“Report finds 1 in 7 complaints against auto insurers were upheld” |
| Report finds 1 in 7 complaints against auto insurers were upheld Posted: 26 Nov 2010 05:00 AM PST About one in every seven complaints filed against 167 auto insurers last year were upheld, with Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. having the best record among the state's largest carriers, according to a new report by state regulators. Out of the 6,808 consumer complaints against auto insurers that were closed in 2009, 966 were upheld in favor of consumers, according to the 2010 Annual Ranking of Automobile Insurance Complaints by the state Insurance Department. Of the rest, 3,738 complaints were withdrawn or not upheld by regulators, while another 2,104 had disputes of fact that could not be resolved, so they were not counted against insurers. "Consumers can use the information on this report to evaluate the performance of their insurance company," said James Wrynn, the state's superintendent of insurance. "They can also use it to check the performance of other companies if they are looking for a new auto insurer." Accounting for the likelihood that carriers with a lot of business here will have more complaints than those who are small, Columbus, Ohio-based Nationwide came in at the very top of the ranking, as the largest of 51 companies that didn't have a single complaint upheld. The company had 55 complaints filed against it that were closed last year, but 38 were withdrawn or not upheld, while another 17 involved disagreements over the facts of the case. Nationwide did an average of $140.5 million in business in the state in 2008 and 2009. Adirondack Insurance Exchange was second, with none of the 41 complaints against it upheld, but it did an average of $94.6 million in written premiums over the two years, so it's smaller. Rhode Island-based Amica Mutual Insurance Co., which is often highly rated for customer service by J. D. Power & Associates, was third. None of the 11 complaints against it were upheld, and it does $85.5 million in business. Buffalo-based Merchants Group's Merchants Preferred Insurance Co. was 14th, with one complaint withdrawn or not upheld and another subject to disputes over facts. It did an average of $14.46 million in premiums. Merchants Mutual Insurance Co. was 47th, with four complaints withdrawn or not upheld and seven disputed. Many insurance companies write policies under multiple insurance carrier subsidiaries, depending on the risk, so units of large national insurers are scattered throughout the ranking. Among them, units of Travelers Companies, Chubb Corp., Zurich Financial Services, Liberty Mutual Group, Ally Financial's GMAC Insurance, Allstate Corp., USAA, and The Hartford Financial Services Group also ranked among the 51 with no complaints. The state's biggest carriers ranked lower. Allstate's Allstate Insurance Co., No. 1 by volume with $1.27 billion in premiums, came in 105th by complaints, with 180 upheld, out of 1,023. Other smaller Allstate subsidiaries were both higher and lower on the list. Geico General Insurance Co., which was 54th with 15 upheld complaints, is the No. 2 auto insurer in the state by size, with $1.22 billion in premiums. It had 448 complaints in all. Other units of Washington, D. C.-based GEICO Corp. came in 55th and 57th. At the very bottom of the list were American International Group's ACE American Insurance Co. and Granite State Insurance Co., Long Island Insurance Co., Zurich Insurance Group's Zurich American Insurance Co. and Nationwide's Victoria Fire & Casualty Co. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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