JD Power Auto Insurance Customer Satisfaction Study 2014: Analyzing the Ratings & Company Scores

JD Power released its annual US Auto Insurance Customer Satisfaction Study for 2014 on June 20th, 2014. As I have noted before in my reviews of JD Power insurance studies, consumers need to consider each auto insurance company’s numerical score for the region where they reside, and not rely on the Power Circle ratings assigned by JD Power alone, to know if a company is providing better or worse customer satisfaction than its competitors. Too often, a company with a higher rating, such as a a four power circle rating (better than most), scored close enough to companies with lower ratings, such as a three power circle rating (about average), where it’s hard to say the higher rated company is really providing higher auto insurance customer satisfaction.

For example, in this 2014 study for the Florida region, Auto-Owners Insurance scored 815 points out of 1,000 possible points, and received the rating of four Power Circles (better than most). However, Progressive Insurance, in the same Florida region, scored 811 out of 1,000 points, but was rated three Power Circles (about average). An auto insurance shopper getting a price quote from Progressive Insurance & Auto-Owners Insurance, might be lured into paying more for an Auto-Owners auto insurance policy, based on its higher JD Power auto insurance customer satisfaction rating. But does a 4 point difference on a 1,000 point scale, really mean Auto-Owner’s Florida auto insurance customers are more satisfied than Progressive’s Florida auto insurance customers? I don’t think so.

This review will analyze the numerical scores for each auto insurance company in each of the 11 U.S. regions included in the 2014 auto insurance customer satisfaction study, and rank them into a category of best, better than average, average, below average, and worst, so you are not misled into thinking companies with higher ratings, but scoring about the same as lower rated companies, are better than they are. Continue reading