A study conducted by the American Customer Satisfaction Index purports to show which insurance companies customers like best and which will benefit from that loyalty.

The property and casualty insurance industry, which was measured by customers' satisfaction with their companies' coverage, premium rates, and claim handling, improved slightly by one percent. Ratings were calculated on a 100-point scale, with State Farm the industry leader despite a three-percent decline to a rating of 79. Falling further was Farmers Group, which declined five percent to a rating of 73, reversing a three-year trend of improvement. Improvement overall in the industry was attributed to a one-percent increase for the aggregate of smaller insurers, according to Claes Fornell, professor of business at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan and head of ACSI.

“This is an industry that is fairly stable; the only thing I think really stands out is the slight decline of State Farm and the large decline of Farmers Group. What we have here in terms of possible explanations for this seem to be an increase in premiums — at least in terms of how consumers perceive it — and more difficulty in [resolving] claims.”