U. of Mich. Poll Finds P-C Insurers Satisfy Customers

By Daniel Hays

NU Online News Service, Feb. 18, 4:23 p.m.EST?A consumer satisfaction poll has found that, in alimited survey, property-casualty insurers are more popular thanthose in the life sector and healthcare carriers are at the bottomof the pile.

The report is part of the American Customer Satisfaction Index(ACSI), produced quarterly by the University of Michigan inpartnership with the American Society for Quality and the CFIGroup.

The measurement of insurers shows customer satisfaction levelswith 11 specific companies in the three sectors and with thedifferent categories of insurance overall.

On a 1-to-100 scale, property-casualty insurers on average drewa 78, an improvement of 1.3 percent over the previous year,according to the pollsters.

David Van Amburg, managing director at ACSI at the University ofMichigan said the property-casualty has generally scored prettyconsistently at that level over the years and consumers see them asa good value. Very few sectors perform as well, he said.

Mr. Van Amburg said the survey ranks the largest firms in asector. Among p-c companies, the ACSI put GEICO first with a 79score.

State Farm, with a 78 improved 1.3 percent this year and FarmersGroup at 75 was improved by 4.2 percent from a 72 last year.Allstate was in last place among the four p-c carriers, declining1.4 percent from 74 to 73.

Among life insurers the average score was 77, a 2.5 percentdecrease since last year.

Health insurers on average rated 70, which was an improvement of1.4 percent. United Health Group dropped 5.9 percent to 64 from 68last year.

None of the insurers compared with the top dog in the foodsector, Heinz, which rated a 90.

Mr. Van Amburg said that opinion survey is taken with randomtelephone calls, which generally take eight to 10 minutes. He saidabout 250 customers of each firm are survey--about 2,500 for eachinsurance sector.

According to ACSI customer satisfaction is generally asuccessful indicator of performance and "should put companies thatdid poorly on notice as they are a proven predictor of customerbase and future financial performance."

GEICO was included in the ACSI for the first time in the currentreport, and debuted with the top score of any insurance company.ACSI noted that State Farm and Farmer's also perform well, allregistering scores comfortably above the national average of allcompanies/sectors measured by the ACSI.