Buildings insurance: Claims satisfaction
In April 2008, we asked an online panel of 1,876 Which? members about their experiences of making a claim on their home insurance. All had done so within the past 12 months.
While buildings and contents insurance claims typically took longer to settle than those for car insurance, the overall performance of home insurers was very strong when it came to claims handling.
The results
Insurance companies were rated on their service levels in the following areas;
- the competence of their staff
- whether the member was able to track their claim online
- how likely the member was to recommend the insurer to a friend.
Of the members we surveyed, 91% were satisfied with their settlement. 60% of these claims were settled in 28 days or less. A high proportion of policyholders (81%) were satisfied with the timing of their settlement, with 67% of members revealing they were very satisfied with the settlement they received.
When it came to overall claims management, our survey showed that NFU Mutual was the best insurer. RIAS, which topped the survey in terms of settlement time, and Saga, which came a close second in the same area, also did well, as did Prudential. Furthermore, NFU Mutual, Saga and Legal & General were found to have the best call-centre staff when dealing with claims.
Which? member Anthony Savage, a RIAS policyholder who made a claim on his home insurance, said: 'Everything was initiated, progressed and settled over the telephone with minimum delay.’
However at the other end of the scale, big names such as AXA, Tesco and Barclays provided the least satisfactory claims service for our members. Axa (41% of customers very satisfied) and Norwich Union (45%) lagged some way behind.
An AXA claimant told us: ‘I was totally appalled at the handling of my claim. The assessor was unhelpful and didn’t understand the damage to my home.’
| Home insurance customer satisfaction | ||
|---|---|---|
| Company | Staff and service rating | Customer satisfaction score |
| NFU/NFU Mutual |  | 92% |
| RIASa |  | 72% |
| Prudential | | 70% |
| Sagaa | | 68% |
| Nationwide | | 67% |
| R&SA / MORE TH>N | | 63% |
| Zurich |  | 63% |
| Direct Line | | 62% |
| Lloyds TSB | | 62% |
| Legal & General | | 61% |
| LV= | | 60% |
| CIS (Co-operative) | | 59% |
| Norwich Union | | 57% |
| Abbey | | 56% |
| Halifax | | 53% |
| Barclays | | 52% |
| Tesco | Seeb | 48% |
| Axa | | 47% |
Table notes
- Only available to over 50s
- Insufficient number of answers to this question. This does not affect the satisfaction score