List of Auto Insurance Companies You Can Count On

If you are ever in an accident where you are injured or your vehicle is damaged, you will look to your auto insurance company to make you and your car whole again. The last thing you want in such a situation is an auto insurance provider who isn’t there to help you. If you can’t count on your car insurance company, then you are wasting your money on your insurance policy.

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The only car insurance provider worth having is one you can count on to be there beside you during an accident or loss.

Remember, you are paying them to provide financial protection against that risk!

While there are no guarantees that a car insurance provider will cover your claims without a hitch, there are a few ways to check an insurer’s reputation in such events. Car insurance companies certainly look at statistics and trends to hedge their bets, and so should you.

Price Is Not the Most Important Factor

Many people have the knee-jerk reaction of going with the car insurance provider who provides the lowest rates–this is not the best way to go. Do you look for the cheapest doctor to perform risky surgery? Do you engage the lowest priced pilot to fly your plane miles above the ground? In some situations, you want only the best, and car insurance is one of those situations.

Some cheap car insurance companies are just that: Cheap. They can offer you the lowest rates because they know that if you put in a claim, they are going to do everything they can not to pay it.

When you are facing thousands of dollars in medical bills and damages to a vehicle that you need in order to get to work, do you really want the insurance company that is going to ignore your phone calls and drag out your claim until your bills go to collections?

Price is not the most important factor. What matters with car insurance companies is getting a company that keeps its promise to support you in the event of an accident or loss.

Sure, a reasonable price is important, but not if it is at the cost of a high level of service.

Factors that Do Matter

There are a few factors that can be used as benchmarks to determine the level of service provided by an auto insurer. While they are not guarantees, they do allow you to get a better understanding of which auto insurance companies you can count on.

The first factor that matters is the legitimacy of your insurance provider. Unfortunately, insurance fraud in the form of bogus providers is a rising problem, and no driver wants to find out at the scene of an accident that the insurance company that has been cashing the insurance premium checks is not a legitimate business.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners offers links to each state’s Department of Insurance website. Once at your state’s website, you can research whether or not a car insurance provider is licensed or a fraud.

The second factor is financial ratings. These ratings are meant to be used as a gauge to forecast an insurance company’s ability to meet its financial commitments.

In plain terms, that means they will have enough money to pay your claim, even during hard economic times or in the event of a disaster that creates a high volume of claims.

Another factor that can indicate which auto insurance companies you can count on are customer service ratings. These ratings are generally based on surveys completed by past or present customers, with good and bad ratings being averaged out over a large sample of responses to create a true picture of an insurer’s reputation.

Financial Ratings of the Oldest Insurers

Some insurance companies have been around for a long time, and some just started last year. Going back to the analogy above, do you want the youngest doctor performing your surgery or the least experienced pilot landing your plane? Car insurance companies that have weathered the tests of time, dealing with wars and economic depressions, certainly must have some sound financial strategies.

While being the oldest insurer does not mean they are the best, looking at the ratings can give you an indication of what to expect.

The Hartford Insurance company started in 1810 providing property fire insurance. Considered the oldest insurance provider still in operation, The Hartford has an “A” rating with A.M. Best. This indicates, in A.M. Best’s estimation, that The Harford has an excellent likelihood of being able to honor its insurance commitments in the future.

Amica Mutual is one of the oldest insurance companies also, having started out in 1907 offering property and injury insurance. A.M. Best rates their financial stability and strength as “A++”, or Superior–the highest rating given by A.M. Best.

The third oldest car insurance provider, Auto-Owners Insurance Company, which started in 1916, was also given an “A++” rating by A.M. Best. Lastly, State Farm, one of the oldest and biggest insurers, was also rated highly “A+” by A.M. Best.

Customer Service Ratings of the Oldest Insurers

After all those years, the oldest car insurance providers have to have been doing something right to stay in business. But do customer service ratings bear that out? J.D. Power & Associates conducts annual surveys of auto insurance customers to get the lowdown on insurance providers.

They compile their results into three separate categories and assign Power Circles to denote ratings. How will the oldest auto insurance providers in the country fare for its purchase experience, its claims experience, and its provider ratings?

The Hartford won the award from J.D. Power & Associates for the best auto insurance purchase experience in 2011 with five Power Circles. The category includes factors such as pricing and local agent availability. The other three oldest companies rated from three to four Circles.

Amica Mutual won J.D. Power & Associates’ award for the best auto insurance provider overall in 2011, with five out of five Power Circles. This category rates factors such as billing and payments, and contacting the insurer. The other three oldest companies earned three to four Circles in this category.

Auto-Owners Insurance won the J.D. Power & Associates’ award for the best auto insurance claims ratings in 2011, with five out of five Power Circle ratings. Factors used for this category include the repairs process and settlements. The other three insurance providers all earned four out of five Power Circles overall in this category.

More Company Ratings

Another outlet for finding customer ratings is the Better Business Bureau, or BBB. The Better Business Bureau strives to provide accurate information about businesses to create informed consumers and to provide an avenue for customer complaint resolution.

Companies with poor ratings are punished through lack of business and companies with high ratings have a proverbial feather in their cap.

The BBB rates companies based on many factors, including how long a company has been in business and how they resolve customer complaints. Amica Mutual Insurance Company was rated as “A+”, the highest rating provided by the BBB. An “A+” rating was also awarded to Auto-Owners Insurance Group by the BBB. Another “A+” rating was also given to The Harford Financial Services Group, Inc., the parent company of The Hartford. State Farm corporate was rated a “B+”.

Using Ratings

Ratings are meant to be used alongside other factors and with common sense. Ratings can give you an indication of the company’s reputation, but they are not a guarantee for your personal experience. Auto accidents and loss are emergency situations that are fraught with stress and anxiety.

Ratings should be used as a means of comparing one car insurance provider against another, or to make sure that a company is on the level. You want to find an average of good or higher ratings across the board, not just in one area.

A company with a great customer service rating isn’t worth much if they are on such shaky financial ground that they can’t meet their financial obligations as an insurance provider.

Even with an excellent financial rating or a positive customer service rating, you may still feel that a certain auto insurance provider might have failed you. If you truly feel like your insurance provider has not fulfilled its part of the car insurance bargain, your state’s Department of Insurance is one outlet you can use to file a complaint.

Your Responsibilities

Unfortunately, the best gauge of how well a car insurance company will perform for you is the actual performance during the real deal. No one wants to go through a car accident or loss from theft or natural catastrophe, but you buy insurance against that eventuality.

While you may feel helpless after an accident or loss, there are a few things that you can do that can really make your experience with your car insurance provider a helpful one or an utter headache. First, report the loss as soon as possible. Write down the information of everyone you speak to so that you have a record of correspondence. Keep records through notes and pictures, and don’t hesitate to call or email your adjusters for updates.

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