If you want to like your car insurance, according to a new survey, you should stick with a smaller company.
“Big car insurers like Geico, Progressive, and Allstate may be the most recognizable, but it’s their lesser-known competitors that consistently earn higher satisfaction scores,” says Consumer Reports.
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The magazine surveyed more than 40,000 of its own subscribers about their experiences with their car insurance companies. That makes the results meaningful. But, when interpreting Consumer Reports studies, it’s important to remember that they don’t reflect the general public’s experiences. They tell you what a subset of people willing to spend money on a magazine that evaluates purchase decisions think.
That can also create cycles. CR explains, “Amica, NJM, and USAA have each been among the top three in every one of CR’s car insurance ratings since 2004.”
Readers tend to prefer small insurers. CR notes, “three of the four top car insurers limit whom they cover.”
USAA was the only insurer “with superlative scores across all ratings categories.” USAA limits its customers to members of the U.S. military, their families, and their descendants.
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New Jersey-based NJM offers policies only in Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Erie Insurance covers residents of 12 Eastern and Midwestern states and Washington, D.C.
Amica was the only insurer with an almost nationwide program (it excludes Hawaii) to finish at the top.
Insurance companies with heavy nationwide advertising campaigns tended to finish in the middle of the pack. “Most of the ten largest insurance groups in the country — including big advertisers Progressive and Allstate — got this passable overall grade from our members,” the magazine says.
