related obligations.10Justia. New Jersey Code 17:30A-8 When funding needs run higher than one year’s assessment can cover, the shortfall rolls into future years, which is part of why the surcharge on your bill can shift from one renewal to the next.