Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Shopping forcar insurance is all about finding a financially sound company that offers a good price with good customer service. Thanks to more and more Web sites where comparative pricing is available, shopping for the best price is getting easier.

Combine your findings on those sites with new findings released yesterday by J.D. Power and Associates 2008 Insurance New Buyer Study plus TheStreet.com Financial Strength Ratings and you have all three pieces of the puzzle: price, customer satisfaction, and financial strength.

In its 2008 survey, J.D. Power and Associates determined overall customer satisfaction of auto insurance buyers by measuring insurers' distribution channel, price, and policy offerings. It received survey responses from 8,452 customers who had requested an auto insurance quote in the past 12 months.

It ranked insurers on a 1,000-point scale, and Erie Insurance scored the highest with a score of 896 points. The Hartford (HIG - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) and State Farm both followed closely with 894 and 893 points, respectively. USAA, an insurer open only to the military and their families, scored 922 but was not included in the rankings because of its exclusivity. The study ranked 18 insurers with the industry average at 867.