Which insurers do we trust the most?

A new CHOICE survey shows that reliability is what policyholders really want.

Fact-checked

Last updated: 11 Jan 2017

What’s most important thing you look for in an insurer? It may not come as a news flash that general insurance customers are mainly worried about whether the insurance company is trustworthy and will pay a claim when the time comes.

How much your car, home and contents, travel, or pet insurance costs is important, but it’s secondary. The same holds true for other kinds of general insurance.

Trust is particularly important with car insurance, where policyholders make the highest number of claims.

How do we know? We asked. CHOICE surveyed 2,892 consumers across all states and territories between August and November 2016 (a combination of a CHOICE member panel and an external sample*).

The insurers who rated the highest in our survey across a range of insurance products did so on the basis of trust, reliability and claims handling.

So who’s the most trusted insurer?

Happy customers

RAA, SGIC and RACQ were the top performing insurers across their range of products, exceeding the expectations of more than one third of their policyholders – RAA, 40%, SGIC, 39%, RACQ 34%.
RAA and SGIC had the highest proportion of current policyholders of various types who said they would renew, 69% and 61% respectively.

Not so happy customers

Budget Direct had the poorest renewal rate, with just 1 in 3 likely to renew.

Long-term loyalty

Almost one in four NRMA policyholders in our survey has held a policy with the insurer for more than 20 years.
RACV was close behind, with 19% of their policyholders holding a policy for more than 20 years.

Home and car claims

For home insurance, APIA and AAMI come out on top, with 53% of claimants having their expectations exceeded (i.e. rated them 9 or 10 out of 10).

For comprehensive car insurance, the best performer was RACQ, with 72% of claimants rating the insurer a 9 or 10 (out of 10) for exceeding their expectations.

Which insurance groups did we ask about?

(Note: Many of these parent companies sell insurance policies under different brand names, but would have the same back office administrative staff to handle claims and other customer services.)

AAMI
Allianz
NRMA
RACQ
Coles Insurance
Youi
Budget Direct
Comminsure
RACV
GIO
RAC
Suncorp
CoverMore
ANZ
CGU
1cover
QBE (Western QBE)
Good2Go
SGIC
RSPCA
Travel Insurance Direct
Westpac
Australian Pensioners Insurance Agency – APIA
Insure and Go
Medibank Private
SGIO
Southern Cross Travel Insurance
RAA

*66% (or 1908) of survey respondents were CHOICE research panel members. For insurers to be reported on, a minimum sample of at least 30 policyholders or claimants was required per insurer.

Andy

I'm a long-time investigative journalist who started off in New York City, ended up in Sydney, and likes nothing better than to shine a spotlight on underhanded behaviour in the consumer marketplace. The Investigations Team's work often focuses on financial harm to vulnerable people at the hands of corporations and businesses. I came to CHOICE in late 2010 by way of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, a role that was preceded by a stint at the Australian Financial Review. I've also been a comms manager for a sales-driven boutique financial services firm in Sydney – an experience that inspired me to apply for the ASIC job. I research and report on a wide range of issues in the consumer marketplace – there never seems to be a shortage of them. I'm a former member of the NSW Fair Trading Advisory Council. You can find me on Twitter and LinkedIn. Recent articles by Andy TPG email cancellations causing chaos, but there may be an upside Cigno payday loan charging 800% declared illegal These are the most complained about businesses in 2023 3 out of 4 Australians harmed by a data breach CHOICE report: Extreme weather putting home insurance out of reach Why are we still paying billions in bank fees?