J.D. Power: Auto Insurance Customer Satisfaction Plummets as Rates Surge 15.5%

The J.D. Power 2023 U.S. Auto Insurance Study, released June 13, captured a defining part of the insurance-market environment confronting auto-glass shops. Overall customer satisfaction with auto insurers dropped 12 points on J.D. Power's 1,000-point scale — the largest single-year decline in more than two decades.

Pricing drove the decline. Nearly one-third of U.S. auto insurance customers had experienced a rate increase in the prior year, and the average industry increase was 15.5 percent. Insurers had lost an average of 12 cents on every dollar of premium collected in 2022 — the worst performance in more than 20 years — leaving carriers with little choice but to reprice aggressively.

The rate surge affected how policyholders thought about glass claims. For many drivers, using a glass claim — even under a zero-deductible comprehensive glass policy — now carried a perceived risk of triggering a renewal rate increase. In states where comprehensive glass claims can affect renewal pricing, some customers deferred repairs or declined replacements entirely across multiple markets during 2023.

Usage-based insurance adoption also rose as customers sought ways to offset premium growth. UBI programs — which use telematics to price based on individual driving behavior — were adopted by 26 percent of customers new to an insurer. UBI growth has implications for glass shops because telematics-equipped vehicles sometimes carry additional calibration requirements for the sensors that support the UBI tracking devices.

For shop owners, the insurance-market environment in 2023 reinforced the value of educating customers about their coverage rights. Many policyholders were unaware that comprehensive glass claims are treated differently from collision claims in most states, or that state statutes in certain markets specifically protect drivers from rate increases tied to glass-only claims.

The J.D. Power results were consistent with a broader pattern: as insurer profitability problems drove rate increases, the friction around claims increased, and shops that could navigate that friction effectively for their customers gained a meaningful service-quality differentiator.