Personal Touch

Agents appear to be winning the race in home insurance — at least when it comes to claims.

Home insurance claimants who file through agents show greater satisfaction levels — 50 points higher — than those who file claims directly. Despite better satisfaction when filing through agents, the percentage of customers filing through direct channels continues to rise.

That is according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2013 Property Claims Satisfaction Study, which also found that overall homeowners insurers continue to get high marks for claims handling even as they have faced two of the heaviest years — 2011 and 2012 — for claims. Overall satisfaction in the 2013 study is 832 (on a 1,000-point scale), significantly increasing from 823 in 2011 and 818 in 2010.

For the approximately 8 percent of homeowners in the United States filing a property claim this year, the average settlement amount is $8,517, up from $7,937 in 2012. While the amount of the settlement to cover contents increased by nearly $250 year-over-year, the amount to cover the cost of repairs increased to $7,844 in 2013 from $7,151 in 2012. The average out-of-pocket expenses paid by homeowners nearly doubled to $3,888 in 2013 from $1,945 in 2012.

The most frequent reasons for filing a claim are tornado/hurricane (33 percent); hail (22 percent); and water damage not caused by weather (14 percent).

The study, now in its sixth year, measures satisfaction with the property claims experience among insurance customers who filed a claim for damages covered under their homeowners’ policy by examining five factors: settlement; first notice of loss; estimation process; service interaction; and repair process.

“Despite increases in both the frequency and average severity of property damage in the U.S. during the past two years, the fact that customer satisfaction remains high is a testament to how diligently the personal insurance industry has responded to its customers,” said Jeremy Bowler, senior director of the insurance practice at J.D. Power and Associates.

While overall satisfaction remains relatively stable, satisfaction with the service interaction process declined by nine points in 2013, compared with 2012. Much of that drop in satisfaction is due to the continuing trend of homeowners filing their claim via direct channels — typically online or by calling a call center — rather than through an agent.

Do your customers file claims through the agency? Or do you tell clients to contact the insurer’s claims hotline?

“During times of hardship when someone’s house has been destroyed or their valuable possessions have been lost, it’s difficult for a call center representative to replicate the personal relationship customers get with an agent,” Bowler said.

Don’t lose a customer because of a poor claims experience. Agents should be the point of contact in times of crisis — if only to give that extra special personal touch to customers during a devastating loss.

Topics Agencies Claims Homeowners