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Avoiding Disaster: Choosing the Right Auto Insurance Company
A great deal is at stake when choosing an auto insurancecarrier. In addition to the financial considerations, there areissues such as reliability, quality of service, and integrity.Luckily, there are certain steps you can follow to ensure thatyou select an auto insurance company that will meet your needs.When choosing an insurance carrier, reputation carries a greatdeal of weight. For instance, Allstate, Nationwide, and StateFarm are well-known companies that have managed to hold ontosome clients for years. For additional guidance, you can consultyour state's department of insurance website. The website mightoffer consumer complaint ratios which indicate exactly how manycomplaints an auto insurance company has received for every1,000 claims filed. This information can help you to betterevaluate companies so that you have some idea how their customerservice rates. You can then compare the list of companies withlow complaint ratios with the list of companies with lowpremiums and see if you can come up with any matches. Thosecompanies that combine stellar customer service with low ratesoffer you the best deal for your money. If for some reason you cannot locate complaint ratios for yourstate, try looking at the complaint ratios for other states.While an insurance company's operations may vary from state tostate, if a company posts a high complaint ratio in a number ofstates, you should consider that to be a warning sign. It isbest to simply cross off your list any insurance company withconsistently high complaint ratios.Another technique you can use when evaluating insurance carriersis to determine which insurers body shops in your arearecommend. Because body shop managers must deal with a number ofinsurance adjusters, they can provide you with an inside look atinsurance companies. The managers will know, for instance, whichcompanies offer the most convenient claims procedures. They'llalso know which companies are particularly slow in processingclaims.Another important source of information is J.D. Power andAssociates, which rates insurance companies in terms of varietyof coverage, rates, claims processes, and customer service. Inrecent years, Amica and Erie have posted the best rankings withJ.D. Power. These two companies have earned raves for findingways to cover claims, when at all possible. You might also wantto consider an insurer's financial strength by checking outratings from A.M. Best and Standard and Poor's. These ratingsdetermine an insurance company's ability to pay claims. Still,you should be aware of the fact that most well-known carriersare considered to be financially sound.Finally, you might select your insurance company based upon theprofessionalism of an individual agent. Since you will have towork closely with your agent, it is important to find one thatyou can trust. You might consider consulting a relative orfriend to find out the names of some particularly efficientagents.In the end, you may not find out just how responsive yourinsurance company is¡ªuntil you are faced with an accident.However, if you conduct extensive research before selecting aninsurance company and agent¡if you pay close attention tocomplaint ratios¡and you ask plenty of questions, chances aregood you will find insurance coverage you will be happy with.
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