You don't have to be a scholar to pinpoint the auto insurance shopping trends that characterized that market in 2020. The car insurers that rose to the high bar of meeting and exceeding customer expectations did so by recognizing the hardships unleashed by COVID-19 and subsequent pandemic shutdowns, and then worked with insureds to maintain coverage while safeguarding their reputations. On average, insured drivers logged 55% fewer road miles in 2020, and roughly 15% of them were unemployed, according to J.D. Power's 2021 Insurance Shopping Study™, which is now in its 15th year. "The pandemic has revealed a lot about insurance shopping behaviors in 2020, as there was a significant surge in shopping activity among customers who were financially affected and many gravitated to big, well-known brands and offers for lower rates," Tom Super, head of property & casualty insurance at J.D. Power, said in a press release. "The experience shines a spotlight on the need for more sophisticated acquisition and retention tools. Ironically, while the industry's estimated annual ad spend now nears $10 billion, consumers say they see less differentiation among the top brands. Following a period of massive disruption and a prolonged, uneven recovery, auto insurance customers have a heightened expectation about factors such as price, flexibility and coverages. Insurers need to get more creative around customer service and delivery because the current incremental changes are missing the mark." The slideshow above illustrates the top large auto insurers for customer satisfaction, based on research for J.D. Power's 2021 Insurance Shopping Study™. Here are some of the other takeaways from the study:

• The industry's top five insurers account for 60% of all auto insurance premiums.
• More than four in 10 (46%) auto insurance customers made some change to their coverage in 2020. This included reducing coverage (17%); shopping for another carrier (15%); increasing deductible (12%), or switching to another carrier (12%).
• Despite the fact that auto insurers returned roughly $18 billion in premiums, nearly half of auto insurance shoppers (43%) were unaware of pandemic premium relief programs.

See also:

• Auto insurers that lost and gained customer loyalty in Q1 2021
• 10 insurers ranked highest for auto claims satisfaction in 2020
• Top-rated home insurers for customer satisfaction in 2020