Insurance Times publishes full Five Star Rating Report: Commercial and Personal Lines 2022/23

The findings of 2023’s Five Star Rating Report: Commercial and Personal Lines are now fully available, exclusively from Insurance Times.

In terms of service for brokers in the commercial lines market, Arch Insurance and Covéa Insurance came out on top, according to Insurance Times’ survey results. Covéa Insurance also outperformed the field within the personal lines market - it was the only personal lines insurer to be awarded five stars by Insurance Times’ broker respondents.

Insurance Times’ Broker Service Survey, conducted between October and December 2022, polled around 600 commercial lines brokers and 350 personal lines brokers across the UKGI marketplace. The results of this survey underpinned the Five Star Rating Report: Commercial and Personal Lines 2022/23. 

Excelling in commercial lines

Commercial lines brokers that participated in the survey awarded both Covéa Insurance and Arch Insurance the maximum five stars for their service levels. A total of 13 commercial lines insurers were rated by broker respondents.

Arch Insurance and Covéa Insurance both achieved an overall score of 4.01 out of five.

Across the remaining insurers, seven were awarded a four star rating, one insurer received a three star score and two insurers gained a lowly two star result from brokers. 

Insurance Times’ head of research, Savan Shah, said that Arch Insurance and Covéa Insurance’s five star scores were based on reviews by brokers that have firsthand experience of placing business with the insurers over the past 12 months.

The results suggest that the overall combined service from insurers to brokers across the commercial lines market rose considerably in the last year.

The average score across the insurers included in 2023’s report was 3.76 out of five - a substantial rise from the market average of 3.59 last year.

The overall average insurer score this year is identical to the result achieved in 2021.

However, the report did reveal a divide in satisfaction levels, with many commercial lines brokers feeling that their expectations are not being met by their insurer partners throughout the product lifecycle. Other brokers, meanwhile, said they had been impressed by insurers’ ability to maintain a high level of service despite market-wide challenges.

Arch Insurance is a new entrant to the Five Star Rating Report for 2023, gaining the maximum five star rating. 

Among the five service factors explored in the survey, Arch Insurance achieved a five star score for relationship management, underwriting experience and policy documentation. In the remaining two service factors, Arch Insurance gained a four star rating.

Covéa Insurance fell marginally short of repeating last year’s exceptional performance, when brokers awarded the insurer five stars across all five service factors.

But, for a fifth consecutive year, brokers have once again awarded Covéa Insurance a maximum five star rating for its overall service.

A fall in scores across the report’s claims and relationship management metrics meant the insurer missed out on five star ratings in these areas, however it still achieved five star accolades for its quality of cover, underwriting experience and policy documentation.

Personal lines perfection

Covéa Insurance additionally topped the ranking across the eight insurers that were rated in the personal lines market - it achieved a five star score for its overall service across all five service areas investigated by Insurance Times’ report.

Chubb, LV= General Insurance, Aviva and Zurich were all awarded an overall four star rating by brokers this year. Ageas and Axa were given a three star score, while Hiscox was bottom of the list with a two star rating.

The average service score across the personal lines insurers rated by brokers has declined over the past three years. However, 2023’s results indicate that service delivery for brokers has improved slightly.

Last year the overall average score across the personal lines insurers included in the report was 3.86 out of five, while this year the figure rose to 3.91 out of five.

Shah said: “I’d like to thank all the brokers that took part. We know that insurers take the survey seriously and strive to improve using the information given.”