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 a limited survey, property-casualty insurers are more popular than those in the life sector and healthcare carriers are at the bottom of the pile.
The report is part of the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), produced quarterly by the University of Michigan in partnership with the American Society for Quality and the CFI Group.
The measurement of insurers shows customer satisfaction levels with 11 specific companies in the three sectors and with the different categories of insurance overall.
On a 1-to-100 scale, property-casualty insurers on average drew a 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 of Michigan said the property-casualty has generally scored pretty consistently at that level over the years and consumers see them as a good value. Very few sectors perform as well, he said.
Mr. Van Amburg said the survey ranks the largest firms in a sector. Among p-c companies, the ACSI put GEICO first with a 79 score.
State Farm, with a 78 improved 1.3 percent this year and Farmers Group at 75 was improved by 4.2 percent from a 72 last year. Allstate was in last place among the four p-c carriers, declining 1.4 percent from 74 to 73.
Among life insurers the average score was 77, a 2.5 percent decrease since last year.
Health insurers on average rated 70, which was an improvement of 1.4 percent. United Health Group dropped 5.9 percent to 64 from 68 last year.
None of the insurers compared with the top dog in the food sector, Heinz, which rated a 90.
Mr. Van Amburg said that opinion survey is taken with random telephone calls, which generally take eight to 10 minutes. He said about 250 customers of each firm are survey--about 2,500 for each insurance sector.
According to ACSI customer satisfaction is generally a successful indicator of performance and "should put companies that did poorly on notice as they are a proven predictor of customer base and future financial performance."
GEICO was included in the ACSI for the first time in the current report, and debuted with the top score of any insurance company. ACSI noted that State Farm and Farmer's also perform well, all registering scores comfortably above the national average of all companies/sectors measured by the ACSI.
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