J.D. Power Releases Study Concerning Car Insurance Customer Satisfaction

As a consumer, how happy are you with your car insurance? Some complain about rate increases, especially when a policy is up for renewal, but that gets balanced out with more attentive services and efficient claims processes. To determine just how much policyholders are satisfied with their coverage, J.D. Power and Associates released their 2017 Auto Insurance Study in July. Their research evaluated 45,000 customer responses to interaction, policy offerings, pricing, billing processes, policy information and claims from February through April 2017.
In general, overall satisfaction has gone up. Consumers, on J.D. Power’s scale, gave an average rating of 819 out of 1,000 – up since last year. Those who saw their premiums go up sharply – about $200 per vehicle – reported lower levels of satisfaction, a trend that has doubled over the past four years. Just how unhappy are these customers? Those who saw increases rated their policy 188 points lower than those with no or low increases.
Researchers also noticed that customer satisfaction could be predicted on a few factors. Generally, those with higher premium increases were less satisfied and those with premium increases at $25 and under were more satisfied. Additionally, in areas experiencing more extreme weather, customers were less satisfied as a whole.
On the other hand, there were also factors that increased satisfaction. For instance, those with usage-based policies tended to rate their carriers higher than those with flat-rate policies. Also, if a customer who received a high premium increase had been notified well in advance, understood why he or she experienced a jump and fully comprehended the policy, he or she was less likely to be dissatisfied.
Are you less than satisfied with your policy rate, coverage or customer service? Start exploring your options with Ion Insurance. To discuss further with an agent, give us a call at 203.439.2815.