Choosing The Best Auto Insurance Company
Choosing the right auto insurance company is very important
since they will be the one to help you settle any auto related
mishaps in the future. Auto insurance companies follow a basic
set of benefits which they provide their policyholders. They
only differ in the premiums. There are auto insurance companies
that offer exorbitant insurance premiums and there are also
those that offer affordable premiums. But just how can you know
that the auto insurance company you have chosen is a reliable
company?
A reliable auto insurance company is one that has a good
reputation of paying or settling claims in the fastest time
possible and pays the correct amount of claims. To check on your
chosen auto insurance company you may visit your state's
department of insurance web site. You may not be aware of this
but every state has its own department of insurance. Nowadays,
most of these departments have their own web sites which display
consumer complaint ratios of all insurance companies that sell
in their state. These ratios will tell you just how many
complaints each of the listed car insurance received per one
thousand claims filed.
The complaint ratio will provide you with a gauge on which car
insurance to choose. Likewise, out of the list of your chosen
car insurance you may be able to also get the company that
offers the lowest premium quotes. But make sure that your chosen
car insurance company has one of the least ratios of complaint.
The car insurance that ranks on both lists should merit your
strongest consideration.
The next step is to find out which body shops are recommended by
your chosen car insurance. Take note of the locations of their
accredited body shops. See if there is an accredited shop that
is in your area. If they have one in your area so much the
better but you still have to check on the auto body shop to see
if it has all the necessary auto repair equipment and machines
that can effectively answer any auto repair that you may be
requiring in the future.
After checking on the auto body shop and you need to ask them
about the insurance company that accredits them. They will
either give you a positive feedback or a negative one. Lucky for
you if it's a positive remark since this will mean that you have
finally found the auto insurance that you want. However it is
not yet the end of your search since there are still other
factors you have to look into.
Additional information on the auto insurance company that you
are considering may be found on the J.D. Power and Associates
website. This organization is known to collect data from
individual policyholders nationwide and asks these same
policyholders to rate their auto insurance company according to
coverage options, price, claims handling, satisfaction with
representatives, including the overall experience that they have
with their respective auto insurance companies.
Another factor for you to look into before you finally settle
and pay your very first premium is the financial strength rating
of the auto insurance company that you are considering. You may
take a look at the A.M. Best and the Standard & Poor's ratings.
These two companies are known for publishing financial strength
ratings of all insurance companies. The financial strength of an
auto insurance company will determine its capacity to pay or to
settle claims. Auto insurance companies that reflect a very low
financial strength ratio would mean they do not have the
capabilities of settling claims and therefore should not be
chosen.