Personal Finance Tips

In this day and age we’re especially being bombarded with ads and commercials for homeowners insurance.

It’s nice to have options but most homeowners find it difficult to listen to so much “gimmicky sales hype” and separate the good, reputable, honest companies from the bad ones.

That’s Where Homeowners Insurance Company Ratings Come In

There are plenty of resources you can check to get the “inside story” on homeowners insurance companies, including info that will help you find the best rates!

The first place I always suggest is your local “Department of Insurance”… every state has one! The department of insurance will let you know any and all “complaints” that have been made against an insurance company.

Keep in mind that even good companies tend to have a few complaints (you can’t keep everyone happy!) but it will be nothing compared with the large number of complaints the bad ones get!

A “Tricky Behind The Scenes” Way To Get The Inside Secrets

Some state departments won’t show you complaints… if that’s the case you can always contact the California Department of Insurance or the New York State Insurance Department and they’ll give you the inside secrets!

Other Services That Rate Insurance Companies

You’ve probably heard of “JD Power & Associates” before… they’re kind of like the ‘Better Business Bureau’ but they only rate insurance companies. You’ll find lots of customer opinions and comparisons between insurance companies based on price, how they handle claims, customer service, etc.

Obviously the companies which treat their customers better will have higher ratings and you can have more confidence in them!

Common Insurance Myth: All Homeowners Insurance Rates Are Pretty Much The Same

Too many people don’t do their homework and think insurance rates are “regulated” between companies.

Do not make this same mistake! I’ve literally seen homeowners insurance prices differ by more than $1,000.00 between companies!

There really is no excuse for you to pay more than you have to these days. The Internet makes it extremely easy for you to contact a huge number of companies and “shop around” for the best deal.

If you’re entering the real estate market and looking to buy a home you are also going to have to look into buying homeowners insurance. If you’re borrowing money to pay for a new home there is a very strong chance that your lender requires that you insure your home or they will not lend you the money. Whether you are a new home buyer looking to obtain coverage for the first time or you are a longtime homeowner looking to get a better deal on your coverage you may want to look into some homeowners insurance company ratings to help you make your decision.

Whenever you do any comparison shopping price is obviously a factor. Everyone wants to get the most value for the money they spend but in addition to price there are some other factors to keep in mind. It’s a good idea to go with a company that is financially strong. If your insurance company doesn’t have enough money to cover your claims this could lead to some serious headaches at some point in the future.

In addition to the financial stability of the company you choose to go with you may want to look into some other things such as consumer reviews and the company’s customer service record. There are a number of places that you can go to find homeowners insurance company ratings so that you can make an informed decision.

Some of these places include:

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners - The NAIC has a website at – naic.org where you can select your state and be redirected to your state’s Department of Insurance website. Your state’s website will have a lot of information about any insurance providers operating in your state. The information will include things like a list of licensed agents and any complaints that may have been filed against the company.

A. M. Best Company - This company reviews many insurance providers and evaluates them on a number of different factors including the strength of the company and whether it’s under regulatory supervision.

J. D. Power company - J. D. Power conducts consumer surveys and rates companies based on prices, policy options, the way they handle claims, and customer service.

There’s a lot to think about when you’re shopping for homeowners insurance. After you’ve determined the type of coverage and the amount of coverage that you need its a good idea to evaluate any companies you might consider going with by finding homeowners insurance company ratings to help you make the most informed decision possible. And of course when shopping for anything price is always a factor. The good news is that you can get multiple online insurance quotes in just a matter of minutes and this makes finding the best price one of the easiest parts of the entire process.

When looking for a list of auto insurance companies and reviews of each it is important to realize that throughout the nation, there are hundreds, even thousands of companies, who want your business. Trying to make a decision about which one to go with is a difficult process and can be time consuming and confusing. Luckily there are many resources that are easily available to anyone wishing to check out an auto insurance company.

Before you even start reviewing car insurance companies, get quotes from several companies to compare prices and coverage. By using an online quote tool, you can get such quotes quickly and easily. Narrow down your choice of companies and then start the investigation of them.

How To Review An Auto Insurance Company

The biggest indicator of any insurer’s worth is its insurance rating. There are several independent companies, such as A.M. Best, Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s and Weiss Ratings, which review the companies in the marketplace and give them a rating based on financial strength, stability and their capacity to meet present and future obligations.

Many states have information available through their department of insurance that will tell you about the number and types of complaints each company receives. This is a good indicator of customer service and satisfaction.

Doing an online search of any company you are considering doing business with is also a good idea. It will provide you with information about customer service, lawsuits pending or settled, how the company ranks if it has been included in any surveys and much more.

Well Known Auto Insurance Company Reviews

Below is a listing of well-known auto insurance companies serving the American marketplace (keep in mind that ratings can change over time so be sure and check out a company’s ratings right before you decide to purchase). Their independent rating according to A.M. Best is given, indicating their financial strength. A-, A, A+ or A++ are very good ratings and you can therefore expect these companies to remain in business long term and be able to pay out any claims that are made of them.

