Despite the economic downturn and uneasy job market, most American car owners are satisfied with their insurers. A recently published industry study by the Insurance Research Council (IRC) found out that an overwhelming portion of policyholders in the U.S. were happy with how their insurance providers performed.
To be exact, 91 percent of the respondents interviewed by the researchers expressed different degrees of satisfaction with their current insurers. Sixty-one (61) percent of the consumers said that they were very satisfied with how their providers performed with the remaining thirty percent claiming that they were fairly satisfied with their insurers.
The figures came as no surprise to industry experts who believe that the price wars and tough competition among insurance companies prompted providers to slash prices and essentially roll out the red carpet to attract potential clients. The economic slump has resulted in an unprecedented drop in the demand for car insurance. This has consequently led to lower revenues for insurance providers. To drum up demand, insurers went on the offensive and slashed rates to lure customers.
Analysts say that the competition may have something to do with the high satisfaction figures. Insurance companies are also pampering policyholders to discourage them from switching providers. This has resulted in more car owners expressing overall satisfaction with their insurers, experts say.
The same study also discovered that three-fourths of all motorists who shopped for car insurance in the past 12 months were also satisfied with their finds. Of this number, 51 percent said they were satisfied with their experience. The remaining 24 percent expressed extreme satisfaction with their shopping experience. Some 69 percent of the respondents also expressed satisfaction with the different range of insurance products and services they came across.
Researchers at the IRC also assessed the satisfaction levels among two different sets of policyholders: those from states with more government involvement in the insurance industry, and those from states where the government are not as involved. According to the study, there is no real reason to believe that motorists residing in states with more government intervention were more satisfied that other car owners. In fact, both sets of policyholders posted almost similar levels of satisfaction with their insurance providers.
Elizabeth Sprinkel, IRC’s senior vice president, says that the high regard and satisfaction levels of the consumers is good news for the insurance industry. She went on to add that government involvement is not a major factor in affecting consumer satisfaction.
