Homeowners insurance is one of those purchases that only really gets appreciated when there’s trouble. For most people, it’s a necessary, but not particularly well-loved expense. During the past five years, the average score on the J.D. Power and Associates Homeowners Insurance has basically held steady – dropping one point between 2004 and 2008.
The main reason for that lack of improvement in customer satisfaction? A decline in the scores for claims and pricing factors. A series of catastrophic storms during the past five years have caused homeowners insurance providers to limit their exposure in high risk geographic areas. Providers are writing fewer policies in those affected areas and coverage is more difficult for homeowners to obtain. One impact from that is more expensive policies across the nation.
J.D. Power analyzed the responses from nearly 13,000 home insurance policy holders to find out which companies did the best job of providing customer satisfaction. We examined five key factors: policy offerings; price; billing and payment; interaction; and claims.
A familiar name emerged at the top of the list.
Amica Mutual ranks highest for a seventh consecutive year among homeowners insurance providers, performing particularly well in all five factors that contribute to overall customer satisfaction. Following Amica in the rankings are Auto Club of Southern California, Cincinnati Insurance, Erie Insurance and Shelter, respectively. USAA, an insurance provider open only to the U.S. military community and their families and therefore not included in the rankings, also achieves a high level of customer satisfaction.
The study found some key practices appreciated by customers:
- Bundling – purchasing multiple policies along with homeowners insurance – significantly improved satisfaction for policyholders as they received additional discounts.
- Annual policy reviews also raised satisfaction, but less than half of homeowners insurance policyholders report being offered one.
For more information, view homeowners insurance ratings or read the press release.
