A consumer study of the nation's state insurance department Web sites has found 18 out of the 51 were "inadequate" when it came to providing the public with useful information.

The vast majority of state insurance departments require Web site improvements to effectively arm consumers with the necessary information to make intelligent auto and homeowners insurance decisions, according to a Consumer Federation of America (CFA) analysis.

CFA in its report, "State Insurance Department Websites: A Consumer Assessment," in addition to determining that 18 sites were "inadequate," found 15 additional Web sites were "fair" and 12 Web sites rated "good but not excellent."

Only six Web sites--California, Georgia, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah--were rated as "excellent." Those sites, CFA said, "have complete, up-to-date information that is easy for consumers to use."

Web sites rated "inadequate" include: Alabama, Connecticut, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, West Virginia and Wyoming.

CFA's report is broken down into two main sections. The first offers links to certain information, if it is available, on the Web sites of all 51 jurisdictions. The information includes:

o "Buying assistance" information for both auto and homeowners insurance, such as types of coverage, price information and solvency ratings.

o "Public enforcement," such as market conduct exams, consumer alerts and search functions for both companies and agents showing licensing and disciplinary information.

o Complaints and claims assistance, which includes claim settlement tips.

The second part of the report is a chart ranking the jurisdictions and showing which Web sites have current information on a variety of topics and which ones do not. Rankings were based on a point system based on the information provided by each jurisdiction.

A CFA statement said the consumer group is going to send the report to all departments of insurance, and a letter to all of the departments not rated "excellent" asking them to make improvements.

J. Robert Hunter, CFA's director of insurance, said in the statement: "States with inadequate Web sites do not have to reinvent the wheel. They need only use the excellent sites already in use by other states as a guide for improving their own sites."

In a teleconference explaining the report, Mr. Hunter noted that despite being under budgetary constraints, states can still improve their insurance department Web sites. Three of the states rated "excellent," he noted, are small states with low budgets.

Mr. Hunter added the report has two goals: helping consumers by making important information easily accessible, and helping insurance departments by showing them where they can improve.

Citing the importance of informative department Web sites, Stephen Broback, executive director of CFA, said consumers pay a lot of money for insurance, but information is scarce. "Most consumers think they can rely on insurance agents, but these professionals typically don't shop the market; they have close ties to one or two insurers."

And, said Mr. Broback, "if consumers shop on their own, they quickly learn that policies have many different variables and that they are priced individually."

Mr. Hunter added that when he was the Texas insurance commissioner, he had 25 people come in with auto policies. The department gave the consumers shopping guides, including price information and a telephone. Mr. Hunter said the consumers then had one hour to shop for coverage. The average consumer out of those 25 saved $125. A similar experiment with homeowners insurance led to an average savings of $85. "Knowledge is power," he said. "We called it the 'hundred-dollar hour' in Texas; it's still called that on their Web site."

To access the report, visit http://www.consumerfed.org/pdfs/state_insurance_websites.pdf.