J.D. Power recently released their 2020 U.S. Property Claims Satisfaction Study™ . The study measures satisfaction with the property claims experience among insurance customers who have filed a claim for damages by examining five factors (listed in order of importance): settlement; claim servicing; FNOL; estimation process; and repair process.
The 2020 study is based on responses from 6,025 homeowner insurance customers and was fielded between April and December 2019. The study presents some interesting findings.
In terms of customer satisfaction, only four companies ranked lower than
Chubb™, which is often considered the premiere insurance coverage provider for high value and luxury real estate,
Of the 19 insurance carriers that qualified for the Property Claims Satisfaction Study, State Farm™, Liberty Mutual™, and Travelers™ all ranked below industry average, but all three rank in the top 6 in net premiums written .
These statistics do not tell the whole story. Like Allstate and State Farm before it, Liberty Mutual hired consulting giant McKinsey & Co. to boost its bottom line . The McKinsey strategy relies on lowering the amounts paid in claims, no matter whether the claims were valid or not. By all accounts, Liberty Mutual has not become as notorious as its rivals for the deny, delay, and defend tactics that McKinsey encouraged. But the McKinsey strategy and similar business models, that encourage improper claims settlement practices, prevail in today’s insurance market place.
The winners of the satisfaction study were Amica Mutual™, The Hartford™, and Farmers™. USAA™ also would have topped the list but did not qualify for unspecified reasons.
One thing is for sure, the need for policyholder protection is greater than ever. As more insurance consumers become aware of the resources available to them to help ensure positive outcomes to their property insurance claims like Public Adjusters , industry associations , and not-for-profit information centers , the more we’ll see improvement in claims satisfaction outcomes for all insurers.
Eastern Public is a complete property insurance claims and risk management firm based in New York. With over 20 years of experience, we are licensed to serve clients in the greater New York City area and across the East Coast, including New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine, Rhode Island, DC, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, and Georgia. For 24/7 claims advice and service, contact us at (929) 999.4674 or info@EasternPublic.com .