Allstate Insurance: A+

SF Fire and Casualty: A+

Farmers Automobile Insurance: A

Nationwide Insurance: A+

Progressive Insurance: A+

AIG Casualty: A+

Chubb Insurance: A++

Metropolitan Insurance: A

GEICO: A++

Teachers Insurance: A-

Liberty Mutual Insurance: A

Balboa Insurance: A

Unitrin Insurance: A

Esurance: A-

Hartford Insurance: A+

Permanent General Insurance a.k.a. The General: A-

Sentry Insurance: A+

Putting Your List Of Car Insurance Companies To Good Use

With the knowledge of how many of the top companies in the nation review in terms of financial stability and how to do more thorough investigation into the company you choose, you are well on your way to choosing the best company for you. Get quotes from these insurers and more to start the process of car insurance shopping by using a free online quote tool now. It’s the most effective and efficient way to shop around for auto insurance these days. Get your list of car insurance companies together and start comparing quotes to see how much you can save!

Looking for auto insurance company ratings? Want to know which companies are the most reliable and have the best rates? Read on …

Auto Insurance Company Ratings

There are a number of factors to look for when it comes to auto insurance company ratings – financial strength, customer service, and customer satisfaction. So where do you go to get these ratings?

Financial Ratings

There are two companies that provide insurance company financial ratings:

A.M. Best (ambest.com) rates insurance companies on their financial strength and their ability to pay claims. The safest companies have an “A” rating or better.

Standard and Poors (standardandpoors.com) rates companies on their financial strength and credit ratings. Companies with “A” ratings are your best bet.

Customer Service Ratings

The best place I’ve found for customer service ratings is Epinions (epinions.com). Here actual customers write about their experiences with a particular company, giving you a behind-the-scenes look at how the company treats its customers and how well they pay their claims.

Customer Satisfaction Ratings

Every state has a department of insurance website, and most of those sites list the consumer complaints filed against insurance companies. The number of complaints a company has compared to other companies gives you a pretty good idea of how well it treats its customers.

If your state’s department of insurance doesn’t list company complaints, you can see them at the California insurance website (insurance.ca.gov).

Getting the Best Rates

Getting the best auto insurance rate with the best insurance company is simply a matter of comparing rates with different companies. There are insurance comparison websites that give you rates from A-rated companies, and let you to talk with an insurance expert through an online chat service so you can get answers to any questions you may have (see link below).

The game played by politicians is to take an idea from their own agenda and then frame it in a way that sells it to the other side. When the politicians meet in the middle, bipartisan solutions to problems emerge. This reflects the fact there is no monopoly on good ideas, only simple good solutions to difficult problems. In the healthcare debate, one of the solutions proposed by the GOP was to allow people to buy their insurance across state lines. This sounds a good idea. As the law stands, every state regulates the sale of insurance within its own borders. This limits the size of the market. If insurers had to compete with each other on a regional or national level, the premium rates would fall and every citizen would get a better deal. Well, let’s look a little more closely at how it would actually work.

At present, every state has a Department of Insurance to regulate the insurance companies licensed to sell policies. This is a reasonably effective system for consumer protection. But if regional or national insurers could sell policies into many states, it would break the regulatory system. It would no longer be local supervision of local companies. Insurers would decide where to establish and would, of course, choose the states which had the weakest consumer protection regulations, i.e. where they could make the most profit. Think banks and finance companies. These companies broke the US economy and produced the recession because their sales of subprime mortgages and associated derivatives were unregulated. Now apply the same thing to interstate insurance. As a final thought on this issue, remember all US states have different laws and one state cannot enforce another’s laws. That is sovereignty for you. So the state where an insurer is based cannot protect consumers under another state’s laws.

Secondly, opening the market across state lines allows insurers to cherry pick the best people to insure. Without regulations to limit the right to discriminate against people for pre-existing conditions and to increase premiums as people get older and fall ill more often, insurers will just take their profit from all the healthy people and forget about the rest. Thus, instead of increasing consumer choice, it would have the reverse effect. Most insurance companies would close their branches in individual states. Those that remained would keep all the aging and less healthy people. As their claims rise, the companies will make a loss and close. Without a law to mandate regional or national companies to offer some health coverage, it is likely the number of uninsured people would rise.

When you add all this up, it is a good thing the GOP’s proposal was rejected. Health insurance plans are complicated enough without having to change a whole mass of federal and state laws to allow interstate sales. This is not to say that consumers might benefit if there was more competition in the insurance market generally. With a real free market, properly regulated, consumers would get a better deal both in the terms of coverage and in the premium rates they pay. As it is, you must get multiple quotes to find cheap health insurance. Anticipating their profits will take a hit following this reform, insurers have been raising their premium rates. You must shop around to find the most affordable policy.