Does your homeowners insurance company have a lot of complaints? Will you have difficulty placing a claim, or have a valid claim delayed or denied? Is your company good or bad? Most consumers fail to check the complaint records of their insurance companies. Here I provide complaint ratings, based of their 2010 national complaint ratios (Accurate 2011 data is not available yet), for all (let me know if I missed one) home insurance companies in New Jersey. Find out the best & worst companies.
It’s important to choose an homeowners insurance company with a good claims record, but the most important reason you must shop your homeowners insurance is to get the proper insurance coverage.
You need to adequately protect the biggest asset you own — your home — and unlike auto insurance, home insurance coverage options can be VERY different among insurance companies.
You need to have enough coverage to rebuild your home. But some insurance companies have options to rebuild no matter what it may cost, and other home insurance companies pay only your policy limit, or up to 120% of your coverage amount.
It is important to have the guarantee to rebuild no matter the cost, because when large losses occur, most homes are determined to be under-insured, and don’t have nearly enough insurance to rebuild their homes.
Some homeowners insurance companies will cover the sometimes substantial costs involved to comply with building codes and demolition laws. Other insurance companies do not cover it, or offer only a token amount of coverage. Some insurance companies cover water back up from sewers & drains, others do not cover it.
Most people never have a large claim like a house fire or a large lawsuit, but those people who do have a claim, often realize they made a mistake by not shopping to buy the coverage they really need. Don’t be one of those people, and shop for the right coverage for you.
You should shop your homeowners insurance every year, as you should with your auto insurance. Check the rates and coverage of ALL the leading homeowners insurance companies, so you can get the best combination of cost, coverage, and customer service. Agents who know how coverage differs among homeowners insurance companies will be a great source of information to you.
The New Jersey Department of Banking & Insurance website, and my website, are the sources of information used in this blog post about market share & complaint information.
New Jersey does not have any complaint data available regarding New Jersey home insurance companies. I use the national complaint ratio for each homeowners insurance company on my list, from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners website, as referenced on my website (see the link below). I devised a letter grade system, based on the national complaint ratios, to make it easy to tell if an insurance company has a better than average or worse than average complaint record.
Here is how my grading system works:
A+ = Insurance companies with complaints 25% or less than the average insurance company.
A = Insurance companies with complaints 50% or less than the average insurance company.
B = Insurance companies with complaints 90% or less than the average insurance company.
C = Insurance companies with complaints from 90% to 110% of the average insurance company.
D = Insurance companies with complaints from 110% to 200% of the average insurance company.
F = Insurance companies with complaints over 200% of the average insurance company. More than twice as much as average!
Consider these grades, along with price and other factors (as listed on my website), when choosing an homeowners insurance company.
Important: an insurance company frequently has several subsidiary insurance companies. For example, Chubb Insurance Group has 5 subsidiary companies on this list, and not all of them include the “Chubb” name, such as the Chubb subsidiary, Vigilant Insurance Company. The insurance companies are listed alphabetically. Make sure you know the correct name of the insurance subsidiary quoting or insuring you, to check the proper complaint grade.
A portion of the insurance companies on this list no longer sell new homeowners insurance policies. If you are insured with one of them, and decide to cancel your policy, you may not be likely to have it reinstated, if you change your mind. However, if your insurance company is rated poorly for complaints, changing home insurance companies might be in your best interest.
NJ Homeowners Insurance Companies 2010 National Complaint Ratings (listed alphabetically)
21st Century Pinnacle Insurance Company (Formerly American International Insurance Company of NJ) = A+ (No complaints)
AAA Mid-Atlantic Insurance Company of NJ = F (2.65)
Affiliated FM Insurance Company (membership for FM Global employees & retirees only) = A+ (No complaints)
Allstate New Jersey Insurance Company (not writing new policies) = B (.81)
American Bankers Insurance Company of Florida = F (2.00)
American Commerce Insurance Company = B (.74)
American Fire & Casualty Company (Ohio Casualty Group) (not writing new policies) = D (1.58)
American Home Assurance Company (AIG) = A+ (.19)
American Insurance Company (A Firemans Fund company) (Not writing new policies) = A (.27)
American Strategic Insurance Corp. = B (.76)
Amica Mutual Insurance Company = A (.32)
Armed Forces Insurance Exchange (Restricted membership to the military) = B (.66)
