Answering Your Questions About Your Auto Insurance Carrier

When you go shopping around for an auto insurance policy you're looking for two things-a great coverage policy and a great deal. That doesn't mean dollars and cents is all you should be worried about though! You want to make sure you've got an auto insurance provider that's going to stand behind you before you start handing over hundreds of dollars every month in premiums. You've got questions, and you need to know where to go for answers.

The best place to start is with your auto insurance company. When you call to ask questions do the customer service representatives seem knowledgeable, or do they leave you feeling like you've been blown off? Do the agents know what they're talking about, or is "Ummm" the most frequently heard word in the conversation? The way you're treated by the customer service agents you work with is a great indicator of how the remainder of your relationship is going to go. A good company will do a good job training its agents. A poor one throws their employees to the wolves.

Of course, gut feelings can and should be backed up by fact. You can contact J.P. Morgan and Associates via their website to see how your insurance company checked out in the last annual study. This company polls thousands of drivers every year to find out how they like their insurance coverage, how they're treated by their agents and how inclusive their policies are. They then post this information in their annual national study results for consumers to see.

Awards and recognitions for outstanding achievement are also included in this study.

Finally, let's talk about the most reliable source of information-word of mouth. What better way to recognize when a company is going to give you the coverage you need than to talk to the people they already insure? There are hundreds of consumer review sites out on the web where auto insurance companies are evaluated and consumers have the chance to give their honest opinion. Have you ever known anyone not to be brutally honest when a company isn't holding up to their end of the bargain?

Absolutely not.

Bear in mind that you need to take every review of your auto insurance carrier you read with a grain of salt. It's impossible to make all of the people happy all of the time. Your insurer could be the best service provider in the country and there would still be a handful of drivers that aren't happy with their service. Companies are always going to have a couple of people with complaints. It's important to think of these things relatively.

That said, any auto insurance provider that has a significantly greater proportion of complaints to compliments probably isn't going to be your best choice when it comes to a reliable, dependable and high quality auto insurance carrier.

By Michael F. McDonough