Claims delays behind most insurance complaints, research shows

Almost one in 10 people make an insurance claim each year, with 11% describing their most recent claims experience as poor or very poor, according to research from Huntswood.

The study of 1,025 people found that 9% had made an insurance claim over a 12-month period, with car insurance accounting for almost half of claims at 49%.

Home or property insurance accounted for 26% of claims, followed by pet insurance at 10% and travel insurance at 9%.

Of those reporting a poor claims experience, 39% said an unnecessary delay to the process was the main issue, while 29% cited delays in settling their claim.

A further 23% said chatbots and self-service tools had hindered rather than helped their claim.

Siddharth Parashar, managing director for UK and Europe at Huntswood and ResultsCX, said complaints were “one of the clearest indicators” of how claims and customer service processes were performing.

“Every complaint provides valuable insight into where customers are experiencing unnecessary delays, poor communication or friction at what is often a stressful and emotionally significant moment,” he added.

Customer retention

The research found that poor claims experiences could also affect customer retention, with 25% of respondents saying they had switched insurer because of a poor claims process.

A further 30% said they planned to switch at their next renewal.

James Tattersall, senior director of advisory at Huntswood, said: “Complaints360 helps insurers move beyond managing complaints to helping to prevent them.”

Complaints360, launched by Huntswood, is an end-to-end complaints solution combining AI technology, complaints expertise and managed services.

The company said the platform is designed to identify the causes of complaints and improve speed and accuracy across the complaints lifecycle.

Huntswood said it handled more than 294,000 complaints for UK organisations in 2025, including around 134,000 for UK insurers.