Country Financial Auto Insurance Review: Car Insurance Ratings You Need to Know
Country Financial Auto was founded by a group of farmers in 1925 and has been providing auto insurance policies since 1927. Today, this insurer has a presence in 19 states and offers a full suite of insurance products.
Since its founding, the company has maintained its focus on the local community, partnering with organizations like the American Cancer Society, United Way, and Habitat for Humanity.
Along with evaluating Country Financial Auto insurance reviews, it’s important to consider the types of coverage options the company offers, so that you know you’re getting the best insurance for your needs.
Coverage Options
Uninsured Motorists Property Damage Coverage
This type of coverage pays for damages caused to your vehicle or other personal property by an uninsured motorist.
Comprehensive Coverage
This option pays for losses resulting from theft, vandalism, natural disasters, and other damage that isn’t related to a collision.
Liability Coverage
This type of coverage pays for damage incurred if you are the at-fault party in a collision. Liability coverage pays for property damage, medical expenses, and any other accident-related expenses. It is required by most states.
Collision Coverage
This coverage pays for damage sustained by your own vehicle if you are responsible for a collision.
Claims Satisfaction
As an auto insurance policyholder, your primary interactions with your insurer occur when you need to file a claim following an accident. Overall customer satisfaction is heavily influenced by an auto insurance provider’s claims servicing, which encompasses how easy it is to file a claim, how effectively the insurance representative explains the claims process, how efficiently the claim is settled, and the fairness of the compensation amount for loss.
According to the J.D. Power claims satisfaction report, Country Financial Auto insurance reviews indicate a below-average overall claims experience.
To determine how an insurer is rated, J.D. Power weighs three key performance indicators, or KPI, including how well the insurer communicates with the person filing the claim, the ease of service interaction, and how quickly the claim is settled.
Consumers found that the initial claims reporting process and the replacement vehicle rental experience was about average. The claims servicing, estimation process, repair process, and the settlement were considered below what they’d expect from an insurer.
In overall customer satisfaction, Country Financial Auto insurance ratings fall below Liberty Mutual and Mercury and above Safeco.
Customer Satisfaction
While the ease, efficiency, and fairness with which an auto insurance provider handles claims servicing is essential, it’s only one of several aspects to consider when shopping for insurance. How a company communicates important information regarding your policy, answers any questions you have, and addresses justified customer complaints are also essential aspects to consider.
According to the J.D. Power 2018 U.S. Auto Insurance Study, Country Financial Auto’s insurance reviews place it among the top insurance providers in the North Central region. In overall customer satisfaction and policy offerings, it was rated among the best.
In areas including price, bill processing, and interaction, Country Financial Auto insurance ratings reflect that customers believe it’s better than most. As regards claims handling, the insurer was rated about average.
Complaints are not uncommon for auto insurance providers—far from it. It’s important to examine how insurers handle justified customer complaints before you purchase a policy. To define how many justified complaints a company incurs—that is, how many complaints are confirmed to violate contract terms—a justified complaint ratio is calculated.
Ratios over 1.00 indicate that an insurer incurs more justified complaints than average. According to the complaint ratio studies in Colorado and Oregon, Country Financial Auto (mutual and preferred) has justified complaint ratios of 0.55 and 0.45, respectively, well below the average of 1.00.
Pricing
Numerous variables influence your auto insurance premiums, including your age, how many years you’ve had a driver’s license, where you live, and your claims history. Insurers use complex algorithms to calculate your riskiness or how likely you are to file a claim.
For example, unmarried male drivers who have had gaps in coverage or have been the at-fault party in numerous collisions are statistically more likely to file a claim than their married female counterparts who have had no coverage gaps or filed claims.
They will, therefore, pay a higher premium, even if their coverage options and policy limits are the same.
Your location also plays a significant role in determining annual premium costs. Country Financial Auto conducts business in 19 states and their rates vary by state. With all other variables being equal, Alaska may have a completely different premium than Iowa, so make sure you keep this in mind when gathering quotes and setting up your policy.
According to the J.D. Power 2018 Auto Insurance Study, Country Financial Auto’s insurance price ratings placed it near the top of the list of insurance providers in the North Central region, above The Hartford and Cincinnati Insurance and surpassed only by Erie Insurance and USAA.
This indicates that consumers rated Country Financial Auto higher than most insurers when it comes to the level of coverage they received for their money.
Financial Strength
An auto insurance company’s financial strength is another important aspect to consider when selecting an insurance provider. Insurers that don’t have a stable financial outlook may have difficulty covering claims in the event of a natural disaster, potentially lengthening the claims settling process, and even resulting in unfair settlements.
The Insurance Information Institute provides guidelines on how to evaluate an insurer’s financial outlook by understanding the ratings used by independent agencies.
Country Financial Auto is consistently rated A+ by A.M. Best, which is the next-to-top rating for financial strength. This indicates that the insurer has the financial ability to meet customer obligations.
With these Country Financial Auto insurance reviews in mind, you can determine whether this company offers the coverage options to fit your needs, with premiums that fall within your budget.