Auto insurers have faced challenges since the pandemic, particularly higher repair costs and longer repair times. But things may be looking up, at least in terms of repair time.

right JD Power 2024 US Auto Claims Satisfaction Studyrepair times improved, falling from an average of 23.9 days to 18.9 days later in the study period.

On the downside, repair costs have risen 26% over the past two years, leading to a 15% increase in premiums.

“The claims process is the moment of truth for auto insurance customers, so when they experience rate hikes and then have a claim with longer-than-expected repair times and other inconveniences, their overall trust in the brand is greatly diminished.” Mark said. Garrett, director of global insurance information at JD Power.

“However, premium increases have created a new challenge for insurers as trust erodes and affects how customers view their claims. There are still many challenges for the industry to overcome to maintain customer loyalty,” said Garrett.

These rising costs have affected customer satisfaction, especially for those who experienced premium increases before filing a claim. Trust in insurers is falling, with 80% of customers who have had bad claims experiences saying they have already switched or plan to switch providers.

While digital claims processing improves customer satisfaction, older generations still prefer to handle complaints through more traditional methods such as phone calls. Good communication, particularly facilitating customer access to insurer representatives, remains critical to a positive claims experience.

Ranked insurance companies

The study ranked NJM Insurance Co. highest for overall customer satisfaction with a score of 782. Amica (746) is second and Erie Insurance (733) is third.

The US Automotive Demand Satisfaction Study has been redesigned for 2024. Scores are not comparable from year to year with previous studies. The 2024 study is based on responses from 9,725 motor insurance customers who settled a claim in the previous nine months prior to taking the survey.

It measures customer experience across eight core dimensions (in order of importance): trust; the correctness of the settlement; debt settlement time; people; communication; ease of complaint resolution; ease of starting the application; and digital channels. The study was conducted from October 2023 to August 2024.