After you have decided on the policy you want to go for in the car you purchased the next step is to get the right insurance company from where you want the policy. However you should keep several factors in mind for this. It is not necessary that the biggest company would also be the best. They should have a smooth claim process and should have few customer complaints against them.
Following steps will help you choose the right insurance company for you:
1. Visit the State's department of insurance website: Every state has their own department of insurance website which will show you clearly the amount of consumer complaint ratio. This shows the number of complaints the company got against every 1000 claims filed. If you already have a list of insurers you would like to go with based on lower premiums you can further short list the names by using this criteria. The lesser the ratio for a company the better it is handling the consumer requests. You can find the list of every state's department of insurance by looking at the I-CAN.
2. Recommendations of a body shop: You should visit your local body shop which you trust and ask for their recommendations. This is a very important part as these guys are generally dealing with the insurance companies on a daily basis and know which company has the smoothest process which help in getting the damaged vehicle back on road the fastest. Also they know which insurance companies push for aftermarket parts as against the OEM parts just to cut cost.
3. Checking the J.D.Power Ratings: You can find the ratings for different insurance companies according to coverage options, claims handling, price and overall experience at J.D. Power and Associates. For the past few years the toppers at the list have been Amica and Erie. Erie is sold by independent agents and they are very knowledgeable about the products the company is offering. In case of these two the general approach during claims handling is to find a reason to cover it however in other cases the approach is to find a reason to not pay for the claims.
4. Check the financial strength of the insurers: You should also check the financial strength of a company you are going to get your policy from. You can check them from Standard & Poor's and A.M.Best. This will give you an indication to the ability of the insurance company to pay out a claim. Although most of the insurance companies having independent agents will have satisfactory financial condition however if you are going with a lesser known company this research might help.
5. Don't rule out working with an agent: While many companies like geico and esurance sell insurance directly to customers over the phone or internet, there are still many other companies which keep agents to sell insurance like Allstate's or State Farm's. If you contact them online they would still assign you a local agent.
There are two types of local agents:
1. Captive agents: these types of agents only work for a single insurance company. Major insurance companies sell their products through captive agents like the AAA,Allstate's etc.
2. Independent agents: These type of agents do not work for a single insurance company and represent several companies.
The main advantage of going with an agent is that he would want you to be happy of the service he provides. One of the major ways of getting new business for them is through recommendations and hence if you are very happy with their service you might advice your friends to go with him. Many of the friends I know would only go with their insurance agent as they know the person for years and even though the overall price might be a bit high they end up feeling better through this way of getting their policies.
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