How good is Universal Property & Casualty Insurance Company? Who do you contact for a price quote? Today I’ll provide you with information about Universal Property & Casualty Insurance Company to help you decide if they are the best property insurance company for you. Continue reading
Category Archives: Insurance Company Reviews
Federated National Insurance Reviews: Financial Stability Ratings & Complaint Record
This review analyzes the recent home insurance complaint record (2010, 2011, 2012, & 2013) for Federated National Insurance Company, the fifth largest seller of new home insurance policies in Florida, and discusses its financial strength ratings. Many insurance customers make the mistake of failing to check the complaint record of their insurance company. For auto & home insurance, people should avoid companies with a recent histories of higher than average number of complaints filed with a state’s regulatory authority, if possible. Most complaints are often about the denial, delay, or insufficient payment of a claim. This review rates the home insurance complaint history for the last four years (data for 2014 is not available yet) for Federated National Insurance Company, to let you know if Federated National is performing worse-than-average, average, or better-than-average, for homeowners insurance complaints, compared to the industry average. Another concern, particularly for people residing in hurricane or disaster-prone states, is the financial strength of their home insurance companies, to be able to promptly & fully pay the claims of all its customers. This review will explore how Federated National Insurance Company is rated for financial strength, stability, and claims-paying ability. The last part of this review will discuss how Federated National Insurance Company’s complaint record compares to other major Florida home insurance companies. Continue reading
Titan / Victoria Insurance Review: Auto Insurance Customer Complaint Record & AM Best Ratings
This Titan / Victoria Insurance review will evaluate, for the most recent three year period where reliable statistics are available (2010, 2011, 2012, & 2013), the auto insurance complaint ratings for the subsidiary companies of Titan Insurance, to determine whether each subsidiary, such as Titan Indemnity Company or Victoria Fire & Casualty Company, has a better-than-average, average, or worse-than-average customer complaint record. I’ll look at increases & decreases in market share (as measured by annual written premiums) for each Titan subsidiary, as a possible indication of the competitiveness of their auto insurance rates. Lastly, this review will compare the auto insurance complaint records for the Titan / Victoria companies, with major competitors, like Allstate, Progressive, GEICO, The General, Infinity, National General (Formerly GMAC) & Farmers. Continue reading
Response Insurance Review: Auto Insurance Customer Complaint Statistics & AM Best Ratings
This Response Insurance review will evaluate, for the most recent five year period where reliable statistics are available (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, & 2013), the auto insurance complaint ratings for the subsidiary companies of Response Insurance, to determine whether each subsidiary, such as Response Worldwide Insurance Company or Warner Insurance Company, has a better-than-average, average, or worse-than-average customer complaint record. I’ll look at increases & decreases in market share (as measured by annual written premiums) for each Response operating company, as a possible indication of the competitiveness of their insurance rates. Lastly, this review will compare the auto insurance complaint records for the Response subsidiary companies, with major competitors, like State Farm, Allstate, Progressive, GEICO, & Farmers. You may really like your auto insurance company, or you may have heard from relatives or friends about the insurance companies they think are best, but you never really know how good your insurance company will be, until you have a serious claim. The good news is many insurance companies settle a good portion of their claims in a manner acceptable to the majority of their customers. However, the wise consumer should avoid insurance companies with a worse than average history of auto insurance complaints. This review provides valuable information to help you decide if Response Insurance is best for you. By choosing a company with a better-than-average complaint history, or at least avoiding companies with consistent, worse-than-average complaint records, you reduce the likelihood you will have a negative experience, when you need your auto insurance company. Continue reading
Olympus Insurance Reviews: Financial Stability Ratings & Complaint Record
