Body shops evaluate insurer’s policies, attitude and payment practices that ensure quality repairs and customer service
Portland. Ore.—Among more than 88 auto insurance companies graded by collision repairers in terms of how well they work to ensure quality repairs and customer service, 25 received a “B” or higher to earn a spot on the “Honor Roll” in the 2024 CRASH Network “Insurer Report Card.”
But a record-high 19 companies, including six of the largest U.S. auto insurers, received a grade of “C-” or lower. In fact, none of the Top 10 largest, best-known auto insurers, received an overall grade higher than a “C+,” with more than 50 other insurers scoring higher.
Body shops were asked to evaluate how well each insurer’s “policies, attitude and payment practices ensure quality repairs and customer service for motorists.” North Carolina Farm Bureau (“A+”), Alfa Mutual (“A”), Chubb (“A-”) and Erie Insurance (“A-”) finished with the top grades among all insurers, just as they did last year.
While many of the highest-graded insurers—including Michigan Farm Bureau (“B+”), Acuity Insurance (“B+”), North Star Mutual (“B+”) and Mutual of Enumclaw (“B+”)—do not sell policies in all 50 states, consumers are likely to find one or more of the “Honor Roll” insurers offering coverage where they live.
More than 1,100 individual body shops around the country each graded as many as 30 different insurance companies in their state.
“Most consumers are unaware they may have a dozen or more other choices in their state than the insurers whose advertising they see over and over,” CRASH Network’s John Yoswick said. “The ‘Insurer Report Card’ gives the industry a way to communicate what shops see in terms of which companies are better at taking care of policyholders when they have a claim—and which ones have room for improvement. That can give consumers something else to consider as they choose an insurer.”
Shops participating in the “Insurer Report Card” said the highest-graded insurers “trust that the shop is the repair professional,” “want their customers treated right, with a quality outcome,” are “more willing to pay for quality repairs and parts,’ and ‘are quick to respond.”
They criticized the insurers to which they gave lower grades, saying those companies “pay the lowest possible for cheaply made parts,” have “inexperienced staff,” and “are super-slow at responding to the customer or shop.”
The list of highest-graded insurers in 2024 was remarkably consistent with the prior year’s findings; among the 10 highest-graded insurers in this year’s “Insurance Report Card,” seven were in the Top 10 last year as well.
A free report with the 2024 “Insurer Report Card” findings can be downloaded at https://www.crashnetwork.com/irc.
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