10 Worst Insurance Companies for Consumers Ranked; No. 1, 3, 4 and 7 Sell Policies in AL – WHNT
10 Worst Insurance Companies for Consumers Ranked; No. 1, 3, 4 and 7 Sell Policies in AL – WHNT
MONTGOMERY – In recent years, Alabama homeowners have seen sharp increases in their insurance premiums. A new study put out by the American Association for Justice ranks the 10 worst insurance companies in the U.S. for consumers and explains the overall rise in premium costs to an industry-wide strategy of denying claims, delaying payments and defending those positions as long as possible in hopes that weary claimants will settle for less than their claim is worth. (I am not sure how denying claims leads to an increase in premium – maybe this is article and ranking has something besides the truth as its purpose.)
“Nationally, we’ve seen insurance companies continue to put profits over the best interest of their policyholders,” Gibson Vance, president of the Alabama Association for Justice (ALAJ), formerly the Alabama Trial Lawyers Association, said, adding that “in Alabama it’s no different.”
In Alabama, State Farm (#4 on the 10 Worst Insurance Companies List) is the leading insurer of property and casualty insurance, followed by Allstate, AIG and Farmers (#’s 1, 3 and 7 on the 10 Worst Insurance Companies List). Alabamians pay the ninth-highest average homeowners premiums in the nation, which insurers say is because of hurricane risk, but interestingly only 12 percent of the state is coastal. In addition, property and casualty insurers took in $6.6 billion in premiums from Alabama policyholders in 2006 but only paid out $3.5 billion in losses.
10 Worst Insurance Companies for Consumers Ranked; No. 1, 3, 4 and 7 Sell Policies in AL – WHNT