This review analyzes the four-year home insurance complaint record (2010, 2011, 2012, & 2013) for Olympus Insurance, one of the twenty-five largest sellers of home insurance in Florida, and discusses its financial strength ratings. Many insurance policyholders make the mistake of failing to check the complaint record of their insurance company. For auto & home insurance, people should avoid companies with a recent history of higher than average number of complaints filed with a state’s regulatory authority, whenever possible. The majority of these complaints are usually regarding denial, delay, or inadequate payment of a claim. This review rates the recent home insurance complaint history (reliable data for 2014 is not available yet) for Olympus Insurance Company, to let you know if Olympus is performing worse than average, average, or better than average, for home insurance complaints, compared to the industry average. Another great concern, particularly for people residing in hurricane or disaster-prone states, is the financial strength of their home insurance companies, to be able to promptly & fully pay the claims of all its customers. In Florida, most of the companies insuring homes in the state are not the large national companies, but smaller companies not rated by AM Best, the best-known rating agency of insurance companies. This review will explore how Olympus Insurance Company is rated for financial strength and claims-paying ability. The final part of this review will discuss how Olympic Insurance Company’s complaint record compares to other major Florida home insurance companies. Continue reading
Piedmont Mutual Insurance Review: Homeowners Insurance Complaints, AM Best, BBB, & JD Power Ratings
How good is Piedmont Mutual Insurance? Does it have a lot of customer complaints? How does it stack up compared to competing home insurance companies? This blog post will review Piedmont Mutual, its AM Best or Demotech financial strength ratings, JD Power customer satisfaction ratings, Better Business Bureau ratings, and its home insurance complaint record over the last 5 years. Unfortunately, the news is not good for Piedmont Mutual customers, but I’ll show you some other company options, which may be a better choice for you, and increase the odds you’ll be happy if you have a claim. You may also be able to save a lot of money, too. Continue reading
Safe Auto Insurance Company (SafeAuto) Review: Customer Complaints, AM Best, JD Power, & Better Business Bureau (BBB) Ratings
Safe Auto Insurance Company, also known as SafeAuto, is a major provider of nonstandard auto insurance and is available in seventeen U.S. states. Does Safe Auto Insurance Company have a lot of customer complaints? How does it compare to competing car insurance companies like Progressive & GEICO? This blog post will review Safe Auto Insurance Company, it’s JD Power, AM Best, Demotech, BBB (Better Business Bureau) ratings, and its auto insurance customer complaint record over the last three years. There can be a big difference in the cost & coverage offered by different auto insurance companies, particularly for companies designed for higher risk drivers, and being a well-known brand does not mean being the best. The wise insurance buyer shops the market with all the major companies for the right combination of coverage, acceptable claims & customer service, and a good price. This blog post will help you decide if Safe Auto Insurance Company might be a good choice for you. I’ll also show you how the complaint record for Safe Auto Insurance Company compares with major competing insurance companies, like Allstate and State Farm, to help you comparison shop & find the best car insurance company for you. Continue reading
New York Central Mutual Review: Auto & Home Insurance Customer Complaints, JD Power Customer Satisfaction & AM Best Financial Strength Ratings
New York Central Mutual Insurance Company, a property & casualty insurance company established in 1899 and still owned by the same family of the company founder, sells auto, home, mobile home, condo, rental property, umbrella liability, & tenants insurance only available in New York. The company is a major insurer of autos & homes in the Empire state. NY Central Mutual is one of the insurance companies recently included in the annual JD Power US Auto Insurance Customer Satisfaction Study, and it has been rated for the last three years. The JD Power study now consists of 11 separate regional studies, and includes more regional auto insurance companies, like New York Central Mutual.
When trying to evaluate an insurance company, you can find customer experiences regarding insurance companies on review & complaint Websites. But as many as 200 positive or negative reviews are not likely to be truly representative of a company with tens of thousands of customers (NY Central Mutual reports 476,000 policies in force on its Website). All insurance companies have unhappy customers writing complaints about them. In my experience, most customers satisfied with their home or auto insurance company are silent about it. Although no positive review can guarantee you will not have a negative experience, trusting negative reviews based on personal experiences will have you thinking all insurance companies are terrible. The truth is, when you look at complaint statistics & customer satisfaction surveys including the opinions of thousands of customers, some companies are definitely better or much worse than others.
