A recent report from J.D. Power has shown that this sector of the industry is making consumers happy.
According to a the results of a recently released study conducted by J.D. Power, auto insurance companies are continuing to provide an increasing level of customer satisfaction throughout the claims process.
This was revealed within the “J.D. Power 2014 U.S. Auto Claims Satisfaction Study.”
This study is conducted in order to measure the satisfaction level that consumers feel with respect to their auto insurance company after they have had to make a claim due to a physical damage loss to their vehicle. The research examined various areas of the experience, including: first notice of loss; service interaction; appraisal; repair process; rental experience; and settlement. Any given participant in the study may have experienced some or all of those different parts of the process, depending on the complexity of the claim that they have filed.
In auto insurance claims, the report showed that the steady customer satisfaction improvement is continuing.
The overall satisfaction reported by consumers has been keeping up its improvement for the last five years. From 2010, when the score (out of a possible 1,000) was 842, this year has now recorded a score of 857. Last year, while there was improvement in the overall satisfaction score, it was only by 2 points. However, when looking at the service interaction factor, there has been a solid 7 point year over year improvement.
Similarly, in the service interaction category, there was a significant increase in the claim professional satisfaction, having risen by 17 points, this year. This was mostly driven by higher scores that were achieved in concern over the situation of the claimant, and in responsiveness.
According to the J.D. Power senior director of global insurance practice, Jeremy Bowler, “Insurance companies are placing more emphasis on training their employees and representatives to be customer-centric, especially during the interaction process.” He went on to say that “That focus is reflected in the increase in satisfaction, specifically with claim professionals, whose primary responsibility is to accurately estimate the amount of the insurance settlement.” In the past, those have been people who have been recruited and the trained for having specific technical knowledge and ability, but they have not necessarily always been associated with a focus on customer service, he said.
Despite the fact that the auto insurance claims – based on dollar amount of loss – were seen to have increased in severity for three straight years, customers are still increasingly satisfied with their insurers and the service they are receiving at that time.
