Satisfaction with motor vehicle insurers on the rise

Among the 18 largest insurers, only five showed declines in satisfaction over the last three years. They were QBE (down 3.2% points), Suncorp (down 1.5% points), YOUI (down 0.5% points), Coles (down 0.5% points) and Shannons (down 0.5% points).

Satisfaction among motor vehicle policy holders in this chart is made up of those who are ‘very satisfied’ and those who are ‘fairly satisfied’. The reason for showing the ‘very satisfied’ as a group is that a higher proportion of them say they are ‘extremely likely’ to renew their insurance with their current insurer than are those who are only ‘fairly satisfied’. Overall, just over a third (34.4%) of policy holders are ‘very satisfied’ with their insurance company but Shannons (54.1% ‘very satisfied’) and RACT (53.3%) rate well above average. The lowest proportions of very satisfied policy holders are with Comminsure (28.4%) and Budget Direct (30.4%).

Most policy holders are at least ‘fairly likely’ to renew with same company

A very high proportion (96.8%) of motor insurance policy holders are at least ‘fairly likely’ to renew with the same company, varying from a high of 98.8% for Shannons, down to 93.7% for Coles.

1.Excludes Compulsory Third Party (CTP) 2. Size based on number of motor vehicle policies (excluding CTP) 3. Total market includes brands not shown Source: Roy Morgan Single Source (Australia). 12 months ended September 2016, n=50,634. Includes 43,279 motor vehicle insurance policies.

Although most policy holders intend to renew with their current insurer, they are not all certain that they will do so when the time comes. Not surprisingly, the most positive group are those who say they are ‘extremely likely to renew’. These people make up around a third (30.5%) of the market and are much more likely to indicate that they are ‘very satisfied’ with their insurance company.

RACT clearly has the highest proportion of customers saying they are ‘extremely likely’ to renew, with 59.5%, followed by Shannons (45.0%) and APIA (40.1%). Budget Direct  customers are far less certain regarding what they will do on renewal with only 20.3% indicating that they are ‘extremely likely’ to renew and a third (33.8%) saying they are only ‘fairly likely’ to renew.

Norman Morris, Industry Communications Director, Roy Morgan Research says:

“It is a positive sign that the satisfaction levels of motor-vehicle insurance policy holders with their insurers have improved over the last decade, but around a quarter of them are still shopping around at renewal time (although obviously this varies by insurer). Roy Morgan data shows that price is the major reason for looking around but other reasons such as bad claims experience, poor service and changing vehicle all play a part.

“To be successful, it is crucial for insurance companies to retain existing customers. But although a very high proportion of policy holders say they are likely to renew with the same company (96.8%), less than one in three (30.5%) indicate that they are ‘extremely likely’ to renew. In order to increase the likelihood that customers will renew, more attention needs to be given to improving the proportion of ‘very satisfied’ policy holders. Although overall satisfaction with these insurance companies is high at 82.1%, only 34.4% of policy holders are ‘very satisfied’. Increasing this will raise the proportion of policy holders who are likely to renew without shopping around.

“With over 50,000 interviews conducted annually for more than 20 years, Roy Morgan data has become the currency in retail financial services, including motor vehicle insurance where we interview holders of over 40,000 policies pa. The size of this survey enables an in-depth understanding of insurance behaviour and trends, providing unique and detailed insights for anyone involved in this market.

“As the industry currency in general insurance satisfaction, Roy Morgan Research conducts monthly and annual general insurance satisfaction awards which attract wide publicity”.