By Shefali Kapadia
When NFU Mutual, a U.K.-based insurer, onboards new employees, it doesn’t simply provide them with instruction manuals for their training. The company brings new hires to a hotel room to simulate a flooded house, complete with wet floors and water coming through the ceiling. “It really brings it home as an experience of what it would be like to be affected by a flood,” says NFU Mutual CEO Nick Turner.
The physical aspect of this onboarding process not only helps employees understand the trauma that homeowners may be experiencing when making a claim, it allows customer-facing employees to “fully empathize with members at their time of need,” says Turner.
And the approach has paid off. NFU Mutual earned No. 1 in the U.K. for both homeowners and auto insurance on Forbes’ rankings of the World’s Best Insurance Companies 2024, which includes three lists, each covering a distinct insurance category: homeowners, auto and life.
To create these lists, Forbes partnered with Statista for the second year in a row and surveyed more than 45,000 consumers in 15 countries between late January and mid-March. All participants were required to have held at least one insurance policy—homeowners, auto or life—in the past three years, and were asked if they would recommend their insurer to others. Respondents were also asked about their satisfaction and loyalty to their insurance company, and to evaluate the insurer based on such criteria as the advice employees offered, customer service, price performance, transparency and damage service. Survey responses were analyzed and scored, and the companies with the highest scores in their countries made our final lists.
In all, a total of 298 companies ranked on at least one list—160 in auto, 130 in homeowners, and 145 in life—while 31 earned a spot on all three lists. Some companies even made all three lists in multiple countries, including AXA, which nabbed a spot on all three lists in both Germany and Italy; and Allianz, which ranked in every category in both Germany and Brazil.
While each company on Forbes’ lists boasts a unique suite of products and approach to doing business, all are evolving to navigate rising costs and global challenges while adhering to their missions of customer service and personalization. “The insurance business remains a very human business,” says Ben Bailey, managing director and head of the insurance segment at JLL, a U.S.-based global real estate company. “It’s an industry built on trust and human connections and that’s unlikely to change any time soon.”
Take CAA Insurance Company, which ranked No. 1 in Canada for both homeowners and auto insurance, and is celebrating 50 years in business. The insurer prides itself on finding novel ways to educate its consumers about how to mitigate risk, says Matthew Turack, group president at CAA. For instance, CAA offers winter tire discounts to encourage customers to put winter tires on their vehicles and decrease their chances of harm while driving in snowy, harsh weather conditions. The company sees it as a win-win proposition: “By being part of the solution, we can help people be proactive and take the necessary steps to prevent a claim or an event from happening,” says Turack.
Insurance companies that offer homeowners policies also encourage consumers to be proactive about preventing losses, says Diane Delaney, executive director of the Private Risk Management Association. They do so by providing information for customers on replacing roofs, putting up storm shutters, adding leak detection systems and installing fire suppression systems—all of which can reduce the likelihood of damage to a home in the event of severe weather.
That’s not to say that the best insurance companies suggest the same measures for all of their customers. At Country Financial, the nearly 100-year-old company has learned that each policy holder’s situation is unique. “One of the biggest mistakes any company can make is not listening to clients,” says Jesse Kohlbecker, vice president of claims and client services at Country Financial, which ranked in the top 10 in the U.S. on all three of Forbes’ lists, including the No. 1 spot for life insurance. It’s only by listening to clients’s needs that insurers can recommend “solutions that are the right fit for their circumstances,” he says.
And while consumers recognize and appreciate this attention to detail, industry leaders have also taken note. For one, Zhexu (Edward) Ai, assistant professor of finance at Wagner College in New York City, acknowledged that USAA—which ranked in the top 10 in all three insurance categories in the U.S.—is a standout in the field of insurance providers. The company, which serves members of the U.S. military, veterans and their families, provides service that is “efficient and customized,” he says. USAA is also consistent, having ranked in the top 10 in all three insurance categories last year as well.
Peter McMurtrie, a partner at U.S.-based advisory firm West Monroe, notes that leading insurance companies like Allstate (No. 28 in the U.S. for life insurance and No. 30 for homeowners) distinguish themselves with insurance agents that communicate with “clarity and empathy.” And for those concerned that the increasing use of AI tools may diminish that sense of empathy, JLL’s Bailey suggests that AI is actually helping insurers be more sensitive to customer’s needs by improving the ability of companies to “tailor products to individual consumers.”
Auto insurers like CAA, for example, are using telematics and mobile apps to track driving trends and customize coverage based on each customer’s risk level, says Susanne Turnbo, managing director at Sendero Consulting, headquartered in Dallas. Insurance firms, she says, “need to continue to invest in harnessing that data, so they can get the most out of it, and provide more of those personalized products and services.”
Of course, the top insurance companies aim to balance “digital innovation alongside the power of personal touch,” says Kohlbecker, who contends that no matter how advanced technology may become in connecting customers to their insurers, it remains critical that insurance companies offer person-to-person interactions. That’s why NFU Mutual ensures that someone always answers the phone quickly when a customer calls, says Turner. “It’s about real conversations with people.”
For the full list of the World’s Best Homeowners Insurance Companies, click here.
For the full list of the World’s Best Auto Insurance Companies, click here.
For the full list of the World’s Best Life Insurance Companies, click here.
Methodology
To create the World’s Best Insurance Companies 2024, Forbes partnered with market research firm Statista to survey more than 45,000 people across 15 countries who have held at least one insurance policy for their home, car or life within the last three years. Participants—who were surveyed between late January and mid-March—were asked about their satisfaction and loyalty to their insurance company, and if they would recommend it to others. Respondents were also asked to rate their insurer based on criteria including the advice employees offered, customer service, price performance, transparency and damage service. These survey responses were analyzed and scored, and the nearly 300 insurance companies with the highest scores landed on one or more of our final lists, each covering three distinct insurance categories: homeowners, auto and life.
As with all Forbes lists, companies pay no fee to participate. For questions about this list, visit this resource or contact listdesk (at) forbes.com.
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