Survey: The Best Car Insurance for Price, Satisfaction and Claims

Survey: The Best Car Insurance for Price, Satisfaction and Claims

How Does Your Car Insurance Compare? The Results May Surpise You

The top auto insurance companies for car insurance in the United States include some well-known names like Progressive, Nationwide, Liberty Mutual, GEICO, Farmers, State Farm and Allstate among many other regional favorites. However, this did not get them all awards from the consumer. How do these big names compare when consumers are asked about their experience being insured with them, or even more importantly, in a claim? Wouldn't you like to know? Fortunately, there is a survey that measures just this, and we're going to share those results with you here.
What Makes One Insurance Company Better Than Others?

The best answer to this is whichever one fits your lifestyle and needs best. While a lot of people tend to get influenced by advertising and word of mouth, others tend to go with well-known brand names or become impressed with the size of an auto insurer and try and go for the largest one. In reality, because many of these companies use local services and local agents or franchises, before going on what your impression is of an insurance company or how large they are, it is always worth your while to see what the consumer reports or independent consumer surveys tell you about how your car insurance company ranks in your region.

The Top Ranked Car Insurance Company In Your State May Surprise You

Insurance is a business that relies on human intervention and services, and this is where the human touch will often make or break what you get out of your insurance. If you are working with an amazing claims adjuster, or insurance broker or agent, your experience will definitely be far better than the average.

We'll go through the J.D. Power Auto Insurance Customer Satisfaction Study (2015) for you below. Do you see your car insurer in the results? How did your insurance company rank? You'll find your answers here. 
Which Car Insurance Company Offers the Best Service and Price Near You?

Research like this can become especially important if you are moving to a new area. Your experience with your car insurance company in one place, may not equal the same experience elsewhere due to the varying factors by region. As we go through the results, you'll see that no one insurer dominated across the country*.
Did Your Car Insurance Premium Go Up? You'll Also Find Out How Your Insurance Company Compares on Price

This list may also be able to help you evaluate if you're getting the best deal on car insurance and give you an indication of whether or not it is worth switching your car insurance company to save money on your car insurance.

Want to Know Which is the Best Car Insurance Company In Your State?

J.D. Power rated car insurance companies based on independent and unbiased consumer surveys for customer satisfaction in the following five categories:

1. Overall Satisfaction
2. Policy Offerings
3. Price
4. Billing and Payment
5. Interaction and Claims

The following are the award winning automobile insurance companies listed by region based on the recent 2015 data in the J.D. Power consumer survey. If your car insurance company did not get the award, you could click the link for your region to see how your insurance company ranked.  I have also included commentary where an insurance company did not necessarily get the award but still received the top rank for claims. Sometimes getting the best price is not always the most important aspect of your auto insurance, so I encourage you to click through your region link to see the full report.

USAA Insurance* Had High Rankings in Many Areas

It is notable that USAA Insurance ranked equally in a few regions as the award winning recipient, however, because it is only open to United States Military and their families, it was not considered for the award, which takes general accessibility into consideration. Where USAA was equally ranked, I indicated in the award line with a star (*). In these cases, if you are eligible for USAA insurance, it is certainly worth looking at, especially since USAA also provides home insurance, pet insurance, and many other specialty programs.

Best Car Insurance Company as Rated by Consumers by State in an Independent Study

California Top Rated Car Insurance Company*

• Wawanesa won the award

Notable mention should go to The Hartford, who scored very highly as well as Auto Club of Southern California Insurance Group, both of these companies had top claims satisfaction ranking, and scored well in the other areas of the survey.

Southeast United States Region

• Tennessee Farm Bureau won the award*

Texas

• Texas Farm Bureau*

Southwest United States Region Had Two Winners

It is worthwhile checking out the ratings to get a better sense of the winners in this region. Here there were two awards given:

• The Hartford won the award
• State Farm also won the award

State Farm was stronger on Billing and Payment, as well as Interactions ratings. The Hartford Claims Satisfaction rating was the best. A tough choice, but it pays to know the data.

Northwest United States Award Winner*

• PEMCO Insurance

Florida Award Winner*

• GEICO

It is noteworthy that both Metlife and Liberty Mutual got the top rating for Claims Satisfaction in Florida as well, however, did not rate consistently in the other categories.

Central United States Car Insurance Award Winner*

Auto-Owners Insurance

In this region, it was notable that none of the other contenders achieved a top rating in claims in the study for this state (with the exception of USAA, as indicated by the star (*).

Best New York Car Insurance Company According to Consumers*

• State Farm

What's interesting here is that the claims satisfaction rating was not the highest for State Farm, but overall ratings would be why they won the award. The only contender in the New York region with the top claims rating was Travelers. Unfortunately this didn't land them the award.

Best North Central U.S. Car Insurance Company According to Consumers*

Auto-Owners Insurance

The Hartford and Nationwide scored top rating in claims service for North Central U.S. as well as USAA.

The Best New England Car Insurance as Rated by Consumers*

Amica Mutual got the award for top rated service across the board.

Top Rated Mid-Atlantic Car Insurance Company*

Erie Insurance won the award with top ratings.

The results were very impressive for Erie Insurance compared to the other insurance providers in the region.Their promise to provide insurance (since 1925), citing the following values was impressive: 'rooted in the principles of honesty, decency, service, and affordability'. They also work with independent insurance agents.

It is also noteworthy that NJM Insurance Co. also scored top ranks across the board, however they only provide coverage to limited clients such as New Jersey Business & Industry Association members, State of New Jersey employees and only those meeting specific underwriting criteria - therefore they did not qualify for the award, but definitely deserve mention as a top rated insurer in the region. If you qualify for insurance through them, it is worth checking into.

Get Local Consumer Info on Insurance Company Experiences to Choose the Best Car Insurance

This completes my review of the J.D. Power study which provided valuable insight into how consumers feel from State to State about the service and coverage they are getting from their car insurance company.

The most interesting aspect is that the various insurance companies seem to have their strengths in different regions, and also that the market share of the largest insurance companies did not necessarily get them a top spot, or award.

If you are moving from one place to another, or even wondering how your insurance company has been faring with the public, it pays to check out the local consumer opinions to understand how to get the insurance company that will offer you the best price and service.

Source : thebalance.com