Niche insurers lead in satisfaction survey

Small niche insurers are attracting the highest level of customer satisfaction when it comes to house and contents cover, a Consumer magazine survey shows.

At the top of the satisfaction list in the category was Medical Insurance Society, which focuses its marketing on those in the health sector.

Next was SIS, which focuses on over-50s, then rural community specialists Farmers Mutual Group. All had at least 90 per cent of their own customers putting them in the "good" or "very good" bracket.

In the same on-line survey, larger general insurers AA Insurance and Lumley were at the bottom of the list, with 75 and 70 per cent of customers respectively putting them in the same category.

Large insurers AMP and Tower also fared well with house and contents cover, followed by AMI, State, Vero and NZI.

In terms of car insurance, Medical Insurance once again led the way, with 98 per cent of customers putting it in the good to very good bracket, followed by Vero.

AA Insurance, AMP, AMI, SIS, State and Tower were all near the 90 per cent mark and NZI and Farmers Mutual were 85 and 84 per cent respectively.

The magazine cited State as having steadily improved on its car insurance rating since a 1998 Consumer survey, and noted AA Insurance had previously performed relatively poorly with house and contents.

Lumley policies were largely sold through brokers, so it was difficult to determine how much of the ratings applied to just the company.

Revealing feedback in the survey included respondents who had successfully negotiated with their insurance companies on premiums and claim payments.

With health insurance, small niche insurer Police Health Plan came out on top, but was only available to police employees.

PSIS, Sovereign, Tower and Unimed followed, with 94 per cent down to 86 per cent.

- NZPA