How Insurify rates home insurance companies
Insurify analyzes more than 15 criteria to calculate each company’s IQ Score. These criteria are grouped into five categories: third-party financial strength ratings, customer satisfaction, cost, customer support and transparency, and availability.
The IQ Score uses a 1-to-5 scale to assign a score to insurance companies for each criterion analyzed. The higher the score, the better.
Once scores are collected, Insurify calculates the average score of each criteria category based on a predetermined weighting and adds the weighted scores to create a unique IQ Score for each insurer.
If an insurer doesn’t have data for a particular criteria, it’s excluded from the IQ Score calculations.
Third-party financial ratings
Insurify relies on third-party rating agencies like AM Best and S&P Global to help create objective IQ Scores. These agencies assign grades to companies primarily based on their financial outlook and credit ratings.
For example: AM Best’s ratings consider insurance companies’ financial strength, operating performance, and business profile. Insurify uses ratings from AM Best, Moody’s, S&P Global, Fitch, and Weiss.
Here’s how Insurify rates and scores third-party ratings for this criteria.
| Criteria | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|---|
| AM Best | C+/C++ | B-/B | B+/B++ | A-/A | A+/A++ |
|---|
| Moody’s | Below B1 | B1/B2/Ba1/Ba2 | Baa2/Baa3/Baa1/Baa2 | A2/A3/Aa3/A1 | Aa2/Aaa/Aa1 |
|---|
| S&P Global | D or lower | C/CC/CCC/B | BB+/BBB-/BBB+/BBB | A-/A/A+/AA- | AA/AA+/AAA |
|---|
| Fitch | C or lower | CC/CCC | B/BB | BBB/A-/A | A+/AA/AAA |
|---|
| Weiss | E | D | C | B | A |
|---|
Customer satisfaction
The IQ Score also uses customer satisfaction ratings to help you review and compare home insurance companies. The scoring system includes ratings from trusted industry experts like J.D. Power and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), as well as customer reviews from Trustpilot.
Insurance companies receive a 1-to-5 score as it correlates to the criteria rating below. Then, Insurify takes an average of the scores to calculate the companies’ final customer satisfaction scores. If a company doesn’t have information for a criterion, Insurify excludes it from the score.
| Criteria | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|---|
| J.D. Power 2023 U.S. Home Insurance Study | Less than 760 | 760–779 | 780–799 | 800–819 | 820 and higher |
|---|
| J.D. Power 2023 U.S. Property Claims Satisfaction Study | Less than 820 | 820–839 | 840–859 | 860–879 | 880 and higher |
|---|
| NAIC complaint index | 3.01 and higher | 2.01–3 | 1.11–2 | 0.90–1.10 | Less than 0.90 |
|---|
| Trustpilot | Less than 3 | 3.0–3.49 | 3.5–3.99 | 4.0–4.49 | 4.5 and higher |
|---|
| ConsumerAffairs | Less than 3 | 3.0–3.49 | 3.5–3.99 | 4.0–4.49 | 4.5 and higher |
|---|
Affordability
Home insurance average costs and how much homeowners pay for coverage are crucial parts of the IQ Score. Insurify’s team of data scientists analyzes millions of home insurance quotes to calculate average premiums based on $250,000 and $500,000 dwelling coverage limits.
The scoring methodology also considers advertised discounts in a company’s affordability score. The more discounts a home insurance company advertises, the more homeowners could save on their premiums.
Insurify scores companies in the following three criteria from 1 to 5, then averages the three scores to create a home insurer’s affordability score.
| Criteria | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|---|
| $250,000 limit average premium | $250 or more | $201–$250 | $151–$200 | $101–$150 | $100 or less |
|---|
| $500,000 limit average premium | $350 or more | $301–$350 | $251–$300 | $201–$250 | $200 or less |
|---|
| Advertised discounts | 2 or less | 3–4 | 5–6 | 7–8 | 9 or more |
|---|
Customization, support, and transparency
Every homeowner has different needs for their home’s coverage. That’s why Insurify compares and rates companies based on the available coverage options. If a company only offers dwelling coverage, for example, it will score lower in that category than a company that has customizable coverage options to meet various needs.
Customer support is crucial, too. It’s important to file a home insurance claim quickly, efficiently, and conveniently. Home insurance companies score higher for this criterion if they have multiple ways for customers to file claims.
Lastly, shopping online for home insurance is easier when companies provide as much information about their products as possible. Insurify scores home insurance companies higher when they provide information about their coverage options, discounts, geographical footprint, and financial ratings on their websites.
Here are four main points Insurify looks for when rating transparency:
Coverage options
Contact information
State availability
Potential discounts
Here’s how Insurify scores home insurance companies based on these criteria to create this portion of their IQ Score.
| Criteria | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|---|
| Coverage options | Dwelling-only coverage | 2 coverage options | 3 coverage options | 4 coverage options | 5 and more coverage options |
|---|
| Claims filing | Only online | Only phone | Online and by phone (no mobile app option) | Mobile app and by phone (no desktop option) | Mobile app, phone, and online |
|---|
| Transparency | 0 points — must call agent for info | 1 points | 2 points | 3 points | 4 points |
|---|
Availability and reach
Insurify considers how many states an insurance company serves and its market share to create an IQ Score. Companies that serve more states earn higher scores. However, to avoid unfairly downgrading smaller companies specializing in serving regional areas, they don’t receive a score for this category.
Insurify scores national companies from 1 to 5 based on their information for the following criteria.
| Criteria | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|---|
| Market share | Not listed | 0.01%–0.49% | 0.50%–0.99% | 1%–9.99% | More than 10% |
|---|
| Availability | Less than 10 states | 10–19 states | 20–29 states | 30–39 states | 40 or more states |
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