Mass. Regulators: Auto Insurance is Top Complaint Topic

One of consumer-affairs officials’ and insurance regulators’ primary roles is that of objective mediator in disputes between residents and the businesses that they buy products and services from. According to a recent report from Massachusetts state officials, it was auto coverage that prompted the most inquiries and complaints filed with their states’ regulatory departments last year.

The report shows that the state’s office of consumer affairs was contacted by more than 7,000 people concerning questions or complaints about their Massachusetts auto insurance providers in 2010. Common topics of the calls were denial of claims, adjusters and claims delays.

State officials released the report as part of National Consumer Protection Week.

Though auto coverage was the most frequent subject of complaints in the state, followed by health insurance issues, this is the opposite of the norm for most regulators of financial protection.

An evaluation recently released by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners looking at the types of complaints filed with multiple state regulators showed that auto coverage typically gets the second highest proportion of complaints, trailing accident and health.

To aid consumers in finding an insurer that they will be satisfied with, state regulators usually make available to the public reports showing how many complaints were filed against individual coverage providers. These can usually be accessed through the departments’ websites, a directory of which can be found at http://www.consumeraction.gov/insurance.shtml

For more information about coverage issues in the Bay State, readers can go to http://www.onlineautoinsurance.com/massachusetts/ where visitors will find informative resource pages and a quote-comparison generator that can help residents of any state find the best rates for a policy.