Overall customer satisfaction with auto insurers has improved for a fourth year, according to J.D. Power Associates, which ranked Amica Insurance tops among auto carriers for a seventh year.

Those were among the findings by the Westlake Village, Calif.-based market information firm in the company's 2006 National Auto Insurance Study.

The firm's research also indicated that some insurers are missing a clear opportunity to improve customer satisfaction.

According to the study, on average, customers who have policy needs reviewed each year report satisfaction scores that are nearly 80 index points higher than those who did not. Yet, only one-half of auto insurance customers reported being offered an annual policy review.

“Offering a review at some interval, even if not annually, is better than not at all,” Jeremy Bowler, senior director of insurance practices at J.D. Power and Associates, said in an interview.

Across all insurance companies, if a customer indicates a review was offered in the last year, the average satisfaction is 837 index points on a 1,000 point scale, Mr. Bowler noted.

In cases where there is never any review offered, the satisfaction level drops to 737 points. “Our recommendation is certainly you [the insurer] should be offering these things,” said Mr. Bowler.

J.D. Power noted that unless a customer files a claim, offering to review a policyholder's insurance needs is one of only a few opportunities an insurer has to build trust with the client, who otherwise would only interact with their carrier by paying their bill and periodically changing their policy to update drivers, vehicles or their address.

The study revealed that among customers who file claims, the way in which the company handles the claim is responsible for 44 percent of the customer's impression of the insurer.

When policyholders need to contact their insurer, J.D. Power said their satisfaction declines each additional time they have to make contact over the same issue.

On the 1,000 point scale, customers who had their call resolved on the same day had an average satisfaction score of 862, but the score dropped to 816 when it took one-to-three days to resolve the issue, and down to 727 for four days.

Insurers who called back their insureds when they promised were rated 135 points higher than those that did not.

According to the study, auto insurance customers who bundle other policies with the same insurer–such as homeowners insurance–are more likely than non-bundlers to be satisfied with their auto insurer's policy offerings, and renew their policies at an 11 percent higher rate.

J.D. Power said insureds who understand the discounts they receive are also more likely to be satisfied with policy offerings overall.

Mr. Bowler, in a statement released with the survey, said that, “Carriers achieving high levels of satisfaction retain 90 percent of their customers compared to those carriers with the lowest satisfaction levels, who retain only 78 percent of customers.”

He noted that “every customer lost to a competitor has a real impact on an insurer's bottom line. However, in many cases, it takes little-to-no investment to improve customer satisfaction.”

The study found while overall customer satisfaction with auto insurers had improved for a fourth consecutive year, the rate of satisfaction had slowed.

Amica–the Lincoln, R.I.-based insurer rated tops in the survey–is 50th among National Underwriter's ranking of insurers, based on net premium written of $1.4 billion.

The company was followed in the J.D. Power rankings by Erie, State Farm and GEICO, in that order.

The company said San Antonio, Texas-based USAA gets a better score than AMICA, but is not ranked because it is only open to U.S. military personnel and their families.

Among 23 insurers ranked on a bar graph, USAA scored 913 and Amica 871. In dead last–with 740–was American International Group. The industry average was 800.

Special Reports /

Power Rankings Find Auto Insurers Improving

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