Clearsurance — which bills itself as “the world’s first crowdsourced home and auto insurance review and rating platform” — recently announced the results of its “Grade Your Insurance Company” National Survey, noting some key findings and releasing a list of its “Top 10 best-rated home insurance companies.”
In early December, the company also announced its official launch as the “first independent, crowdsourced review and rating platform for insurance companies” (more details about the launch below).
The survey asked 2,800 American homeowners to reflect on their level of satisfaction with their insurance companies beyond just price.
It found that even though a home is often one’s biggest investment, many consumers seem to base their homeowners insurance decisions on price and casual referrals — failing to educate themselves on what their insurance carrier actually brings to the table.
Key findings from the study include:
• Americans like their homeowners insurance… Until they file a claim
On average, homeowners who have never filed a claim (44%) are more satisfied with the quality of their insurance service than those who have (56%). The “never-filed” group rated their service 8.42 out of 10, while those who had submitted a claim rated theirs a 7.52.
• Homeowners give their claims experience a barely passing grade
On a 100-point scale of overall satisfaction with the claims experience, on average, American homeowners who have filed a claim gave their insurance companies a mark of 71.
• Clearsurance Top 10
Here are the top 10 best-rated home insurance companies based on overall quality of service on a 10-point scale, both before and after the claims process:
- Country Financial (9.00)
- USAA (8.81)
- The Hartford Financial Services Group (8.21)
- Erie Insurance Group (8.14)
- Travelers Companies, Inc. (8.13)
- Auto-Owners Insurance Group (8.08)
- Liberty Mutual Group (8.05)
- West Bend Mutual Insurance Company (8.02)
- AAA (7.91)
- American Family Insurance (7.81)
On Dec. 6, Clearsurance announced the launch of its first-to-market, crowdsourced insurance industry review and rating platform. “In an industry traditionally lacking transparency, Clearsurance provides a new, independent, trusted and comprehensive metric to help consumers make more informed and insightful insurance decisions,” said a press release announcing the launch.
“No one wants to spend time thinking about their insurance policies, but everyone wants to have confidence in their choices,” said Michael Crowe, Co-Founder and CEO. “Clearsurance can help insurance shoppers the same way Yelp and TripAdvisor advise restaurant and travel consumers: improve the overall customer experience through better transparency and crowdsourced insights and ratings.”
Clearsurance received a $2 million seed round of funding in August 2016 and has been in beta testing since that time. Launching with nearly 10,000 reviews of more than 210 insurance companies, Clearsurance said it will initially focus on personal lines of insurance, including homeowners, renters, and auto insurance. In the near future, Clearsurance plans to add Medicare supplemental and employee benefits reviews and rankings. Clearsurance has also begun collecting reviews of insurance agencies and brokers to publish in its next release in early 2017.
Co-founders Crowe and Todd Kozikowski, both accomplished start-up veterans in the insurance and technology markets, identified the need for a clear measure in the insurance industry after each had unpleasant personal experiences with insurance carriers and wondered why, unlike their other financial assets, there was no standard rating system for the insurance industry that could act as a transparent metric for consumers, agencies and carriers.
About Clearsurance: Clearsurance is on a mission to bring new transparency, insights, and metrics to the insurance industry. Based In Newburyport, MA, the company provides the most comprehensive, independent, and trustworthy rating system for insurance companies, helping consumers make better, more informed insurance purchasing decisions. For more information, visit www.clearsurance.com
