Auto body shop owners may know better than anybody how well insurance companies take care of their customers. A report card released this week by an industry publication suggests that if you’re looking for exceptional results, don’t look to the nation’s largest carriers.
None of the nation’s top 10 private passenger carriers earned more than a C+ national grade on the Crash Network’s Insurer Report Card, although some did better in individual states.
“You have to look fairly far down in the rankings before you find one of the best-known and largest auto insurers, but most consumers will find an insurer or two among the 15 highest-graded who offer auto insurance policies in their state,” stated Crash Network Editor and Publisher John Yoswick in a press release.
The newsletter publisher asked 1,037 collision repair professionals in all 50 states to grade the insurers that they dealt with. Shops awarded each company a grade from “A+” to “F” based on one question: “How well does this insurer’s claims handling policies, attitude and payment practices ensure quality repairs and customer service for motorists?”
The survey resulted in letter grades to 135 insurance carriers that had received a grade from at least 35 of the respondents. Of those 79 carriers received enough responses to merit a national ranking.
The only A+ grade went to the North Carolina Farm Bureau, which is a relative gnat on the national scene but a big deal in its home state. The Farm Bureau Group was North Carolina’s fifth-largest private passenger auto insurer in 2018, with $612 million in written premium and a 9.6% market share, according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.
Chubb and Erie Insurance both received A- marks.
“Shops say the best insurance companies don’t pressure them to cut corners or install lower-quality parts just to save the insurers money. The best insurance companies also aren’t adding more administrative steps that slow down the repair and claims process,” Crash Network said in the report.
Among the top ten insurers, Travelers, USAA Group, Nationwide and State Farm received C+grades. Farmers, Progressive Group, American Family, Geico, Liberty Mutual and Allstate received a C-.
On the bottom of the scale, Loya, The General and Direct General received D grades. No carriers got an F.
Body shops tended to rank carriers higher when they had direct repair agreements in place. USAA, for example, was ranked an A- when only grades given by body shops with DRPs were counted. State Farm and Travelers received Bs. But each of those grades dropped below a B when non-DRP scores were added in.
Crash Network also received comments from auto body shop owners and managers. They have glowing remarks to carriers that paid for quality parts an prioritized timely repairs. Typical comments about low-grade carriers complained that they don’t encourage the use of automaker-recommended repair procedures and are slow to respond to requests for approvals.
You can find a link to download the Insurer Report Card here[1].
About Jim Sams
Sams is editor of the Claims Journal. He can be reached at jsams@wellsmedia.com. More from Jim Sams [2]
Was this article valuable?
Thank you! Please tell us what we can do to improve this article.
Thank you! % of people found this article valuable. Please tell us what you liked about it.
Here are more articles you may enjoy.
Want to stay up to date?
Get the latest insurance news sent straight to your inbox.
Source URL:Read More The public content above was dynamically discovered – by graded relevancy to this site’s keyword domain name. Such discovery was by systematic attempts to filter for “Creative Commons“ re-use licensing and/or by Press Release distributions. “Source URL” states the content’s owner and/or publisher. When possible, this site references the content above to generate its value-add, the dynamic sentimental analysis below, which allows us to research global sentiments across a multitude of topics related to this site’s specific keyword domain name. Additionally, when possible, this site references the content above to provide on-demand (multilingual) translations and/or to power its “Read Article to Me” feature, which reads the content aloud to visitors. Where applicable, this site also auto-generates a “References” section, which appends the content above by listing all mentioned links. Views expressed in the content above are solely those of the author(s). We do not endorse, offer to sell, promote, recommend, or, otherwise, make any statement about the content above. We reference the content above for your “reading” entertainment purposes only. Review “DMCA & Terms”, at the bottom of this site, for terms of your access and use as well as for applicable DMCA take-down request.
Acquire this Domain You can acquire this site’s domain name! We have nurtured its online marketing value by systematically curating this site by the domain’s relevant keywords. Explore our content network – you can advertise on each or rent vs. buy the domain. Buy@TLDtraders.com | Skype: TLDtraders | +1 (475) BUY-NAME (289 – 6263). Thousands search by this site’s exact keyword domain name! Most are sent here because search engines often love the keyword. This domain can be your 24/7 lead generator! If you own it, you could capture a large amount of online traffic for your niche. Stop wasting money on ads. Instead, buy this domain to gain a long-term marketing asset. If you can’t afford to buy then you can rent the domain.
About Us We are Internet Investors, Developers, and Franchisers – operating a content network of several thousand sites while federating 100+ eCommerce and SaaS startups. With our proprietary “inverted incubation” model, we leverage a portfolio of $100M in valued domains to impact online trends, traffic, and transactions. We use robotic process automation, machine learning, and other proprietary approaches to power our content network. Contact us to learn how we can help you with your online marketing and/or site maintenance.
400 Bad Request
Bad Request
Your browser sent a request that this server could not understand. Size of a request header field exceeds server limit.
Sentiment Analysis
400 Bad Request
Bad Request
Your browser sent a request that this server could not understand. Size of a request header field exceeds server limit.
Monitoring tools, like cookies, are in use. Continued access to this site indicates your acceptance of Cookie settingsAcceptNo
GDPR & CCPA Notices
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.