State insurance department websites - study reveals significant differences
STUDY FINDS SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES IN AUTO AND HOME INSURANCE INFORMATION PROVIDED BY STATES TO CONSUMERS.
The Consumer Federation of America (CFA) released a new study of auto and home insurance information provided on state insurance department websites.
The study, State Insurance Department Websites: A Consumer Assessment, found considerable
differences in the usefulness of information such as the rates and practices of individual
insurance companies. State insurance department websites in 6 states were found to be
“excellent” while those in 18 states were deemed to be “inadequate.”
The report found that California, Georgia, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and Utah have
“excellent” websites that have complete, up-to-date information that is easy for consumers to
use. Consumers accessing these websites could easily find current price, complaint and solvency
information to make well informed purchase decisions and could find key information on how to
get the best claim settlements as well.
But the report also concluded that 18 states – see list below – have websites that are
inadequate. These websites lacked important aspects of information about purchase and claims
settlement decisions in auto and home insurance.
“States with inadequate websites do not have to reinvent the wheel,” noted Hunter.
“They need only use the excellent sites already in use by other states as a guide for improving
their own sites,” he added.
Below is a listing of the CFA ratings of websites in all 50 states and the District of
Columbia:
Excellent (6 states): California, Georgia, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah.
Good (12 states): Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Maine
Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon, and Wisconsin.
Fair (15 states): District of Columbia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland,
Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota,
Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia, and Washington.
Inadequate (18 states): Alabama, Connecticut, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa,
Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Rhode Island,
South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
The full report is available at: http://www.consumerfed.org/pdfs/state_insurance_websites.pdf
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