I think my review of NY Central Mutual Insurance Company’s JD Power ratings & complaint statistics is more objective than your typical reviews, and more likely to reflect the actual experience of the majority of customers. As regular readers of my insurance company review blog should know, I’m a big fan of using the company scores from the JD Power insurance studies to measure customer satisfaction, but I think the power circle ratings (2-5 power circles) assigned to each company are often misleading, with both highly rated and lowest rated companies sometimes scoring very close to average. This review will analyze the scores behind the JD Power ratings for NY Central Mutual, look at the company’s complaint statistics for the past three years, to let you know if NY Central Mutual has a worse than average, average, or better than average complaint record, and give you other information, to help you decide if New York Central Mutual Insurance Company is a good or bad company to insure you. Continue reading
Kentucky National Insurance Company Review: Complaints, AM Best, JD Power, & Better Business Bureau (BBB) Ratings
How good is Kentucky National Insurance Company? Does it have a lot of customer complaints? How does it stack up compared to competing home & auto insurance companies? This blog post will review Kentucky National, including its customer complaint record over the last four years. There can be a big difference in the cost & coverage offered by different insurance companies, and being a well-known company does not mean being the best. The wise consumer shops the market for the right combination of coverage, acceptable claims & customer service, and a good price. This blog post will help you decide if Kentucky National Insurance Company might be a good choice for you. I’ll also show you other leading auto & home insurance companies in Kentucky, so you can comparison shop & find the best company for you. Continue reading
IFA Insurance Review: Auto Insurance Customer Complaint Statistics & Downgraded AM Best Financial Strength Rating
IFA Insurance Company, an auto insurance company insuring cars in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, & Maryland, has had its AM Best Financial Strength Rating(FSR) downgraded again in 2014. If you have IFA auto insurance, you should consider shopping for a more financially stable company with a better complaint record. This blog post will review the latest financial strength ratings & future ratings outlook for IFA, and show you some of the top auto insurance companies in NJ, PA,& MD, to help you shop for a more financially secure insurer. Car insurance rates vary a lot among companies, with some companies charging twice as much as others. Contrary to what you might expect, some of the companies with the best ratings & complaint records may have competitive rates for you. You don’t have to pay more for better service. You can likely find a better auto insurance company and save a lot of money, compared to what you pay now with IFA for the same coverage. Read this IFA auto insurance review and use the ad below this paragraph to get car insurance quotes from some of the top insurance companies in New Jersey. Continue reading
Sentry & Middlesex Insurance Review 2015: Auto & Home Insurance Complaint Record, JD Power and AM Best Ratings
This review for two of the major auto insurance companies of the Sentry Insurance Group, Sentry Insurance A Mutual Company and Middlesex Insurance Company, evaluates and compares their most recent three-year home & auto insurance customer complaint records with major competitors like Allstate, State Farm, GEICO, and Progressive, to help consumers decide if Sentry or Middlesex may be a good insurance company for them. JD Power & AM Best ratings for Sentry & Middlesex will also be analyzed. Do Sentry or Middlesex have a below average, average, or above average number of customer complaints? My review summary at the end (Section #6), will rate the auto & home insurance customer service & claims handling for Sentry & Middlesex, based on their complaint record. Continue reading
North Carolina Farm Bureau Review: Auto & Home Insurance Complaints, AM Best & JD Power Ratings
NC residents may know North Carolina Farm Bureau is a major insurer of homes, trucks, and automobiles in their state, but how does North Carolina Farm Bureau compare to other major car & home insurance companies competing in the Tar Heel State, such as Progressive, GEICO, State Farm, Allstate, Nationwide, Travelers, Safeco, Auto-owners & Liberty Mutual? This review analyzes the JD Power customer satisfaction ratings, AM Best financial strength ratings, and the most recent three-year home & auto insurance customer complaint records for the North Carolina Farm Bureau insurance companies, and compares them with major competitors. There is a lot of useful information in this review, but if you don’t want to read the entire review, you can skip to my review summary in the last section (section #7), to find out if my analysis concludes the auto & home insurance customer service, claims handling, and rates for NC Farm Bureau is below average, average, or above average. Reading this review can help you decide if North Carolina Farm Bureau is a good company to insure your cars, trucks, or home. Continue reading
Kentucky Farm Bureau Review: Auto & Home Insurance Complaints, AM Best & JD Power Ratings
Many Kentucky residents know Kentucky Farm Bureau is a major insurer of homes, trucks, and automobiles in the Bluegrass State. But how does Kentucky Farm Bureau compare to other major car & home insurance companies competing in the state of Kentucky, such as Progressive, GEICO, State Farm, Allstate, Nationwide, Travelers, Safeco, Auto-owners, Alfa, & Liberty Mutual? This review analyzes the JD Power customer satisfaction ratings, AM Best financial strength ratings, and the most recent three-year home & auto insurance customer complaint records for the Kentucky Farm Bureau insurance companies, and compares them with major competitors. There is a lot of useful information in this review, but if you don’t want to read the entire review, you can skip to my review summary in the last section (section #7), to find out if my analysis concludes the auto & home insurance customer service, claims handling, and rates for Kentucky Farm Bureau is below average, average, or above average. Reading this review can help you decide if Kentucky Farm Bureau is a good company to insure your cars, trucks, or home. Continue reading
