Jeremy Bowler

Although only 25% of auto insurance customers say they shopped for a new insurer during the past 12 months, which is down 8 percentage points from 2011, some 43% of these shoppers switched auto insurance providers, according to our 2012 U.S. Insurance Shopping Study.

This year’s switching rate among shoppers, which is up 3 percentage points from 2011, is the highest since we first began measuring retention in 2008. Our Insurance Shopping Study evaluates consumer shopping and purchasing behaviors and overall satisfaction among buyers who recently purchased auto insurance.

It’s likely that the increase in the proportion of shoppers actually switching insurers means that fewer price-checkers are gathering quotes, which may be a direct result of lower savings derived from switching. In fact, our findings indicate that the typical savings derived from switching has declined from an average of $412 in 2010 to an average of $359 during the past 12 months.

At the same time, customer retention rates are rising even though auto insurance companies are spending more money to entice customers to switch insurers. This is noteworthy since industry-wide advertising expenditures rose 12% in 2011 from 2010, based on analysis of data performed by Dowling and Partners, LLC. Continue reading ›