The Michigan Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation (OFIR) has released 2010 consumer complaint statistics for insurance companies doing business in Michigan. Last year, the agency received 3,645 consumer complaints, down from more than 4,000 in 2009. In 2010, 49 percent of insurance complaints involved claim handling, 28 percent involved customer service and 14 percent underwriting.
Included in the statistical breakdown are insurance company complaint ratios, which are created by dividing the dollar amount (in millions) of written premiums into the number of filed complaints.
For auto insurance, State Farm Mutual Auto Insurance Company had the most total complaints at 91, but with $1,091,788,498 in written premiums, the insurer had a low complaint ratio of .08. The company with the highest complaint ratio was Arch Insurance Company, with three complaints and $1,795,892 in written premiums, for a ratio of 1.67.
Other insurers of note on the list included:
• Allstate Insurance Company: 13 complaints, $97,787,398 in premiums, .13 complaint ratio
• Allstate Property and Casualty Insurance Company: 20 complaints, $278,437,451 in premiums, .07 complaint ratio
• Farmers Insurance Exchange: 19 complaints, $94,000,803 in premiums, .20 complaint ratio
• GEICO Indemnity Company: 8 complaints, $67,600,372 in premiums, .12 complaint ratio
In 2010, more than $8 million in additional claim payments, premium refunds and policy rating changes were received by consumers through the resolution of complaints.
Complaints were also broken down by type of coverage with 53 percent of insurance complaints involving accident and health policies, 19 percent involving automobile coverage and 15 percent homeowners insurance.
More information:
Auto insurance complaint ratios
Overall insurance complaint statistics
