According to the J.D. Power 2018 U.S. Property Claims Satisfaction Study, overall customer satisfaction among homeowners filing property insurance claims has reached a new all-time high of 860 (on a 1,000-point scale). This record comes at the same time the personal lines segment has experienced record claims following a historic string of hurricanes, earthquakes and fires in North America.

The study also finds that insurers that have achieved the highest levels of customer satisfaction have also been the most effective at managing customer expectations for the time it will take to settle claims.

“The last two years of record catastrophic losses have put P&C insurers to the test, and many have risen to the occasion, driving overall customer satisfaction levels to new highs,” David Pieffer, Property & Casualty Insurance Practice Lead at J.D. Power said in a statement.

“While that overall performance is a positive for the industry, there is wide variability in the ranges of performance among insurers in different regions of the country and between different service attributes. Particularly noteworthy, customer satisfaction in Texas and Florida—two of the areas hardest hit by hurricanes—show below-average results, spotlighting areas where there is still room for improvement among insurers.”

The U.S. Property Claims Satisfaction Study measures satisfaction with the property claims experience among insurance customers who have filed a claim for damages by examining five factors (listed in order of importance): settlement; claim servicing; first notice of loss; estimation process; and repair process. It is based on 6,572 responses from homeowners' insurance customers and was fielded between January and November 2017.

Key findings

This is the second consecutive year that property claims satisfaction levels are in line with auto claims satisfaction scores, which had historically trended higher. The bulk of this year's improvement is driven by non-weather-related claims, primarily related to water damage.

The study's key findings indicate that managing time expectations are a key driver of customer satisfaction. The study reports that time-to-settle satisfaction ratings are 1.9 points lower when insurers miss customer timing expectations, even when the time frame is relatively short.

Following 2017's historic string of natural disasters throughout North America, the study found that the areas hit hardest by last year's weather events, including Texas and Florida, show declining customer satisfaction scores in the immediate aftermath of major weather events.

With both states, the time required to estimate the damages is particularly affected. Claims related to hailstorms in Texas, and high winds or storms in Florida, see this time nearly double to 10 days compared with five days for claims in these states not related to weather.

Another key finding of the study deals with outsourcing. The study found that the use of independent appraisers, which typically spikes when large catastrophic events occur, is associated with significantly lower customer satisfaction scores.

However, the driving factor behind the lower scores is not interactions with the appraisers, but rather how insurance companies are incorporating appraisers into the claim process workflow, the study reports.

Study rankings

For the seventh consecutive year, Amica Mutual ranks highest in property insurance claims with a score of 895. Chubb comes in second at 887, followed by Erie Insurance at 884.

Not included in the overall rankings is USAA achieving a score of 904.

For the complete study rankings, and for more information about the U.S. Property Claims Satisfaction Study, visit http://www.jdpower.com/resource/us-property-claims-satisfaction-study.

Special Reports /

Results from J.D. Power's 2018 U.S. Property Claims Satisfaction Study

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