Complaints help us understand a lot about how insurance companies provide services and products to their customers. If you're shopping for auto, homeowner, or business insurance and considering a few companies offering similar coverage, complaint data can be useful in your buying decision.
We collect ongoing data on the number and type of complaints submitted to see trends in how companies:
- Handle claims
- Perform underwriting
- Conduct marketing and sales
- Provider services to policyholders
We invite you to explore this data using our complaint comparison tool and see how companies stack up side by side.
What you'll find in the complaint comparison tool
The complaint comparison tool is designed to help you make a more informed decision when picking an auto, homeowner, or business insurer for coverage. In the tool, you can compare several years of data from companies, including:
Complaints vs. confirmed complaints
In the tool, you can compare the total number of complaints against the number of “confirmed complaints.” A complaint refers to a formal submission made by a consumer through our online portal or by paper form. A “confirmed complaint” is a complaint where our review resulted in the company changing its position, reopening or settling a claim, reaching a compromise, or being referred for potential enforcement.
Looking at the number of confirmed complaints, rather than just total complaints, can help identify potential patterns or concerns in a company’s business practices.
Market share
Market share is a critical piece of information that provides context for the volume of complaints a company receives. It's important to consider the proportion of complaints in relation to the company's size. A larger market share may indicate a company is popular and trusted, but it also means that it will handle a much higher number of interactions with its customers, some of which may become complaints.
Trends over time
One of the most important features of this tool is the ability to see trends over several years. Complaint volume trending up or down may indicate that a company's practices and reputation have gotten better or worse over time.
If you search and find multiple versions of a company
If you search for a company such as State Farm, you will see multiple underwriting companies with State Farm in the name. Complaints in our database are specific to each underwriting company and aren't rolled up into a "corporate family" view that compiles the whole group's complaint information.
To find which underwriting company your policy is assigned to or which company was used in an estimate, you can:
- Look at your policy's declarations page, which provides a summary of your coverage
- Check the policy details section in your insurance policy or quote paperwork, which may include the underwriter's contact information
- Contact your insurance agent or ask the agent who wrote up an estimate for you