Progressive's web site came out on top in a survey that studied how well 22 major auto insurance web sites matched up with the expectations of those viewing the sites. Insurers Geico, Liberty Mutual, Nationwide, and MetLife Auto & Home came in second, third, fourth, and fifth, respectively.

The study, which was conducted by the Customer Respect Group, focused on three areas for analysis: ease of use, responsiveness, and trust (data-handling practices and how well they are explained). The report also contains an examination and assessment of the auto insurance-specific features of each site.

The study compared auto insurance web sites against all other industries, noting areas where auto insurers excelled and where they needed work. Insurance sites led all other types of web sites in the following categories:

Twenty-three percent of the web sites provided live chat (vs. 18 percent)

Forty-five percent used CSS for page layout, helping accessibility (vs. 37 percent)

Sixty-eight percent of text links were recognizable and consistent (vs. 59 percent)

Sixty-eight percent of responses to emails arrived within a day (vs. 60 percent)

However, the report stated several weaknesses that they found on insurance web sites that were not as common in other non-insurance web sites:

Thirty-six percent of sites do not have a search facility (vs. 20 percent)

Fourteen percent of sites did not offer online contact methods for site visitors (vs. seven percent)

Only 47 percent of companies responded to all email inquiries (vs. 74 percent)

Only nine percent of sites allowed users to "skip navigation" – an accessibility aid (vs.18 percent)

Eighteen percent of sites contained inconsistent navigation systems

With a list of winners comes a list of losers. Rounding out the bottom five insurers were the web sites of USAA Group, GMAC Insurance, 21st Century, The Hartford, and Mercury Casualty Group.

To view the entire study, click here.

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Auto Insurers Graded on Web Sites

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