Ontario Auto Claims Satisfaction Remains High at 85%

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Consumer satisfaction with auto insurance claims handling has reportedly remained consistently high with an overall rating of 85 percent approval for claims closed in 2002.

The annual Claims Satisfaction Survey issued by the Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO) reportedly demonstrates that companies providing auto insurance in Ontario continue to do an excellent job of dealing with thousands of auto insurance claims made each year.

“Despite a lot of negative attention given recently to the auto insurance industry, Ontario’s auto insurers have shown once again that their number one focus is customer service,” said Mark Yakabuski, vice president, Ontario of Insurance Bureau of Canada (www.ibc.ca). “To achieve such a high level of consumer satisfaction across the many different auto insurers operating in the province attests to the expertise and professionalism in Ontario’s auto insurance industry in the settlement of claims.

“Now we just need to sit down with the new government to control the escalating cost of health care and lawsuits in the auto insurance sector and ensure consumers are satisfied with the whole system. We want to discuss these issues with the government at the earliest opportunity,” added Yakabuski. “We’re pleased that the survey also features five additional questions which give an even broader indication of the high level of consumer satisfaction with the way auto insurance claims are dealt with.”

When consumers were asked about timeliness, helpfulness, knowledge and expertise, auto insurers achieved a satisfaction rate in the range of 85 percent to 86 percent.

These results reportedly have consistently been achieved by the industry ever since the survey was introduced by the government in 1998.

Each year, FSCO sets out a standard survey that independent market
research firms then use in choosing a random sample from the claims files insurance companies closed in 2002. The minimum sample size for companies with 18,000 or more closed claims in 2002 was 800.

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