Choose your auto insurance company carefully l Seattle Accident Attorney

Best & Worst Insurance Companies

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners gathers consumer complaint information from state insurance regulators.  According to NAIC, more than 50% of the complaints received in 2009 were for (1) the denial of a claim, (2) the unreasonable delay in resolving a claim, and (3) unsatisfactory settlement offers by the insurance company.

We here at the Davis Law Group often are asked for the names of the most reputable auto insurance companies to do business with.  Unfortunately, this question seeks information that is often a moving target.  A company that may have a good reputation now may not fare so well six months from now.

When searching for an auto insurance company, most people are focused on the cheapest premium.  But many consumers find out after an accident that the coverage they thought they had, really never existed, or if it did exist, the coverage was woefully inadequate.  Or the accident victim finds out that their insurance company is incredibly difficult to deal with when it comes to filing and settling a claim, particularly if the value of the claim is very high (i.e., worth more than $25,000).

When shopping for an auto insurer, you should be very concerned if a company you’re considering has a lot of complaints in the claims handling areas. Go to NAIC and research the number of complaints for your auto carrier.  Focus on the complaint ratio, which shows the ratio of the company’s U.S. market share of complaints to the company’s U.S. market share of premiums for a specific policy type (the ratio puts the complaint figures into perspective based on the size of the insurer’s business, so larger insurers aren’t penalized for having more complaints).

If the national median complaint ratio is 1.00 and the ratio for the company you’re considering is 2.00, for example, that should be a big red flag. Also look at the complaint trend report to see whether the company’s complaints have been increasing or decreasing over time.

For more information on how to check an insurance company’s complaint record, go to the Kiplinger Report.