The more money that drivers have to pay for their auto insurance, the less likely they’re going to be happy with their insurance company. That’s the story being told by the numbers in J.D. Power’s latest Canada Auto Insurance Satisfaction Study, which shows that Ontario is the second least satisfied region in Canada when it comes to auto insurance — as well as one of the regions where premium rates have gone up the most.
Auto insurance rates in Ontario increased by an average of $311 year-over-year, according to the study released by J.D. Power on Thursday. That number falls short only of premium increases in Alberta ($326), and is higher than the national average ($298) in a survey that includes Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic region.
As with affordability, Ontario ranks second last in terms of customer satisfaction, scoring 774 on a 1,000 point scale. It beats out only Alberta, where insurance rates went up the most, and which only scored 754 for satisfaction.
The Co-Operators, The Personal and RBC Insurance topped Ontario’s list of insurance companies with satisfaction scores between 794 and 809. J.D. Power looked at 13 Ontario insurers in total.
At the bottom of the list is Aviva Insurance, with a score of 751, as well as Wawanesa (751) and Desjardins General Insurance (748).
J.D. Power’s annual study doesn’t explicitly rank satisfaction based on premium rates. Instead, it looks at the customer experience. However, the amount of money that drivers are paying in premiums appears to have a direct effect on how happy they feel with their insurance provider: as with Ontario and Alberta, the rankings of Quebec and the Atlantic region in the satisfaction study correlated directly with how much premiums increased in those regions.
J.D. Power measures several factors impacting satisfaction: price, billing, and payment; claims; interaction for non-claims; product and policy offerings.
According to the study, customers reported feeling more satisfied when their insurer discussed discount options with them before raising their premium rates, and when they felt like they understood their bill and what they were paying for. Customers who only saw premium increases, but did not understand why they occurred, reported feeling less happy with their insurers.
“There are multiple ways to help customers realize the value of their policy,” said Tom Super, director of the insurance practice at J.D. Power. “Providing easy access to policy information via digital channels and having at least one annual touchpoint to review customers’ changing needs can go a long way in increasing satisfaction and loyalty.”
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