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 For
the third consecutive year, Amica Mutual ranks highest in overall
auto insurance customer satisfaction, according to the J.D. Power
and Associates 2002 National Auto Insurance Study.
Auto Club of Southern California and Erie Insurance Group closely
follow Amica in customer satisfaction, respectively, ranking significantly
higher than the industry average. USAA, an insurance provider
open only to the U.S. military community and their families and
therefore not included in the rankings, achieved a satisfaction
ranking slightly above Amica.
Among
insurance providers included in the rankings, Amica achieves the
top scores in each of the eight drivers of overall satisfaction
(in order of importance): doing business with insurer; fulfilling
commitments; ease of working with insurer; claims; billing; personnel;
price; and problem resolution.
"Amica
and USAA are the benchmarks in the auto insurance business,"
said Frank Forkin, partner at J.D. Power and Associates. "Those
two companies set the standard other auto insurance providers
strive for."
Erie,
GEICO and State Farm perform particularly well in seven of the
eight drivers of overall satisfaction. All three show room for
improvement in the area of problem resolution..
For the first time, the study identifies AAA as separate auto
clubs. Each of these AAA-affiliated clubs -- Automobile Club of
Southern California, California State Automobile Association and
Auto Club Group -- ranks among the top 10 in overall satisfaction.
For
the second straight year, customer satisfaction with auto insurance
providers decreases slightly. Among the 20 companies included
in both the 2002 and 2001 studies, 15 have experienced a year-over-year
drop in satisfaction. GEICO, American Family, Travelers and Progressive
are the only providers to obtain higher overall satisfaction scores
compared with the 2001 study. SAFECO's scores remain unchanged.
"The
primary reason for the drop in satisfaction is higher premiums,"
Forkin said. "Difficult market conditions have led many insurers
to significantly increase premiums for most, if not all, of their
customers. Consumers feel like they're paying more but not receiving
anything additional in return, and that's had a significant impact
on satisfaction."
Surprisingly,
the 38 percent of policyholders who have filed a claim with their
provider in the past three years report higher overall satisfaction
with their provider than those who didn't file a claim, but satisfaction
level drops significantly when consumers experience a non-claim
related problem.
"When
consumers get paid for a claim, they realize the value of the
insurance that they've been paying for, especially during a time
when insurance premiums are going up," Forkin said. "Those
companies that do a good job of handling claims and getting a
check to their policyholders as quickly as possible generally
have the happiest customers."
The
2002 National Auto Insurance Study is based on 15,619 responses
from auto insurance policy holders who reside in the United States.
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