Most general insurance policy holders renew without approaching other companies

These are the latest findings from Roy Morgan’s “General Insurance Industry Currency Report”.

More looking around but less switching

The proportion of general insurance policy holders renewing with the same company after approaching others has increased from 11.4% in 2013 to 14.6% currently.

Action with current general insurance policies in the last 12 months

Source: Roy Morgan Single Source (Australia). 12 months to July 2013, n= 117,558 policies; 12 months to July 2017, n=126,554 policies. Base: Australians 14+ with general insurance.

The combined result of policy holders that don’t look around when renewing their policy (77.9%) and those that do but don’t move (14.6%), indicates that there has been an overall decrease over the last four years in the proportion who switch.

Major variations in insurance company loyalty

The most loyal customers, based on the proportion of policy holders that renew without approaching another company, are with RACQ (85.2%), the RACV (84.1%) and RAC (83.8%). The least loyal are Budget Direct (63.3%) and GIO (67.2%).

Renewed general insurance in last 12 months without approaching another company – 12 largest general insurers¹

Since 2013, the only companies showing improvement in the level of their customer not approaching others when renewing, where Youi (up 15.3% points) and Apia (up 5.3% points). All other companies among the 12 largest, showed some decline.

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

“Our research shows that general insurance policy holders primarily say that they change companies or at least shop around due to issues relating to better premiums. Although there has been an increase in the proportion shopping around, it is a positive outcome that this hasn’t led to a higher level of switching.

“It is worth noting that satisfaction with general insurance is closely associated with higher levels of loyalty, as shown by the fact that the top performers for loyalty also have well above average satisfaction levels. Retaining customers is therefore likely to be impacted by more than price but also by the many other factors that drive improvements in satisfaction.”