If you have just been involved in an accident, you need an insurance company which will meet your needs and provide you with quick, reliable service, whether you were at fault or not. Several companies are well-known for good customer service and supporting customers who have been involved in car accidents.
State Farm, the largest insurer in the country, has a good reputation when it comes to customer service. In fact, it is the highest-ranked large insurance company according to J. D. Power and Associates’ customer satisfaction survey for 2011. State Farm customers report wonderful response and assistance for the State Farm team whenever they have a claim.
Another company that enjoys a great reputation for customer service is Amica. While not as well-known as State Farm, Amica is the top-rated company in the country for customer service, and seems to work well with its customers when they have claims.
USAA is another company that enjoys an unparalleled reputation for customer support and service, although it is only available to military personnel, their families, and veterans. USAA’s customers give rave reviews of the company’s handling of claims.
If you are at fault in an accident, your company is going to be far more involved than if you are the victim. If you are the victim in an accident which was in no way your fault, the other person’s insurance company will have to pay your damages, unless you live in a no-fault state.
If you live in a no-fault state, or if you are at fault in the accident, the role of your insurance company becomes far more important. Your insurance company will be responsible for paying the other person’s damages, as well as yours if you have collision coverage. Your insurance company will also be paying for your medical bills if you have no-fault coverage. In these cases, the company you choose can have a much larger impact on the timely payment of damages than if you are not at fault.
If your insurance company must pay a claim for you, you should realize that it is likely that you will have to face a premium increase. Most accidents take you out of the “safe driver” category, at least for a few years. However, several companies offer an alternative to this stance, giving you “forgiveness for accidents.”
Allstate offers accident forgiveness for a single accident within a three-year period which does not exceed a certain dollar amount. This is great if you have a minor fender-bender which is your fault, and which would normally drive your premiums up.
Nationwide also offers accident forgiveness for your first accident within a few years’ time period, as long as the accident did not exceed a given dollar amount. Nationwide also offers “vanishing deductible,” a program which slowly eliminates your deductible by a given amount for each year you do not have an accident.
Your deductible is the amount you must pay when you make a claim before the insurance company pays any money. Most people have a deductible of around $500, but many people now raise their deductibles in order to make their insurance more affordable. If they have to file a claim, a “vanishing deductible” program makes the accident more affordable.
You need to consider several factors when choosing an insurance company. Of course, price is important, but the company with the cheapest rates may cost you in other ways.
Customer service, customer support, and ease of filing a claim, as well as how much an accident will affect your rates, are all considerations when you are choosing an insurance company that should be just as important as price.
