Renewal Quote Before Your New Experience Mod

Updated October 1, 2026

Your January 1 renewal quote is on your desk, and the workers’ comp number on it was built on last year’s mod, or on a mod your agent called preliminary. The same thing happens every July 1 renewal season. When you get a renewal quote before your new experience mod is issued, the premium on that quote is provisional: once the bureau issues the new mod, your carrier applies it under your state’s rules, and your bill can move to match.

The part that decides how much it moves is when the new mod takes effect on the policy. That depends on your state’s rule. In some states, Indiana among them, it also depends on whether the new mod is higher or lower and on how late it arrives.

Why a renewal quote can come before the mod

Your workers’ comp EMR (experience modification rate) is recalculated once a year for your rating effective date, the date the new mod starts. NCCI’s primer, The ABCs of Experience Rating, says the mod is calculated generally 60 to 90 days before that date. For a January 1 renewal, that puts the new mod in the fall. For a July 1 renewal, it lands in the spring.

A renewal quote can still go out without it. Your agent may start shopping the renewal early. The carrier’s data for one of the three years in your window may be late reaching the bureau. Or the bureau may issue the mod with a status that means it isn’t final yet. In each case, the quote is built on whatever mod was on file: last year’s, or the one marked preliminary or contingent.

What preliminary and contingent mean on the worksheet

Your experience rating worksheet, the bureau’s page showing the full calculation, carries a status. NCCI describes three.

Preliminary. NCCI doesn’t yet have your state’s final approved rating values, the state-approved figures that feed the formula, updated when your state’s rates change. NCCI calculates your mod using the prior approved values. When the state’s final values are approved, the mod is revised and its status changes to final. A preliminary mod can move when that happens.

Contingent. NCCI was expecting audited payroll or loss information from your carrier and didn’t have it when the mod was produced. The mod was calculated without it. Indiana’s rating bureau, for one, says a contingent mod applies until another mod with the same effective date is issued. A contingent mod is a placeholder, so expect a replacement.

Final. NCCI had your state’s final approved rating values, and nothing it was waiting on from your carrier was missing.

If your quote says “preliminary” or “contingent” anywhere near the mod, the premium on it is resting on a number that is expected to be replaced.

How a renewal quote before your new experience mod gets adjusted

NCCI’s primer defines the rating effective date as the earliest date a mod can be applied to your policy. A mod issued in February for a January 1 renewal is still the mod for January 1. Whether the carrier applies it back to January 1, or only from the day it arrives, is the question that matters for your bill.

Here is one bureau’s published rule for a mod that changes after the policy starts, including a contingent mod replaced by a new one. The Indiana Compensation Rating Bureau summarizes Rule 4-E of its plan this way:

• A decrease applies back to policy inception, whether it arrives during the policy or at audit.
• An increase applies back to inception if it comes within the first 90 days.
• An increase that comes after 90 days applies only from the date the carrier receives the revised mod, not back to inception.
• An increase still goes back to inception when the delay was caused by the employer or the agent, or when it comes from a retroactive reclassification or a change in ownership.

That is Indiana’s rule, and its summary covers a mod that changes, not one issued for the first time after the policy starts. Other states follow NCCI’s Experience Rating Plan Manual or their own bureau’s plan, and the rule can differ. Ask your agent for your state’s rule, in writing.

Two practical points follow. First, if your new mod is lower, ask whether your state’s rule applies it back to the effective date, and if it does, confirm the carrier did that. Second, if the delay is on your side, such as paperwork you or your agent were slow to send, the increase side of a rule like Indiana’s can reach back to the start of the policy anyway.

The questions to ask your agent now

A short email with specific questions gets a better answer than “is the quote final.” Ask these:

1. Which mod is this renewal quote built on: last year’s, a preliminary mod, a contingent mod, or none at all?
2. When does the bureau expect to issue the new mod for our rating effective date?
3. Under our state’s rules, if the new mod is higher, does it apply back to the effective date or only from when the carrier receives it? If it is lower, will it be applied back to the effective date?
4. Is anything on our side holding the mod up, such as an open payroll audit or a missing record from a prior carrier?
5. How will the change show up: as an endorsement (a written change to the policy) during the policy, or at the final audit?

If you need wording for the email itself, the short request that gets agents moving works for these questions too.

What to check on the new worksheet when it lands

When the new mod is issued, get the worksheet itself, not a line in an email. Then check it in this order.

The status. Final, preliminary or contingent. Anything other than final means the number can still change.

The rating effective date. It should match your renewal. If your policy dates and the rating effective date don’t line up, the rating effective date is the one that sets the clock.

The three policy years. The worksheet should generally use three policy years and skip the most recent one, the policy that was still running when the mod was calculated, which NCCI’s primer says is not used in the calculation. A year missing from the window is one reason a mod can come out contingent.

Every claim and every payroll line. Put the worksheet next to your currently valued loss runs, the carrier’s list of your claims and their current values, and your own payroll by class code. Ten specific errors cover most of what goes wrong, and errors can run in either direction.

If you spot a reporting error on the new worksheet, such as wrong payroll, a wrong class code, a duplicate or a claim that isn’t yours, ask your agent to have the carrier report a correction. NCCI produces a revised mod when it does. NCCI’s primer says an ownership or combination change can also revise the current mod and up to two before it. A reserve that has simply come down since the valuation date is different: that shows up on the next report, not as a correction.

If a bid is due before the new mod arrives

Until the new mod is issued, report the one your agent confirms is in effect on the date you submit. If the worksheet behind it says preliminary or contingent, note that on the form, and update the GC when the final number comes in. A number that changes after you submitted it, without a word from you, is harder to explain than one you flagged up front.

See what the new mod could cost you

The free EMR Cost & Bid Check calculator shows what your current mod is costing you against common bid thresholds, so you can see what the new one could change. A full verification checks the new worksheet line by line against your loss runs and payroll, and tells you exactly what to send your agent or carrier for anything that’s wrong. It’s a flat fee, no contingency, and the savings are yours. Get on the waitlist to be first in line.