The 2012 study to learn more about the claimant satisfaction was counted on a 1000 point scale which took into account the service interaction, rental experience, repair process, settlement, appraisal and first notice of loss. A press release by J D Power has said that the study revealed the claimants were better satisfied with these services this year as compared to the last. As a part of the study, a little over 12,500 consumers who received their claim settlements in the last 180 days were surveyed. The claimant satisfaction this year stood at 852 index points which is a good improvement of six points as compared to 2011. Over the last six years, this is the fifth time that claimant satisfaction has shown an improvement over the previous year.
Settlement satisfaction is one of the most important factors of the survey and the scores for this element showed an increase of 16 points among the insurers who filed a claim for total loss. The average figure for the total loss settlement also moved up north as compared to last year, which J D Power says is a result of the increase in the value of used cars. Insurance practice’s senior director at J D Power and Associates, Jeremy Bowler, in a statement opined that the increase in the value of the vehicles always increases loss settlement’s value. He also said that, as per the information from the Power Information Network which is a database of all sales transactions related to vehicles, the value of the used car sales in May and June in 2012 increased significantly. It averaged around $18,500 in comparison to $17,700 which was the figure in January 2012.
The increase in claimant satisfaction in 2012 also increased the out of pocket expenditure for claimants. This expenditure averaged $403 in 2012 which is an increase of $26 as compared to 2011. This expenditure includes the deductibles as well as the other expenditure that is not covered by the auto insurance provider.
Bowler also opined that customer service has a huge role to play in claimant satisfaction. When customers file for auto insurance claims, they are concerned about many other aspects in addition to the settlement. Effective communication with claimants and constant updates have a major role to play in claimant satisfaction.
