A new survey, carried out by Auto Express and The Telegraph Motoring, has revealed which insurance companies motorists rate as the best and which ones they think are the worst.
The results were somewhat surprising, with many of Britain’s best known car insurance providers scoring poorly; the full ratings list consists of the top 40 companies, with brands such as More Than, Churchill and Swiftcover all finishing in the bottom quarter.
Over 46,000 drivers were surveyed, and asked to rate their respective insurance companies in five areas – communication, helpfulness, value for money, speed to settle a claim and overall service.
NFU Mutual finished top of the table, with more than 97% of customers saying they would renew their policy even though there are cheaper insurers. The firm was praised in particular for its local customer service and its efficiency.
Bottom of the pile was Diamond; several customers complained of errors on their policies, while one respondent said they had to wait two years for a claim to be resolved.
Additionally, a 'mystery shopper' study was carried out which involved journalists contacting each insurer to find the lowest premium in three scenarios: for a 25-year-old sales manager driving a Ford Fiesta, a 40-year-old publicity manager driving a Vauxhall Insignia and a 55-year-old dentist driving a BMW 530d.
Interestingly, Esure was the cheapest for all three, although it still finished in the bottom quarter of the table – a clear indicator that customers value a lot more than a cheap price. It returned quotes of £601.32, £217 and £205.83 respectively.
The full list is shown below.
1. NFU Mutual - 89.09%
2. LV=Frizzel - 88.27%
3. Adelade IAM Surety - 87.94%
4. Royal and Sun Alliance - 85.01%
5. Saga - 83.03%
6. Liverpool Victoria - 82.95%
7. John Lewis Insurance - 82.57%
8. RIAS - 81.15%
9. Groupama - 80.45%
10. Co-operative Insurance - 80.18%
11. Ageas - 79.75%
12. NatWest - 79.73%
13. Nationwide - 79.13%
14. Marks and Spencer - 78.59%
15. Sainsbury’s - 78.55%
16. Allianz - 78.54%
17. Prudential - 78.34%
18. Adrian Flux - 78.18%
19. Lloyds TSB - 77.97%
20. Direct Line - 77.78%
21. Tesco - 77.42%
22. Aviva - 77.31%
23. Equity Red Star - 77.19%
24. Swinton - 76.95%
25. Axa - 76.88%
26. Churchill - 76.83%
27. Zurich Financial Services - 76.70%
28. Priveilege - 76.39%
29. More Than - 76.21%
30. Halifax - 75.96%
31. Esure - 75.94%
32. Insure - 75.83%
33. Broker Direct - 75.54%
34. Sheila’s Wheels - 75.42%
35. AA - 75.42%
36. Chaucer - 75.19%
37. Hastings Direct - 75.15%
38. Highway - 74.41%
39. Swiftcover - 74.33%
40. Diamond - 74.24%
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