Texas Farm Bureau Review: Auto & Home Insurance Complaints, AM Best & JD Power Ratings
Many Texans know Texas Farm Bureau is a major insurer of homes and private passenger vehicles in the Lone Star State. But how does Texas Farm Bureau compare to other major auto & home insurance companies competing in Texas, such as Progressive, GEICO, State Farm, Allstate, Nationwide, Farmers & Liberty Mutual? This review analyzes the JD Power customer satisfaction ratings, AM Best financial strength ratings, and the most recent three-year home & auto insurance customer complaint records for the Texas Farm Bureau insurance companies, and compares them with major competitors. There is a lot of useful information in this review, but if you don’t want to read the entire review, you can skip to my review summary in the last section (section #7), to find out if my analysis concludes the auto & home insurance customer service, claims handling, and rates for Texas Farm Bureau is below average, average, or above average. Reading this review will help you decide if Texas Farm Bureau is a good company to insure your cars, trucks, or home. Continue reading
Plymouth Rock Assurance / Bunker Hill Review: Auto & Home Insurance Complaints, AM Best & JD Power Ratings
Plymouth Rock Assurance is a major insurer of automobiles and other private passenger vehicles in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and Connecticut. A subsidiary of Plymouth Rock Assurance, Bunker Hill Insurance, insures homes in Massachusetts & Connecticut. How do the Plymouth Rock companies compare to other major insurance companies competing in Massachusetts, like Progressive, GEICO, Commerce, Liberty Mutual, Amica, Safety, and Arbella? This review analyzes the JD Power customer satisfaction ratings, AM Best financial strength ratings, and the most recent three-year home & auto insurance customer complaint records for the Plymouth Rock Assurance companies, and compares them with major competitors. There is a lot of useful information in this review, but if you don’t want to read the entire review, you can skip to my review summary in the last section (section #7), to find out if my analysis concludes the auto & home insurance customer service, claims handling, and rates at Plymouth Rock Assurance is below average, average, or above average. Reading this review will help you decide if Plymouth Rock Assurance is a good choice to insure your cars, trucks, or home. Continue reading
Tennessee Farm Bureau Review: Auto, Home, Renters, & Life Insurance
Tennessee Farm Bureau insures more homes and automobiles in Tennessee than any other company, but how does Tennessee Farm Bureau compare to other major auto insurance companies competing in the state of Tennessee, like Auto-Owners, Nationwide, Safeco, State Farm, Allstate, Progressive, and GEICO? This review analyzes the JD Power customer satisfaction ratings, AM Best financial strength ratings, and the most recent three-year home & auto insurance customer complaint records for the Tennessee Farm Bureau companies, and compares them with major competitors to assess the quality of customer service and claims handling with Tennessee Farm Bureau. If you don’t want to read the entire review, you can skip to my review summary at the end (Section #6), to find out if my analysis concludes the auto & home insurance customer service & claims handling at Tennessee Farm Bureau is below average, average, or above average. Reading this review will help you decide if Tennessee Farm Bureau is a good choice to insure your car, home, or provide for your other insurance needs. Continue reading
Peerless Insurance Review 2014: Auto & Home Insurance
Peerless Insurance, headquartered in Boston, MA., is formerly a regional insurance company insuring autos & homes mainly in the US Northeast since 1901, and is now owned by the large national insurance conglomerate, Liberty Mutual Group. Peerless Insurance sells auto, home, & other types of property & casualty insurance, focusing on the states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont, through independent insurance agencies located in communities throughout these states. Peerless Insurance insures a lot of autos & homes in the USA, but it does not have enough market share in any one state, region, or nationally, to be included in any of the annual JD Power US auto or home insurance studies. This review looks at the AM Best financial strength ratings and analyzes the most recent three-year home & auto insurance customer complaint records for the Peerless Insurance companies, and compares them with major competitors like Allstate, State Farm, GEICO, and Progressive, to help consumers decide if Peerless Insurance is a good insurance company for them. Does Peerless Insurance have a below average, average, or above average number of customer complaints? My review summary at the end (Section #6), will rate the auto & home insurance customer service & claims handling by Peerless Insurance, based on its complaint record. Continue reading
Safety Insurance Review: Auto & Home, Condo, Renters Coverage
Safety Insurance is the third largest insurer of private passenger vehicles and the fourth largest insurer of homes in Massachusetts, but also sells auto & home insurance in New Hampshire. This review will discuss the important facts about Safety Insurance, and how it sells its insurance. This review also analyzes the JD Power customer service ratings, AM Best financial strength ratings, as well as the most recent three-year home & auto insurance customer complaint record for Safety Insurance, in comparison with major competitors like Allstate, State Farm, GEICO, & Progressive. My review will give you information to help you decide if Safety Insurance is a good choice to insure your car or home. Continue reading
