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A recent study shows many satisfied car insurance customers. But the reality is different. | Photo: Imago Images / imagebroker
Annoyance with extremely long waiting times for claims processing, high losses due to dramatic cost increases or even partial withdrawals from the motor insurance business – these news items have dominated the headlines in the motor insurance trade press for months. In addition, customers’ criticism of the providers on social media and review portals continues unabated. There is no question that the sector is in crisis.
Study allegedly measures high customer satisfaction
However, this is hardly reflected in a current study by the market research company Deutsches Institut für Service-Qualität (DISQ) on behalf of the broadcaster NTV. The study authors claim that car insurers can rely on a high level of customer satisfaction overall. This also limits the willingness to switch.
The DISQ itself states that almost a third of customers of direct insurers have changed providers at least once in the past three years or are planning to do so. Among those insured through branch offices, this applies to one in six respondents. In terms of claims settlement, at least one partial result reflects the current situation to some extent. Less than half of those surveyed are very satisfied with it.
Little information on the research methodology
The authors’ information on the methodology is poor: The customer survey conducted between March and July 2024 via a so-called online access panel included 3,701 reviews from consumers with car insurance. The survey focused on customer opinions on the aspects of value for money (25 percent), contractual services (25 percent), service (20 percent) and transparency/understandability (10 percent). In addition, willingness to recommend and customer annoyances each contributed 10 percent to the overall assessment. In the individual evaluation, all companies about which at least 100 customers had commented were taken into account.
Direct insurers perform slightly better
According to DISQ, the consumer survey yielded good marks across the board. Direct motor insurers (76.1 points) performed slightly better overall than branch insurers (75.9 points). However, only four companies were able to secure the customer rating of “very good” – two branch insurers and two direct insurers.
In the sub-rankings, customers rated the service most positively. For branch insurers, more than 84 percent of respondents said they were satisfied with it overall; the on-site service scored best here. For direct insurers, the website or app was the most convincing. The overall service was rated positively by more than 85 percent of customers.
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Questionable grading
As with other surveys of this type, the study authors’ provider-friendly scaling is striking. Up to 100 points could be achieved. Results of over 80 points receive a “very good” DISQ quality rating, while 70 points are enough for a “good” rating. This is obviously due to the business model, in which award-winning companies can acquire seals for sales and marketing purposes.
Ranking of direct motor insurers
The most popular direct car insurer is Cosmos DirectCustomers are particularly satisfied with the service (over 94 percent positive reviews) and the price-performance ratio. The highest willingness to recommend the company compared to competitors (Net Promoter Score: plus 52.7) also contributes to the result.
Huk24 takes second place, with almost 93 percent of positive ratings, according to the authors, highlighting the high level of satisfaction with the contractual services. In third place is the Insurtech FridayOf the eleven providers considered, Barmenia Direct with a clear point gap in last place. The complete results overview is available here.
Ranking of motor branch insurers
Market leader Huk-Coburg secures first place among the branch insurers. According to the study, the company is the leader in terms of contractual services: almost 92 percent of the insured say they are satisfied with this aspect. In addition, there are very high satisfaction ratings in the areas of service and transparency/understandability. Remarkably, the lowest proportion of customer complaints among the branch insurers also contributes to the company’s top position. In the spring, Huk-Coburg still had huge problems and customer complaints due to huge backlogs in claims processing.
In the following picture gallery we show you the top 10 motor branch insurers including the overall value of the study and DISQ verdict.
