2006 National Auto Insurance Study by J.D. Power and Associates
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According to the 2006 National Auto Insurance Study by J.D. Power and Associates, U.S. auto insurance customers are most satisfied with one of the nation’s oldest car insurance companies and least happy with the world’s largest insurance firm.
Amica Mutual Insurance Co. of Lincoln, R.I. received the top customer satisfaction ratings. It was the seventh consecutive time that Amica — founded in 1907 and claiming to be the the nation’s oldest car insurance provider — has claimed taken the top spot.
Amica is followed in the rankings by Erie, State Farm and GEICO, respectively. American Family and the Automobile Club of Southern California rank fifth in a tie. USAA receives a higher overall score than Amica, but is not included in the rankings because it is only open to U.S. military personnel and their families. |
The study identifies and tracks performance on numerous specific, measurable behaviors on the part of the insurer where there are clear breakpoints in customer satisfaction levels. For example, auto insurance customers are more satisfied when they only have to contact their insurer once to resolve an issue, and satisfaction declines significantly with each additional contact. Customers who had their call resolved on the same day record average satisfaction scores of 862 on a 1,000-point scale. That drops to 816 among those who had to wait one to three days for their issue to be resolved and to 727 for those who had to wait four or more days. When a call back is required, those who receive a call back when promised rate their insurer 135 points higher than those who do not.
The study finds that overall customer satisfaction with auto insurers improves for a fourth consecutive year, although the rate of improvement has slowed. Overall satisfaction is measured based on performance in five factors. They are (in order of importance): interaction, billing and payment, policy offerings, price, and claims.
The 2006 National Auto Insurance Study is based on responses from 14,066 auto insurance policy holders who were surveyed between April and May 2006.