Answer Financial (answerfinancial.com) online auto insurance quotes review
Auto insurance buyers may be aware Allstate purchased an online auto insurance company called Esurance a few years ago. What people may not know, is the previous parent company for Esurance, White Mountains Insurance Group, also owned an online insurance agency, Answer Financial, authorized to represent multiple insurance companies as an agent or broker, which was also included in the sale of Esurance to Allstate insurance. Answerfinancial.com is one of the few places on the Web showing you the prices for different auto insurance companies online on their site, once you complete submitting your information for the quote, instead of selling your personal information to insurance companies and agents, to e-mail or call you with auto insurance quotes. How accurate are the auto insurance rates quoted by Answer Financial? Can you rely on Answer Financial to compare the best auto insurance companies for you? Should you buy auto insurance from Answer Financial? This review will tell you about how Answer Financial quotes auto insurance, and assesses the usefulness of Answerfinancial.com to the online auto insurance shopper. Continue reading
State Farm Life Insurance & Term Rates Review 2014
State Farm is the largest insurer of autos & homes in the USA by far, with lots of local State Farm agent offices in almost every community across the nation. In fact, there are TWO State Farm agent offices within a mile of my home, and over a dozen State Farm offices within 10 miles of me. State Farm is a well-known household name when it comes to insurance. But is State Farm a good choice for life insurance? State Farm may be a good choice for auto & home insurance, but as this review will show you, State Farm’s rates for life insurance are expensive, compared to other highly rated major life insurance companies. There are other drawbacks to using a State Farm agent for your life insurance. An independent insurance agent or agency, representing many life insurance companies, specializing in life insurance, is usually a better choice to find the best life insurance for your needs. The review below will explain why I think this is the case. Continue reading
Progressive Home Insurance Review 2013: Bundle and Save?
Did you know, when you buy homeowners, condo, or renters insurance from Progressive Insurance, through their Progressive Home Advantage program, it is not Progressive insuring your home? Progressive primarily insures automobiles & trucks, but acts as an agent, representing other insurance companies, when Progressive sells you property (homeowners, condo, renters) insurance, for you to receive the “bundling” discount you hear about in the Progressive advertisements. How good is the bundling discount? It can vary by state, home insurance company insuring you, and the type of coverage needed. When I called Progressive, the customer service representative told me only the home insurance policy would be discounted. Discounts for insuring your home and auto together are common with many insurance companies these days, and some companies discount both policies by as much as 20%. If you insure your car with Progressive, is bundling your property insurance with Progressive your best and least expensive option? If you bundle with State Farm or Allstate, unlike Progressive, both of those companies will be insuring your home & auto, possibly with much larger bundling discounts. This review will analyze the pros & cons of bundling your auto & property insurance together with Progressive, to help you decide if this is the best option for you. Continue reading
Tower Group AM Best Financial Strength Ratings Downgrade: How safe are its subsidiaries like Castlepoint, York, MA Homeland, Adirondack, & NJ Skylands Insurance?
The most well-known insurance company rating agency, A.M. Best, has downgraded the financial strength rating (FSR) of Tower Group International, Ltd., and its subsidiaries to B++ (Good) from A- (Excellent). All subsidiaries are under review with negative implications. Fitch Ratings has also downgraded Tower Group International, Ltd.’s and Tower’s operating subsidiaries’ Insurer Financial Strength (IFS) ratings to ‘BB’ from ‘A-‘. I, like many insurance agents, recommend not insuring your autos or property with any insurance company having less than an A- AM Best financial strength rating, whenever possible. Most of Tower Group’s subsidiary companies insuring homes & personal use autos & trucks in the USA are not easily identifiable as being a part of Tower Group, so this blog post will inform you about the subsidiaries operating under Tower Group, and how this ratings downgrade impacts them. If you are insured with some of these companies associated with Tower Group, you should shop to see what more financially stable insurance companies can offer you. I’ll show you some major competitors that my be a better choice for you. Continue reading
Encompass Insurance Reviews: 2012, 2011, & 2010 Complaint Ratings for Auto & Homeowners Insurance
How is the customer service and claims handling at Encompass Insurance Company? How good is Encompass Insurance Company‘s auto insurance & homeowners insurance? Does the company have a lot of complaints? This review will help you answer these important questions and decide if Encompass Insurance Company is best for you! Continue reading
American Family Insurance Review: Homeowners Insurance Complaint Ratings
How good is the claims & customer service for homeowners insurance with American Family Insurance? Here are complaint ratings for American Family’s homeowners insurance policies, based on national complaint ratios collected by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Continue reading
American Family Insurance Review: Auto Insurance Complaint Ratings
How good is the claims & customer service for American Family auto Insurance? Here is the information you need to help you decide! Continue reading