Balboa Insurance Company = F (5.48)
Bankers Standard Insurance Company = A+ (.07)
Bay State Insurance Company (Andover Group) = B (.85)
California Casualty & Fire Insurance Company = A+ (No complaints)
Cambridge Mutual Fire Insurance Company = C (.99)
Castlepoint Insurance Company (Tower Group) = A (.26)
Chartis Property Casualty Company (AIG) = A+ (.12)
Chubb Insurance Company of NJ = D (1.77)
Citizen’s Insurance Company of America (Hanover Group) = A+ (.11)
Cumberland Mutual Fire Insurance Company = D+ (1.16)
Electric Insurance Company = D+ (1.15)
Empire Fire & Marine Insurance Company = C (.96)
Encompass Insurance Company of NJ = A (.42)
Encompass Property & Casualty Insurance Company of NJ = A+ (No complaints)
Excelsior Insurance Company (Peerless Insurance Group) = C (1.05)
Farm Family Casualty Insurance Company (not writing new policies) = F (3.29)
Farmers Insurance Company of Farmington (NOT Farmers Insurance Group) = F (2.71)
Farmers Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Salem County (NOT Farmers Insurance Group) = C (1.03)
Federal Insurance Company (Chubb Group) = A+ (.18)
Fidelity & Guaranty Insurance Underwriters Inc. (Travelers Group) = A+ (No complaints)
Fidelity Mohawk Insurance Company (Franklin Mutual Group) (not writing new policies) = A+ (No complaints)
Fidelity National Property & Casualty Insurance Company = D+ (1.22)
Fireman’s Fund Indemnity Corp. (not writing new policies) = A+ (No complaints)
Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company (not writing new policies) = A (.29)
First American Property & Casualty Insurance Company = D ( 1.82)
Fitchburg Mutual Insurance Company = D (1.78)
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Foremost Insurance Company (not writing new policies) = D+ (1.14)
Founders Insurance Company = A+ (No complaints)
FMI Insurance Company (Franklin Mutual Group) = B (.62)
Franklin Mutual Insurance Company = A (.43)
Germantown Insurance Company (Philadelphia Contribution Group) = A (.38)
Graphic Arts Mutual Insurance Company (Utica Mutual Group) (not writing new policies) = A+ (No complaints)
Hanover Insurance Company (not writing new policies) = D (1.23)
Harleysville Insurance Company of NJ = B (.78)
Hartford Underwriters Insurance Company (AARP program) (not writing new policies – see Property & Casualty Insurance Company of Hartford for active AARP program) = D (1.82)
High Point Preferred Insurance Company (Plymouth Rock Group) (not writing new policies) = D (1.72)
Homesite Insurance Company = D (1.75)
IDS Property & Casualty Insurance Company (Ameriprise/Costco/American Express) = B (.78)
Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance Company (not writing new policies) = A (.49)
Liberty Mutual Mid-Atlantic Insurance Company = F (2.07)
LM Insurance Corp. (Liberty Mutual Group) = A (.36)
Massachusetts Bay Insurance Company (Hanover Group) = A (.27)
Mercer Insurance Company of NJ Inc. = A+ (No Complaints)
Merchants Mutual Insurance Company = A+ (No complaints)
Merchant Preferred Insurance Company = A+ (No complaints)
Mercury Indemnity Company of America = F (7.64)
Merrimack Mutual Fire Insurance Company = A (.46)
Metropolitan Group Property & Casualty Insurance Company (Metlife Group) = B (.83)
Metropolitan Property & Casualty Insurance Company ( Metlife Group) = B (.59)
Narragansett Bay Insurance Company = B ( .67)
National Surety Corp. (Fireman’s Fund Group) = A (.40)
New Jersey Manufacturers Insurance Company = A+ (.06)
New Jersey Re-insurance Company (New Jersey Manufacturers Group) = A+ (No complaints)
New Jersey Skylands Insurance Association = D+ (1.14)
Ohio Casualty Insurance Company (not writing new policies) = F (3.60)
Pacific Indemnity Company ( Chubb Group) = A+ (.13)
Pacific Specialty Insurance Company = F (3.30)
Palisades Property & Casualty Insurance Company (Plymouth Rock Group) = A (.43)
Philadelphia Contributionship Insurance = C (1.06)
Praetorian Insurance Company = A+ (No complaints)
Preferred Mutual Insurance Company = B (.79)
Privilege Underwriters Reciprocal Exchange = A+ (No complaints)
Property & Casualty Insurance Company of Hartford (Hartford Group — AARP program) = D (1.30)
Providence Mutual Fire Insurance Company = B (.68)
Public Service Mutual Insurance Company = A+ (No complaints)
QBE Insurance Corp. = F (6.26)
Quincy Mutual Fire Insurance Company (not writing new policies) = B (.58)
Rutgers Casualty Insurance Company = D (1.34)
Selective Insurance Company of America (not writing new policies) = F (2.06)
Selective Way Insurance Company (not writing new policies) = A (.50)
Selective Auto Insurance Company of NJ = D (1.37)
State Farm Fire & Casualty Insurance Company = A (.44)
Tower Insurance Company of New York = B+ (.55)
Tower National Insurance Company = A+ (No complaints)
Truck Insurance Exchange (Farmers Insurance Group) = D+ (1.12)
USAA Casualty Insurance Company = A (.30)
United Service Auto Association (USAA) = A (.28)
Universal North America Insurance Company = A+ (.23)
Utica First Insurance Company = B (.61)
Utica Mutual Insurance Company = C (.93)
Vigilant Insurance Company (Chubb Group) = A (.27)
Do you have any questions or commentary about these ratings or NJ home insurance companies? Tell me about it. Please leave a comment on my facebook page. Follow me on Twitter for important insurance consumer news and new blog entries at CarInsWatch.