The fastest and slowest car insurance companies for payouts revealed

New research reveals the quickest and slowest companies for settling car insurance claims. Read on to see how your insurer fares.

Several insurers are painfully slow at resolving car-related claims from their customers, new data has found.

According to a survey from consumer champion Which? insurer LV= resolved claims the fastest, while RAC was rated the slowest.

Which? based the survey on responses from more than 4,700 motorists and involved 19 companies.

The information was gathered last November and based on accidents during the past two years.

Drivers were asked to score their providers out of five for claims processing speed, with six receiving just two stars.

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99% success rate

Worryingly, 39% of respondents alleged they had needed to chase their insurer to make them follow up the claim.

In good news, however, just 1% of people said their claim had been rejected by their provider.

In this article, we look at the best and worst providers and what to do if you need to complain.

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The winners and losers

So, how did the various companies fare?

1st Central, Admiral, Age Co, Ageas, Esure and RAC were at the bottom of the tables.

In contrast, providers LV= and NFU Mutual bagged a full five stars.

Previous research from Which? has also found that delays over complaints cause more distress than any car insurance-related issue.

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As you can see from the table above, most providers scored a middle-of-the-road three out of five stars based on their customers’ feedback.

What about payout values?

As we reported last year, there have also been ongoing concerns over some providers deliberately offering customers low payouts.

The Financial Conduct Authority has repeatedly reprimanded firms over this issue.

In this case, almost three-quarters of firms received just two stars from their customers.

That said, NFU Mutual bagged five stars, with Saga and Direct Line receiving four.

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A disjointed claims process

And it seems more claimants feel the payout procedure needs to work more smoothly.

Most insurers – 10 of those ranked – received just two stars.

This feedback was based on how well various parties communicated during their claim, including claims handling companies, insurers and repairers.

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How to complain

If you’re not happy with your car insurance provider, you obviously have the right to take things further.

Start by contacting the company directly – explain the issue clearly and provide as much supporting evidence as you can.

Under current rules, firms must acknowledge complaints promptly and respond within eight weeks.

However, the data from Which? states that complaints are often resolved more quickly.

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The role of the Ombudsman

If you’re not satisfied with your insurer’s response, or they don’t reply in time, you can escalate your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).

Some of the most common complaints escalated to the Ombudsman involve no-claims bonuses, breakdown cover, vehicle repairs and car theft.

Once the FOS has investigated, it will say whether it believes the company has treated you fairly.

Remember to keep records of your complaint, including all emails and letters, plus their responses.

Have your say

Have you lodged a claim with any of the companies mentioned above? What was your experience of the speed of claims handling?

We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

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