Though it cannot be denied that price does play a crucial role while buying an auto insurance policy and also has a significant impact on the final decision, it definitely is not an indicator for auto insurance satisfaction. One of the most recent industry studies has revealed that though twelve months ago the price did affect the satisfaction scores, it is not the case anymore.
The United States Insurance Shopping Study released by J.D Power and Associates in the month of May 2010 shows that nearly 41% of the people choose a particular insurance provider because of the price they being offered by them but do not obtain any quotes from them. 76% of the people who shopped for insurance policies did obtain quotes from insurance providers but did not buy those policies because of the prices being offered to them. The cost of the insurance policy accounts for a meager 28% customer satisfaction.
J.D Power and Associates’ senior director of insurance practice, Jeremy Bowler, said that while price is definitely among the critical factors that impact that purchase of the policy, there are other factors that the insurance providers should focus on if they want to ensure they are able to get new customers and retain old ones. He went to say that in most cases it was the services experiences of the past that overrode the price in helping the customer make a decision.
A whopping 10% of the total people who shopped for insurance policies did not go in for the cheapest quotes they received. Most of them even let go of policies that offered the significant savings. Surprisingly, 12% of the people who refused to opt for the lowest priced quotes could have saved up to $250 annually if they had opted for those.
One of the studies conducted in the year 2009 showed that a change in consumer shopping when it came to auto insurance policies because of the onset of recession. However, from the beginning of 2010, with the economy showing signs of recovery, there has been a shift in the buying patterns yet again. Auto insurance companies are reverting to pre-recession rates and an increasing number of customers are looking out for competitive prices, but are not willing to compromise on the coverage features being offered.
This study was conducted on 14,500 people who obtained insurance quotes from renowned auto insurance providers over the last year.
