NFU Mutual and M&S among most trusted insurers as big brands beat smaller rivals

Value for money is a big concern for customers buying insurance, helping to send overall trust scores down to a four year low

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NFU Mutual and M&S among most trusted insurers as big brands beat smaller rivals
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Household names have secured the top spots in the nation’s hearts as the most trusted insurers, new research found, with lesser known challengers failing to convince the public.

Home, travel, car and pet insurers were weighed and measured by consumer rights group Fairer Finance, and ranked according to how much faith people had in them.

A poll of 10,000 consumers found trust in the insurance industry overall has dropped to its lowest level in four years, despite recent falls in home and car insurance premiums.

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Travel insurance remains the least trusted insurance sector, as satisfaction scores fell across the board for price, value, and customer service, with all of the 10 largest providers experiencing a drop in perceived value for money.

James Daley, managing director at Fairer Finance, said: “Falling premiums aren’t enough to restore public trust in insurers, especially when claims experience and transparency continue to lag.

“Our latest results underline the fact that trust is fragile, and once lost, it’s not easily regained.”

Which is the most trusted car insurer?

NFU Mutual is the most trusted car insurer, the survey found. NFU performs well with claim satisfaction scores among the large car insurers, which no doubt correlates with its high trust level.

Customers also reported a very positive view of NFU's communication and customer service, and they also handle complaints very well compared to others.

On the flipside, Go Skippy has been deemed to be fairly bad across the board for digital capability, value and claims satisfaction, though not right at the bottom for any of them, Fairer Finance said.

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Top five most trusted firms for car insurance

Insurer

Trust rating

NFU Mutual

77.33%

John Lewis

72.84%

Santander

70.63%

BMW

70.27%

Bank of Scotland

67.76%

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Top five least trusted firms for car insurance

Insurer

Trust rating

Policy Expert

43.68%

esure

43.03%

Budget

42.86%

Zenith Insurance

42.26%

Go Skippy

37.56%

Which is the most trusted home insurer?

Ecclesiastical came out top for most trusted insurer for home insurance (though NFU Mutual did well here too).

Ecclesiastical is considered to be very good value for money. This metric cost Intelligent Insurance, however, which was found to be very bad value for money, sending it to the bottom of the ranking.

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Top five most trusted firms for home insurance

Insurer

Trust rating

Ecclesiastical

77.42%

NFU Mutual

70.50%

TSB

68.75%

Bank of Scotland

67.25%

Nationwide

66.99%

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Top five least trusted firms for home insurance

Insurer

Trust rating

Ageas

40.63%

Swinton

40.08%

Homeprotect

37.34%

Quotemehappy

36.07%

Intelligent Insurance

35.51%

Which is the most trusted travel insurer?

In travel, M&S has very high claim satisfaction and customers are more satisfied with their value for money than most travel insurance providers.

At the other end of the scale, GoodToGo Insurance was found to have very low value for money scores, which hurt its overall ranking.

Rising prices appear to be harming customers' perceptions of value in travel insurance and potentially driving a decrease in consumer trust.

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Top five most trusted firms for travel insurance

Insurer

Trust rating

Marks & Spencer

64.61%

British Airways

61.86%

Jet2.com

60.89%

Holidaysafe

60.14%

LV=

59.79%

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Top five least trusted insurers for travel insurance

Insurer

Trust rating

Southdowns

37.30%

Ageas

36.47%

Insure & Escape

36.21%

Direct Travel Insurance

36.17%

GoodToGo Insurance

34.24%

Which is the most trusted pet insurer?

PDSA takes the top spot for pet insurance, leading for its value for money and claims satisfaction scores.

Pet-insurance.co.uk, on the other hand, scored very badly on value for money and digital capability.

Overall, claims satisfaction is highest in pet insurance (58.61%), followed by car insurance (56.55%) and lower in home insurance (52.56%) and travel insurance (49.19%), Fairer Finance found.

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Top five most trusted firms for pet insurance

Insurer

Trust rating

PDSA

67.31%

Muddy Paws

64.86%

RSPCA

63.77%

The Kennel Club

61.69%

Petplan

60.53%

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Top five least trusted firms for pet insurance

Insurer

Trust rating

Petgevity

46.01%

Petguard

43.64%

The Insurance Emporium

42.11%

Purely Pets

41.07%

Pet-Insurance.co.uk

40.44%

Fairer Finance’s Daley said: “The insurance sector is now firmly in the regulator’s spotlight – and needs to step up to the challenge of closing the expectation gap. Too many consumers are buying policies without understanding where the limitations of their cover are.

“Insurers, brokers and price comparison sites need to work together to help consumers understand what they’re buying and, more importantly, what they’re not buying.”

GoSkippy, Intelligent Insurance, GoodToGo Insurance and Pet-Insurance.co.uk have been contacted for comment.

Laura Miller

Laura Miller is an experienced financial and business journalist. Formerly on staff at the Daily Telegraph, her freelance work now appears in the money pages of all the national newspapers. She endeavours to make money issues easy to understand for everyone, and to do justice to the people who regularly trust her to tell their stories. She lives by the sea in Aberystwyth. You can find her tweeting @thatlaurawrites