Auto Insurance Ratings: What Do They Mean?

Auto insurance companies are rated to help people learn which companies are doing the best job in the industry. When people seek out these ratings, they can avoid the companies that are not making their clients happy on a large enough scale. The only problem occurs when people do not understand what these ratings mean. The J.D. Power and Associates organization gives auto insurance clients the means to rate their current auto insurance companies and their ratings will be explained below.

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Auto Claims Satisfaction Study for 2011

One of J.D. Power and Associates’ studies is focused on how well auto insurance companies handle the claims their clients file with them. The clients are asked how they would rate their insurance companies on several criteria. J.D. Power and Associates has four different circle ratings, and they are:

• Five Circles – Among the best
• Four Circles – Better than most
• Three Circles – About average
• Two Circles – The rest

The Rated Categories

Clients have an opportunity to rate the six categories of the auto claims satisfaction study that culminate in a rating for overall satisfaction. People may rate their auto insurance companies for the First Notice of Loss.

Those who have filed a claim with their auto insurance companies will be rating the entire claims process with this category. People may also rate the company representative that handled their claims from start to finish.

This category goes by the name of Service Interaction. They will also rate their companies on the appraisal process. If they had their vehicles repaired, they will rate how the auto insurance company performed on this category.

Auto insurance clients who obtained a rental car through their auto insurance companies have a chance to rate the company based on this process.

If these clients received a settlement, they can rate their auto insurance companies on whether or not they thought the settlement was fair.

The Winner – Auto-Owners Insurance

The last category is Overall Satisfaction, and it is the rating that sums up what auto insurance clients think about their auto insurance companies’ handling of the claims process. The winner of the 2011 Auto Claims Satisfaction Study Award is Auto-Owners Insurance. This company received the following ratings:

• First Notice of Loss – Four circles
• Service Interaction – Five circles
• Appraisal – Four circles
• Repair Process – Five circles
• Rental Car Experience – Four circles
• Overall Satisfaction – Five circles

2011 National Auto Insurance Study

Another way that J.D. Power and Associates rate auto insurance companies is with the National Auto Insurance Study. This study has the same ratings as the previous study, among the best, better than most, above average and the rest. To find the company that receives great ratings by its clients, the study asks for ratings based on five criteria.

The Rated Categories

The highest ratings go to the companies that have a wide variety of product offerings and meet a majority of their clients needs. When they do, they receive a high rating for the Policy Offerings category.

A company that has an extensive level of coverage for what the clients consider to be a fair and affordable price receives high ratings in the Pricing category. The Billing and Payment category pertains to the clarity of the clients’ bills, whether or not they receive their bills on time and whether or not they are accurate.

Clients may also rate their auto insurance companies on the options they have for paying their bills. Contacting the Insurer allows clients to rate their auto insurance companies on the interactions between them and the representatives at the company.

They may rate the representatives in every way that is possible for them to communicate with an auto insurance company, such as through the website, on the telephone or through email.

The Winner – Amica Mutual

The Overall Satisfaction rating informs the study researchers how well auto insurance clients rank their auto insurance companies in all ways in which they deal with their clients. The winner of the 2011 National Auto Insurance Study received five circles, the highest rating, in every category possible, and it is Amica Mutual.

The 2011 Insurance Shopping Study

Before people even purchase their affordable auto insurance, they can consult J.D. Power and Associates for its insurance shopping study. As was the case with the previous studies, the Power circle ratings apply. They will be able to rate the Policy Offerings that they were given when they were shopping for their insurance coverage and how easy it was for them to purchase the policy.

Those who have just purchased a policy can rate the company on whether or not they thought they were asked to pay a fair price for the amount of coverage they received. The Local Agent category asks clients how well they interacted with the agents and the company’s staff.

Auto insurance clients will also have the ability to rate the Call Center Representative they communicated with in the process of purchasing their insurance. After new clients become familiar with the auto insurance company’s website, they may rate this interaction in the Insurer Website category.

The Winner – American Family

New clients can rate everything in general about their auto insurance companies under the Overall Purchase Experience category. The insurance company that won the 2011 Insurance Shopping Study award was American Family.

It received five circles in the Policy Offerings and Local Agent categories and three stars in the Price category. Data was unavailable for Call Center Representative and Insurer Website, but it did receive five circles for Overall Purchase Experience.

How to Obtain a Quote from the Winners

Our comparison feature conveniently offers several auto insurance quotes for free for those who are seeking new auto insurance coverage. If they enter their ZIP code, they can receive a quote from the three auto insurance companies that won J.D. Power and Associates’ yearly awards as well as many others. These companies may have quotes that will be surprisingly low for them for a good amount of coverage.