OAI: Arizona Recovery Report Highlights Role of Car Insurance Regulators

Phoenix -- Free-Press-Release.com-- Feb 22, 2012 -- A new report from the Arizona Department of Insurance (ADOI) indicating that the Department recovered nearly $7.5 million in refunds and claim settlements from Arizona insurers in 2011 puts a spotlight on the important role regulators play in the state’s coverage marketplace, according to OnlineAutoInsurance.com.

Regulators advise consumers to try to resolve any questions about auto insurance coverage with their insurers first. But if the issue can’t be resolved between the policyholder and the policy provider, the ADOI is there to help.

And according to the recent announcement from the ADOI, a significant amount of Arizonans ended up having to turn to the Department for resolution last year, with regulators receiving over 9,000 complaints and inquiries in 2011.

That’s up significantly from the year before, when policyholders in the state reportedly contacted the office with just more than 5,000 complaints and inquiries.

In 2011, policyholders contacted the Department most frequently with complaints about delays in the claims process and dissatisfaction with settlement offers and agent handling.

The inquiries and complaints filed by policyholders in the state don’t help only the policyholders themselves. The complaint data for individual insurers in compiled by the Department and interpreted in annual complaint-ratio reports that can be accessed by all drivers looking for a policy from a reputable provider.

The complaint reports show how many complaints were filed against the state’s largest insurers in a given year and then weighs that against the number of policies those insurers had in place.

Source: http://www.id.state.az.us/autopremium.html

Many industry and consumer groups advise shoppers to review these reports before choosing an insurer. The conventional wisdom is that the companies with the lower complaint ratios—the lower the complaint ratio the better—have established a better track record with policyholders and can be expected to have better customer service.

For more on this and other insurance issues, head to http://www.onlineautoinsurance.com/learn/ for access to informative resource pages and a rate-comparison generator that can help users quickly compare policy prices from a variety of insurers.

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Online Auto Insurance
Benjamin Zitney
http://www.onlineautoinsurance.com/