What Are the Best and Worst Insurance Companies?

Since we deal with insurance companies on a daily basis, we are often asked this question. The answer varies depending on what you are looking for — lowest price, level of service, ease of claim handling — and even then the answer is very subjective.

One objective measure of quality is the level of complaints registered against different companies with the Ohio Department of Insurance. ODI's website tracks the number and type of consumer complaints made each year against all insurers doing business in Ohio.

State Farm is by far the largest insurer in Ohio in the homeowner and auto markets. State Farm collects five times more HO premiums than its next closest competitor, and nearly three times more auto premiums. So, logically, it has the highest number of complaints.

But the ODI also has a category for Complaint to Market Share Ratio that puts all insurers on a level playing field. For HO insurers, the average number of complaints for all companies is .86.

Here are the 2015 complaint ratios for some HO insurers — and remember that like in golf a lower score is better:

In the auto insurer ranking, the average complaint ratio is .90:

For life insurance companies, the average was .61: