Consumer Reports Rates Insurance Companies

The magazine Consumer Reports has rated the top insurance companies in its March 2006 issue, ranking the popular insurance providers according to policyholder satisfaction. According to the magazine, 21,228 magazine subscribers who had filed insurance auto insurance claims between January 2001 through the spring of 2004 were surveyed for customer satisfaction with their auto insurance.

Topping the chart was New Jersey Manufacturers Insurance Co., with an overall satisfaction score of 94 percent. Amica Mutual ranked second with 93 percent and United Services Automobile Association was third with 92 percent of consumer satisfaction. The rest of the results were as follows: Auto-Owners Insurance Co. (90 percent), State Automobile Mutual Ins. (89 percent), USAA Casualty Insurance Co. (89 percent), State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance (89 percent), State Farm Fire and Casualty (88 percent), Hartford Underwiters Insurance Co. (87 percent), Erie Insurance (87 percent), Erie Insurance Exchange (87 percent), GEICO General Insurance (86 percent), California State Automobile Association (86 percent), Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. (85 percent), Safeco Insurance Co. of America (85 percent), American Family Mutual Ins. Co. (84 percent), Nationwide Mutual Fire Ins. Co. (84 percent), Allstate Insurance Co. (84 percent), 21st Century Insurance Co. (84 percent), GEICO Casualty Co. (83 percent), Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. (83 percent), Metropolitan Property and Casualty Insurance Co. (83 percent), Travelers Indemnity (82 percent), Farmers Insurance Exchange (80 percent), Commerce Insurance Co. (78 percent) and Mercury Insurance Co (78 percent).

The magazine also surveyed the group for "problems with claims" (which it defined as the percentage of readers who cited one or more of 10 problems" and "delayed payments" (based on the percentage of readers who said they received total payment more than 30 days after filing the claim). In these two categories, the companies were given overall ratings on a sliding scale from Better (a fully red circle) to Worse (a fully black circle). Fourth place Auto-Owners Insurance was the only company to receive two half-red circles (one notch below "better"), while New Jersey Manufacturers, Amica Mutual and United Services Automobile Association each received a half-red circle for problems with claim. Only Mercury Insurance received votes of "worse" in both categories.