If you’ve been shopping for an insurance plan lately, you’ve probably found that premiums for homeowners, auto and life insurance policies have gotten more expensive in recent years. There’s also been a noticeable shift to app-based digital-first transactions and an increasing focus on personalized policies.
But the core of what insurance companies can offer hasn’t changed: “Peace of mind is number one and has always been the most important factor” when it comes to what consumers want from their insurance company, says Burke A. Christensen, adjunct professor of insurance at Utah State University. And the world’s top insurance companies have found innovative ways to offer this security.
USAA, for instance, prides itself on its ability to respond swiftly to what members need. Given that the member-owned association provides insurance and financial services to people serving in the U.S. military, veterans, and their families, USAA tailors its products to those with a military-focused lifestyle.
“We know our members really well,” says Brandon Carter, president of USAA’s Life Insurance Company, noting that many members travel internationally and may not always have much time to prepare for it. “When they travel the world, they have to be able to bind coverage really quickly, and they have to be able to get life insurance really quickly,” he says. “Processes are built with our members in mind, and we’re able to move with speed and simplicity.”
This agility and deep understanding of its members are just two of the many reasons that USAA landed within the top five spots on all three of Forbes’ lists ranking the World’s Best Insurance Companies for 2023. Each list covers a distinct insurance category: homeowners, auto or life.
To compile these first-ever lists, Forbes partnered with market research firm Statista and surveyed more than 30,000 people in 15 countries between mid-March and mid-April. All survey participants reported having at least one insurance policy—homeowners, auto or life—in the past three years. They were asked whether or not they were satisfied with their insurance company and would recommend it to others.
Respondents were also tasked with rating their insurance company based on criteria such as the advice employees offered, customer service, price performance, transparency and damage service. The companies with the highest scores in their countries made our final lists. The number of companies listed per country in each insurance category varies between 3 and 25 based on the number of evaluations collected and the final scores. Ultimately, there were 371 awards given to 239 unique companies among all three lists.
The lists include well-known, large companies that offer insurance in multiple categories and smaller companies that may provide more specialization. A total of 32 companies earned spots on all three lists. In the U.S., these include USAA (No. 2 in homeowners; No. 3 in auto; and No. 5 in life), Amica (No. 3 in homeowners; No. 2 in auto; and No. 17 in life), Erie Insurance (No. 7 in homeowners; No. 5 in auto; and No. 11 in life) and AAA (No. 15 in homeowners; No. 11 in auto; and No. 8 in life), among others.
Some companies even landed on all three lists in multiple countries. For example, AXA is on all three lists in Germany and Italy, and Allianz is on all three lists in Brazil, France and Germany.
Additional companies populate at least one list in multiple countries. These companies include Allstate (in the U.S. and Canada), Aviva (in Canada and the United Kingdom) and AIG (in the U.S., Japan, and India as Tata AIG).
What are these companies doing to earn rave reviews? “A lot of companies are investing in technology to improve services on the claim side to make it better, more accurate, quicker and easier,” says Louis Iacovelli, president of First Choice Insurance Intermediaries, a wholesale brokerage firm serving 25 states. Through cell phone apps, for instance, “you can start the claims process immediately,” he says.
Aviva (No. 10 in homeowners and No. 4 in life within the UK; No. 3 in homeowners and No. 4 in auto within Canada), which has been serving customers for more than three centuries, has developed a system that enables customers to get their claims paid on the same day.
Similarly, Liberty Mutual (No. 23 in homeowners and No. 20 in auto within the U.S.) provides customers with an easy-to-use “guided photo capture process to collect photos of damage to their home and the ability to schedule an appointment with an adjuster when needed through the convenience of the app,” says Lily Wray, Liberty Mutual’s chief experience officer for global retail markets U.S. And at USAA, members can use the app on their phone to do things themselves on the spot, such as add a vehicle to their plan when they’re at a car dealer.
“Although we’re very proud of the service we provide to our members when they call us, 95% of their interactions are via an iPhone or a digital device,” says USAA’s Carter, “across life, health, auto, home and banking,” which makes service simple and speedy. Digital services are so popular that Bestow, a 7-year-old insurance technology company offering fast term life insurance through its online platform, snagged the No. 1 spot in the U.S. on our life insurance list.
Companies are also distinguishing themselves by prioritizing sustainability, especially because environmental disasters have been wreaking havoc on people and property at an increasing clip in the form of wildfires, hurricanes, flooding and more. Aviva, for one, recognizes the climate crisis as “one of the greatest threats facing us all,” according to its website. So, it’s developed a plan to become a net zero carbon emissions company by 2040 through actions such as divesting from companies that make more than 5% of their revenue from coal and transitioning to 100% renewable electricity for all offices by 2025. Liberty Mutual is also “committed to being environmentally conscious,” says Wray. So far, the company has invested millions in renewable energy and has reduced its global greenhouse gas emissions by 43% between 2019 and 2022.
Bottom line, says Christensen from Utah State University, when picking an insurance company, look for these characteristics: a policy that offers the coverage you need for a premium that’s within your budget; a reputation for paying claims promptly; knowledgeable customer service agents who can answer your questions accurately; and a company that invests well so that it stays solvent.
In the end, it comes down to the basics. A good insurance company should have “a well-written policy where the actuaries, the underwriters and the attorneys have gotten together and they’ve thought through the parade of horribles of all the things that could go wrong, and they properly price it,” says Christensen. After that, you should be able to rest easy knowing that your insurance company has got you covered.
For the full list of the World’s Best Homeowners Insurance Companies, click here.
For the full list of the World’s Best Auto Insurance Companies, click here.
For the full list of the World’s Best Life Insurance Companies, click here.
Methodology
Forbes’ first-ever lists of the World’s Best Insurance Companies were compiled in partnership with market research firm Statista and are based on survey responses obtained between mid-March and mid-April from more than 30,000 people in 15 different countries. The countries surveyed were: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Survey participants—who’d held at least one insurance policy (auto, home or life) in the past three years—were asked how satisfied they were with their insurance company and whether or not they would recommend it to others. Respondents also rated their insurance company based on criteria such as the advice employees offered, customer service, price performance, transparency and damage service.
The companies with the highest scores in their countries made our final lists. The number of companies listed per country in each insurance category varies between 3 and 25 based on the number of evaluations collected and the final scores. Ultimately, there were 371 awards given to 239 unique companies among all three lists.
As with all Forbes lists, companies pay no fee to participate. For questions about this list, please contact listdesk (at) forbes.com.
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