Auto insurers are enjoying the fact that they are pleasing their policyholders at record levels.
J.D. Power is making insurance news with the release of its recent study report which has shown that vehicle owners are quite satisfied with their auto insurers, to the point that this satisfaction level has now reached record breaking levels since 2000.
That date is important as it represented the first year that the U.S. Auto Insurance Study was conducted by J.D. Power.
Even though the insurance news over the last five years has consistently included increases in premiums for drivers, the satisfaction that vehicle owners have expressed about their insurers and their coverage has now reached a record high since the start of J.D. Power’s study in 2000. In the research that was conducted this year, the firm measured the satisfaction that customers felt with the price, interaction, policy offerings, claims, as well as billing and payments.
There were almost 45,000 customers who responded to this insurance news making study’s survey.
This year, there were fewer premium increases and those that did exist are smaller than they had been last year. It was this fact that had the greatest impact on the opinion of the customers and that helped them to feel much more satisfied than they had the year before.
Fifty five percent of this year’s survey respondents said that their auto insurance premiums had not risen. Among the individuals who had experienced an increase in the amount that they paid for their coverage, the average annual rise was $86. Last year, that figure had been $153, which is clearly a great deal higher than this year’s average increase.
A previous study issued by the same firm, the J.D. Power 2014 U.S. Insurance Shopping Study, which was published in April. What it found was that among the consumers who had experienced an increase in their premiums, 13 percent had shopped for a new provider as a result of it. This was interesting as it helps to illustrate the impact that premiums hikes can have in varying degrees.
According to the J.D. Power senior director of the insurance practice, Jeremy Bowler, in an insurance news statement, “A premium increase often triggers shopping behavior, but we’re seeing fewer people shopping,” adding that “This indicates that insurers are more effectively communicating with their customers, making them aware of the premium increases when they occur and why they’re necessary, and demonstrating the value of their coverage.”
