Shop Owners Reveal the Real Truth about Insurance Companies that Consumers Don’t Know

by Alana Quartuccio

The average driver gets into a motor vehicle accident once every eight to 10 years. Depending on the size of the facility, auto body shops could very possibly take in eight to 10 cars per week, month or even per day.

So, when it comes down to which side of the coin should weigh most heavily on which insurance companies best handle claims, the most accurate stories are told by those who deal with them day in and day out. And that is the shop, not the consumer. Truth be told – the average consumer simply does not know. And why? Because consumers generally have little to no basis for their opinions about how their insurance company handles claims compared to others. Pair that with the fact that most drivers aren’t even aware there are dozens upon dozens more insurance companies to choose from aside from the largest ones who only earned their household names because of the billions of dollars they spend on advertising. Through those advertising dollars, 10 companies capture 76 percent of all premiums paid, according to the CRASH Network.

It’s the body shops who day-in and day-out deal with multiple insurance companies per diem and therefore see how they care for their customers after an accident. Collision repairers know firsthand which insurance companies put the pressure on to cut costs with parts, refuse necessary procedures and cause delays in the process.

This is precisely why CRASH Network puts forth the Insurance Report Card Survey every year. This survey, which takes a shop owner only three minutes to complete, can help consumers make better choices about what carrier to use.

The survey asks collision repairers one simple question: “How well does this company’s claims handling policies, attitude and payment practices ensure quality repairs and customer service for motorists?”

The grades that shops assign insurance companies are based on customer service and quality repairs. “It’s not just about price,” explained CRASH Network’s John Yoswick, during the Society of Collision Repair Specialists’ (SCRS) IDEAS Collide Show at SEMA last fall. “It provides a tool for consumers to help them determine what is the right carrier for them.

“Consumers don’t have much basis to compare a claims experience with one carrier to another since most of us go years on average between claims,” Yoswick stated when the 2026 Insurer Report Card was revealed last month. “That’s why many drivers make their insurance choice based largely on price or name familiarity, choosing one of the insurers whose ads they see everywhere. We see the ‘Insurer Report Card’ as a way for collision repairers to communicate to consumers what shops see every day in terms of which companies are better at taking care of policyholders when they have a claim – and which ones have room for improvement.”

The survey is conducted each November with results being published the following January. The most recent survey revealed seven insurance companies received a grade of “A-” or higher from collision repairers in terms of how well those carriers’ claims practices help promote quality repairs and consumer service, and a total of 35 auto insurers received a “B” or higher to earn a spot on this year’s “Honor Roll.”

The survey also revealed that 22 companies, including six of the largest US auto insurers, received a grade of “C-” or lower. Not one of the top 10 largest national auto insurers received an overall grade higher than “C+” with more than 60 other companies scoring higher!

So, which three insurers made the top of the list?

North Carolina Farm Bureau, offered exclusively in the southern state, received an “A+” rating with Alfa Mutual (offered only in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi) and Chubb, offered in many states including New Jersey, both earning a straight “A” rating.

As for those large national insurance companies spending billions on advertising, the situation is “not getting better,” according to the survey results.

American Family received a “C+” rating, while Travelers and Nationwide earned “C”. Farmers Insurance, Progressive, USAA and GEICO all rated “C-.” Liberty Mutual, Allstate and State Farm came in at the very bottom with scores of “D+.” USAA received a “C-” rating rather than a “D+” the past two years, and Allstate showed slight improvement with a “D+” rating as opposed to a prior “D,” but overall, there wasn’t much change in their practices leading to higher ratings.

The survey results note that these top 10 nationally known insurers are among those that participate in DRP programs and where “such agreements can streamline a shop’s ability to work with that insurance company. That might help explain why shops that participate in an insurer’s DRP almost always give higher grades to that insurer than shops that don’t.”

But this is not inevitable. The survey reveals that GEICO and Farmers, for example, each earned a grade “C+” from companies who participate in their DRP, a score not much higher than the “C-” rating from shops not affiliated with their DRP.

More than 1,100 body shops around the country each graded as many as 40 different insurance companies in their state. Those they gave the highest scores were considered to be better than others in terms of claims processes, appeared to have more experience and responsible claims personnel, paid for OEM repair procedures and did not pressure shops to cut corners with cheaper replacement parts. Lower scores were mostly because shops experienced companies “taking forever” to review claims, refusing to pay for quality parts, fought shops on automakers’ procedures and had “poorly trained staff.”

Visit crashnetwork.com/irc to download the free 2026 Insurer Report Card.

Want more? Check out the March 2026 issue of New Jersey Automotive!