Every car owner knows how important it is to have car insurance, but how do you go about finding out which insurance companies are reliable? When using the word reliable, it is meant in the terms of how these insurance companies treat you as the paying customer. More importantly, how will they deal with you when it comes to filing a claim?
One way of doing this is by going online and taking a look at your state's department of insurance website. Most people do not even know that every state has a department of insurance. On these websites, you will find a list of all the insurance companies that are eligible to sell car insurance in that particular state and most do publish what is known as a consumer complaint ratio. This will let you know how many complaints any one insurance company has had per 1,000 claims that have been filed. This is a good way that you can use the complaints ratio against any potential insurance company your thinking of using. It doesn't go hand in hand that just because the company may be a big player in car insurance they will be easy to deal with.
After you have done your research and drawn up a list of those companies that you may consider doing business with, you then need to make a list of the ones that have the least complaint ratios. Take your two lists and compare the companies that come out on top of both lists are those that you should advance with.
Another useful thing about using these sites is that, they will often give you a basic rate comparison surveys results on which insurance company based on your finances you may like to do business with.
Another potential way of finding out which insurers are reliable is by asking around in your local body repairs shops. It's best to ask those that you know and can trust. This is because these repairs shop managers have a lot of dealings with car insurance loss adjusters. By having regular dealings with car insurers they know which ones have the best claims processes which will dictate how quickly your car repairs are done. They will also know what companies push for genuine parts replacement and those that go for aftermarket parts which reduce the cost of repairs.
Maybe this all sounds too time consuming? Then you could try using an agent. In days gone, by this was the only way in which you could purchase car insurance. Unlike today when you can call direct or get an online quote. A lot of the big names in car insurance business still hold onto their networks of local agents.
There are basically only two types of agent- the first being the independent agent and they are usually called brokers. These brokers will deal with many different companies so they do not have anything to gain from pushing for one company over another. The other type of agent is known as a captive agent. These agents will deal with only one insurance company so you will not get any comparisons to work with.
Choosing the correct or most reliable insurance company is a time consuming process, but anyone that has had a hard time in the past will know that a little time spent on research can save you a lot of headaches should you have the misfortune to have to make a claim.
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