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Anyone who has had an issue with an insurance company understands that excellent customer service is one of the top factors that you should look for in an insurer.

There are many ways to rate an auto insurance company based on customer service.

You should look at as many of those sources as possible when searching for car insurance. Great customer service is a top factor you should want in a car insurance company in addition to low rates.

Great customer service is a top factor you should want in a car insurance company in addition to low rates.

Find the best car insurance rates right here when you use your ZIP code in the FREE quote tool above!

There are a few areas of customer service that you need to zone in on when you are looking at ratings to ensure that your car insurance provider is up to par.

Also, it is important to understand how to use customer service ratings as part of your overall search for car insurance.

Finding Customer Service Ratings

Ratings for auto insurance companies based on customer service are not hard to find. First, you can speak with family, friends and neighbors, advises the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

While this is a decidedly small pool of people to survey, you will mostly hear stories about the local branches of auto insurance companies, and that is whom you will be dealing with as well.

Next, you can look online to find customer service ratings for car insurance companies. The offerings online range from complaint websites where anyone can post anything they choose, to companies that are in the business of creating such ratings about car insurance companies and the like.

Generally, it is always a good idea to go with companies and agencies that create ratings. They are an unbiased source, and they have been vetted simply through their longevity and quality of their ratings.

If their information was found to be invalid, then people would not utilize their services, and they would go out of business.

One such example is J.D. Power and Associates.

Consumers and those in the industry alike recognize this company; winning a J.D. Power “Best of” award is something companies brag about in their commercials and on their websites.

Essentially, J.D. Power is recognized in all areas as generating quality information that can be relied on.

This organization has been generating ratings since 1968, and they rate other industries as well as the car insurance industry. Each year, they release ratings based on customer responses to surveys; they record over 2,500 responses to generate their evaluations.

Those ratings are turned into PowerCircles, and the highest score is five out of five PowerCircles. The company does not print companies that receive only a one-circle rating, so the lowest rating found is two PowerCircles.

Ratings such as J.D. Power’s are more constructive because they use a much wider sample and they have a methodology to their reporting. The

The ratings are based on statistics, so the low ratings of disgruntled customers and the high ratings of others are averaged out to reveal the true nature of a car insurance company.

Another source for unbiased ratings that are generated by a company with a good reputation for reliable data is Consumer Reports.

Consumer Reports utilizes testing and surveys to generate their ratings on a myriad of goods and supplies, and they rate car insurance companies as well.

The only drawback to Consumer Reports is that you must pay to see their results; they print a monthly magazine and run a website.

You must take out a subscription to view the results of their testing, but they offer very in-depth ratings and reports that many find invaluable.

The Buying Process

There are four basic areas of customer service that you should look for when researching ratings for a car insurance company. The first is the buying process.

The factors that go into the buying process include:

• Agent helpfulness or friendliness
• Ease of use for a website
• Truth in advertising
• Overall rates that are offered

Obviously, this is one area where most car insurance companies should have excellent customer service because they want to get you in the door as a customer.

Knowledgeable agents and user-friendly websites are all geared at assisting you, the potential customer.

However, some car insurance companies don’t seem to understand this concept. They have pushy agents who are driven by commissions and websites that are confusing and convoluted.

If you are looking for an easy buying process, then pay close attention to these ratings.

Knowledgeable and Helpful Communication

After you have become a customer, you want to know that your car insurance provider still values you beyond your premium payment.

This is shown through the customer service area of communication whereby an insurer listens to customer needs and responds with helpful solutions.

Many insurance companies can fall flat in this area, because they are putting all of their efforts into getting customers rather than keeping them.

Factors that go into keeping clients through excellent customer service include having a friendly and well-informed call center staff who answer phone calls in a reasonable amount of time, accurate and timely information delivered to customers and staff who take a personal interest in resolving customer issues.

Excellence in such factors will garner high ratings. The flip side of excellent communications is not pretty.

It includes robot voices prompting customers through multiple menus before reaching representatives, call center reps who are rude or give out misinformation and it’s-not-part-of-my-job-description sort of attitude.

If you wish to avoid such behaviors, then look for companies with high ratings in communication.

Claims

The claims side of an insurer’s customer service track record is obviously one of the most important factors that a customer would be concerned about. The issue goes deeper than just the settlement, however; though no one likes a low-ball offer.

In addition to the fairness of the settlement, customer service for claims includes assisting the customer through every step of the claims process, offering settlements for bills in a reasonable amount of time and allowing the customer some control through the choice of repair shop, etc.

The claims process can be an arduous one for customers who have no guidance from a car insurance adjuster.

There are forms to fill out, releases to sign, and an adjustor for your vehicle repair and one for your medical bills or other damages.

You have every right to expect help through the claims process; that is one reason why you pay your car insurance company every month!

Poor customer service in the claims area can range from a headache to an all-out nightmare.

It can include adjusters who are rude or hard to reach, medical bills that go unpaid until they mar your credit and vehicles that go unfixed for a long time.

If you care about customer service for claims, and you should, then pay close attention to the ratings in this area.

Complaints

How a car insurance company handles customer complaints throughout the customer’s interaction with the insurer is also very important. But, how do you write a complaint letter to you car insurance company?

One resource that you can use to find an insurer’s reputation concerning customer complaints is with the Better Business Bureau.

The Better Business Bureau rates companies like insurance providers based on how they resolve customer complaints, along with other factors.

The alphabetical ratings allow you to see if an insurance company cares about resolving customer complaints or not.

Another resource for viewing the customer service of an insurance company is with your state’s Department of Insurance. You can generally search for a provider in your state.

You can also view information such as financial reports and the volume and nature of complaints lodged with the state against the insurer.

Each state organizes its Insurance Division website differently, but most include such pertinent information about insurance companies.

If you are confused, they all have phone numbers that allow you to speak with a live person.

How to Use Ratings

Ratings concerning customer service are an important part of the decision-making process of finding a car insurance company. While such ratings are not the only significant factor, they are very important.

No one should have to deal with poor customer service when it comes to car insurance.

There are enough insurance providers out there that you can choose those who outperform the others. You have to purchase car insurance, so your money might as well go to the company that is going to provide the best level of service.

When using ratings as part of your search it is important to use them to get an overall picture of the insurer. This is one reason why complaint websites are not worth as much.

They really only contain negative information as happy customers don’t generally get on a complaint website to extol the virtues of their car insurance provider.

Customer service ratings should be used alongside financial ratings, quote comparisons and your own good judgment to help you to choose the auto insurance provider that will be the best fit for you.

You need to have excellence in all areas, not just one or two. You deserve to have nothing but the best insurance provider for your money and peace of mind!

Your peace of mind begins here once you put your ZIP code into the FREE insurance quote tool to get quotes for car insurance now!

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11.10.2020 / auto insurance comparison / auto insurance quotes / auto insurance tips