Choosing Reliable Insurance Company
Temmuz 8th, 2008 | by admin |
When you sign on with a car insurance company, it is important your happiness and satisfaction with how the insurer treats you, the customer. Most importantly, how will the company deal with you when you file a claim. So, how can you determine the right insurance company?
a) Visit your state’s department of insurance website. Although you may not be familiar with it, your state, and every state, has a department of insurance. Most departments have web sites, and many publish “consumer complaint ratios” for all of the insurance companies that sell policies in their state. This ratio tells you how many complaints a car insurance company received per 1,000 claims filed. This info may give you a good idea about the companies and you can use complaint ratios to screen prospective insurers.
If you’ve done your homework, you should already have a list of car insurance companies with the lowest premium quotes, right? Now jot down the companies with the lowest (or best) complaint ratios. Then, compare your two lists — the companies that rank best on both lists merit your strongest consideration.
If you can’t figure out complaint ratios for your state, Heller recommends examining the complaint ratios published by other states. Keep in mind that a single insurance company’s practices can vary significantly from state to state — a subpar ratio in one state doesn’t necessarily mean the situation is the same in your state. But watch for general trends. If an insurer is getting a lot of complaints in several other states, you probably don’t want to get involved with this company.
Keep in mind also that insurance department Web sites often provide basic rate comparison surveys. These can give you a rough idea of which insurers might interest you on a financial basis without the hassle of typing in all your personal information (as you must when you use one of the online quote sites).
b) Find out which insurers body shops recommend. One of the best ways to identify reliable insurers is to contact local body shops that you trust and ask for their recommendations. Body shop managers have a unique perspective to offer, since they regularly interact with insurance adjusters. They know which companies have the smoothest claim processes, which affects how quickly the work can be completed on a damaged vehicle. And they know which companies are pushing aftermarket parts, in lieu of genuine original equipment manufacturer (OEM) parts, to cut costs. In short, they are the experts of the field.
c) Check the J.D. Power Ratings. J.D. Power and Associates collects data from individual policyholders nationwide and rates them according to coverage options, price, claims handling, satisfaction with company representatives and the overall experience. A quick visit to the J.D. Power Consumer Center will give you a feel for how the major carriers stack up. J.D. Power also publishes an annual survey of major auto insurers — Amica and Erie have finished at the top for the last three years. These are also companies that Howard recommends: “Erie is sold by independent agents, who are very knowledgeable about the product. I like their claims handling approach. Almost all other companies look at a claim and find a way to not pay it. Erie and Amica will look at it and try to find a way to cover it.”
d) Consider insurers’ financial strength ratings. As a final check, you can take a look at the A.M. Best and Standard & Poor’s ratings. Both companies publish financial strength ratings for all insurance companies — these “measure” an insurance company’s ability to pay out a claim (they have nothing to do with the way a company treats its customers).
For the average user, looking up these ratings is only a formality, since most of the well-known carriers are going to be a safe bet. In addition to that, independent agents would be unlikely to recommend a company with dubious financial standing. Still, if you’re considering a smaller, unfamiliar insurance carrier, you might consider this research time well spent. Insurance companies often provide this information on their Web sites, but if not, you can run a search at the A.M. Best and Standard & Poor’s sites. Spending some more time is important for not being regretful.
e) Still not convinced? Consider working with an agent. It used to be that everyone purchased auto insurance from an agent, but now, car insurance companies like Esurance, Geico and others allow you to purchase insurance directly — over the phone from a customer service representative or online. Still, many of the major players have preserved their national networks of local agents — even if you use State Farm’s or Allstate’s Web site, you will still be assigned a local agent.
Good Luck On Your Insurance Issues.
