Auto and homeowners insurance company ratings provide more information about companies to use when shopping for insurance online. Some of the leaders in determining insurance company strength and company rankings are A.M. Best, Standard & Poor’s, J.D. Power and the Better Business Bureau.
A.M. Best Insurance Company Ratings
A.M. Best is undoubtedly the insurance company ratings leader. The company is a third party evaluator of insurance company strength. A.M. Best has been in business for more than 100 years, and claims to be the largest provider of U.S. insurance company ratings. The rating scale outlined on the A.M. Best website is as follows:
- AAA: Extremely Strong
- AA: Very Strong
- A: Strong
- BBB: Good
- BB: Marginal
- B: Weak
- CCC: Very Weak
- CC: Extremely Weak
- R: Under Regulatory Supervision
- NR: Not Rated
Standard & Poor’s Insurance Company Rankings
Standard & Poor’s insurance company rankings help buyers make smart decisions when shopping for insurance online. The company helps determine insurance company strength based on the carrier’s ability to meet financial obligations and the company’s ability to pay policyholder claims. Standard & Poor’s top four insurance company rankings listed on their website are:
- Insurance companies that are rated AAA have extremely strong financial security characteristics.
- Insurance companies ranked AA have very strong financial security characteristics.
- A-rated insurance companies have strong financial security characteristics.
- BBB-ranked insurance companies have good financial security characteristics.
J.D. Power Car and Homeowners Insurance Company Ratings
J.D. Power’s car and homeowners’ insurance company ratings provide information to consumers about overall experience, policy offerings, pricing, billing and payment and contacting the insurance carrier. The easy-to-read online rankings are compiled from studies put out by J.D. Powers. The ratings help people insurance shopping online quickly find out where prospective insurance companies shine and where they fail. According to their website, the J.D. Power homeowners and car insurance company Power Circle Ratings rate companies using the following scale:
- Among the Best- Consumers rate these insurance companies the highest, among the top 10 percent, in J.D. Powers' surveys.
- Better than Most- Survey results show consumers rank these insurance companies in the next 30 percent of all companies.
- About Average- Consumers rate these insurance companies in the next 30 percent of companies.
- The Rest- Insurance carriers rated below the other categories fall here; this is J.D. Powers' lowest published rating.
Better Business Bureau Insurance Company Consumer Ratings
The Better Business Bureau provides information about insurance company consumer ratings. The website offers details about consumer complaints with topics including selling practices, advertising issues, service issues, billing disputes, refund practices and contract disputes. The insurance company consumer rating page by carrier doesn’t provide detail about the complaints, it just lists how many recent complaints have been filed and whether the complaints were resolved. In addition to providing information about insurance company rankings, the Better Business Bureau website also offers consumers a way to file a complaint against an insurance carrier.
