| The New York State Department of Insurance (DOI) | | | | 8. Chubb |
| just released the 2008 Annual Ranking of Automobile | | | | 9. Utica Mutual |
| Insurance Complaints. The report has been issued to | | | | 10. State F*arm |
| help consumers find the automobile insurer that best | | | | 11. Central Services Group, Central Insurance Group, |
| meets their needs. You can use this report to | | | | NY Central Mutual Fire Ins. |
| compare the ranking of the insurance company you | | | | 12. Main Street America Group, National Grange |
| are doing business with now, or check another | | | | Mutual |
| company you may be considering. | | | | 13. Progressive |
| This report analyzed data collected from 2006 and | | | | 14. Liberty Mutual |
| 2007. It only ranks companies doing business in the | | | | 15. Kingsway Insurance Group, Lincoln General Ins. |
| State of New York. However, as New York is a | | | | 16. Response Insurance Group |
| heavily populated state, with both big urban centers | | | | 17. Nationwide Insurance |
| and big suburban areas, the report can be considered | | | | 18. American Modern Ins. Group, American Family |
| a good representation of insurance company | | | | Home Ins. |
| performance nationwide. | | | | 19. St. Paul Travelers |
| How The Ranking Works | | | | 20. Unitrin Group, Kemper |
| The insurance companies are ranked on a complaint | | | | 21. Erie Insurance Group |
| ratio. The ratio is calculated by the number of | | | | 22. Berkshire Hathaway Insurance, GEICO |
| complaints upheld against companies as a percentage | | | | 23. Allstate Insurance |
| of their total private passenger auto business. | | | | 24. The Hartford Insurance Group |
| Insurers with the fewest upheld complaints per million | | | | 25. Hanover Insurance, Citizens Ins., Allmerica Financial |
| dollars of premiums are shown at the top of the list. | | | | Alliance |
| The companies with the highest ratio of complaints | | | | 26. Metropolitan Group |
| are ranked at the bottom. | | | | 27. American National Financial Group |
| Other Information to Consider | | | | 28. Allianz Insurance Group |
| The ranking of an insurance company is important, | | | | 29. GMAC, Integon, MIC P&C, National General |
| but it is only one characteristic that consumers should | | | | Ins. Co. |
| weigh when considering doing business with an | | | | 30. Zurich Ins.Group, Foremost, Maryland Casualty |
| insurance company. Others are:o Referrals from | | | | 31. Hannover RE Group, Clarendon National |
| friends, relatives, neighbors or co-workers about the | | | | 32. State Wide Insurance |
| experiences they had with their insurance | | | | 33. White Mountains Group, OneBeacon, Esurance, |
| companieso Price of the premium versus perceived | | | | Auto One Ins. |
| valueo Search the Internet for other ideaso Check | | | | 34. Countrywide Insurance |
| your state's DOI website, which may contain valuable | | | | 35. Safeco Insurance Group |
| consumer information about companies doing | | | | 36. American International Group (AIG) |
| business in your state. | | | | 37. Tri-State Consumer Ins. Group |
| What The Ranking Does and Does Not Containo | | | | 38. Interboro Mutual |
| Private passenger insurance is the only type | | | | 39. Infinity Property & Casualty |
| evaluated.o It only includes the complaints referred | | | | 40. Long Island Insurance |
| by consumers to the DOI. It does not include | | | | Conclusion |
| complaints made directly to the insurance | | | | If your auto insurance provider is not shown on this |
| companies.o Complaints are "upheld" when the DOI | | | | list, it could be that they don't sell insurance in New |
| agrees with a consumer that an insurance company | | | | York. Or, it could be that their number of complaints |
| made an inappropriate decision.o Information from | | | | is worse than the company in the #40 position!! |
| prior years is included in the tables so consumers can | | | | Think about this statement, my friends. |
| see if the company has improved or gotten worse.o | | | | The only thing that truly matters about your auto |
| All companies with at least $10 million in premium in | | | | insurance is what happens when you submit a claim. |
| 2006 and 2007 are included in the ranking. Insurers | | | | Claims are about KEEPING PROMISES. When the |
| with less than $10 million were included if they had 10 | | | | insurance companies don't keep their promises, the |
| or more complaints against them. | | | | complaints pile up! |
| Top Three Most Common Complaints | | | | So, why would you EVER consider doing business |
| 1. Monetary settlements - settlement amount is too | | | | with any insurance company LOWER than NUMBER |
| low. | | | | 10 on the list? |
| 2. Policy terminations | | | | If you are one of the unfortunate people who |
| 3. Promptness of insurance payments | | | | experience an automobile loss of any kind, you'll need |
| 2007 Auto Complaint Listing (ranked lowest number | | | | to know how to handle your insurance claim so that |
| at top, higher as you go down) | | | | you maximize your recovery. I'll even be so bold as |
| 1. Mercury General Group | | | | to say this: If you do not use the strategies for |
| 2. American Express, Amex Assurance, IDS Property | | | | submitting a claim found in my book, you will not |
| Casualty | | | | collect all the money you are entitled to collect. You |
| 3. Eveready Insurance Co. | | | | will need to know how to take control of your |
| 4. Electric Insurance Group | | | | insurance claim, and add hundreds or even thousands |
| 5. Amica Mutual | | | | more dollars to your claim settlement. For more |
| 6. Preferred Mutual Insurance Co. | | | | information, check out the website shown below in |
| 7. United Services Automobile Assurance Group | | | | the Resource Box. |
| (USAA) | | | | |