Carriers, records, and what a rating is worth

We are not the insurer and we are not an underwriter

Insurance Plan Center compares options and introduces you to the parties that write them. We hold no underwriting authority, we are not a managing general agent for any company, and we cannot bind, amend, or backdate a single policy. If a person tells you otherwise about us, please send us a note, because they are wrong.

The company whose name is on the policy document is the one that carries the risk. They set the price, they decide whether to pay a claim, and they answer to the insurance department in the state the risk sits in, not to this website.

The kinds of company you might be quoted by

Almost every insurer falls into one of four broad buckets, and knowing which one you are dealing with tells you a surprising amount about who will be quoting you and how.

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  Mutual insurers

  Owned by the policyholders rather than investors, so the aim is to price fairly and stay on the books rather than return a dividend. Many of the longest-standing names in the market are mutuals.

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  Stock insurers

  Owned by shareholders, and run for a profit that they are entitled to keep. They often quote more aggressively online, and their appetite can change faster than a mutual's.

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  Groups writing through independent agents

  A company that does not sell direct to the public but works through a network of independent offices. Useful when you want a local person who knows the property.

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  Direct writers

  Sell only through their own phone line and website. Frequently the cheapest on straightforward risks, and frequently the least flexible if a claim becomes complicated.

Which of these can quote you depends on the state of the risk and on the insurer's own appetite on the day. It is not something anyone can promise in advance, and anyone who says otherwise is guessing.

Reading a financial strength rating honestly

Rating agencies such as AM Best, Fitch, and S&P issue a letter grade for an insurer's ability to pay claims. Those grades are opinions formed from public filings and are worth reading. They are not a promise that your claim will be paid, and a high grade is not a reason to buy a policy that does not fit.

Two cautions. First, a grade belongs to the company and sometimes to a specific subsidiary, so check that the entity named on your quote is the entity that was rated. Second, some of the marks printed on comparison sites are out of date, or belong to a group rather than the writing entity. The lookup described on our licensing page points you at sources you can check yourself.

The number that tells you more than a rating

Most state insurance departments publish a complaint ratio for every insurer they authorise: complaints as a share of the policies in force. A company with a middling grade and a low complaint ratio is often a better bet than the reverse, and the ratio is public.

It is worth looking at the insurer you are actually being quoted, in the state the risk sits in, before you hand over payment details.

What happens when something goes wrong

Claims are handled by the company on your policy, and the number to ring is printed on the card in your glovebox and at the top of every document. We will help you find it if you cannot, and we will help you understand the paperwork, but we do not make decisions on claims and we cannot make one happen.

If a claim is denied and you disagree, every policy has an internal appeal process, and the regulator above it exists for exactly that situation. Our refunds and billing page covers the money side of a cancelled or changed policy.

Questions about a specific quote

Send us the company name and the figures, and we will tell you what can be verified and what cannot. If it turns out to be a company we cannot vouch for on the record, we would rather say so than talk around it.