Consumer Complaint Study
Overview
In accordance with California Insurance Code (CIC) Section 12921.1 the "Consumer Complaint Study
(CCS) Definitions", is published to assist you as you shop for insurance.
The Consumer Complaint Study is a combination of two studies which provide informational data.
- The primary study is the Justified Complaint Study (Composite Ratio) which ranks the insurance companies according to their justified complaint ratio.
- The secondary study is the Company Performance and Comparison Data Study.
Justified Complaint Study
The tables in the study provide the following about each individual Automobile, Homeowners, and Life company: rank, company name, approximate number of policies1 or exposures1 in California, justified complaint ratio and number of justified complaints, for the past three years. CDI ranks insurers according to their justified complaint ratio. The justified complaint ratio is based on the number of justified complaints per 100,000 policies or exposures. For those companies without a ratio, ranking is done by the policy or exposure count. This study only includes complaints that are closed for a given year regardless of when the complaints were filed. This study also categorizes the company's data based on the type of insurance.
With regard to health insurance plans regulated by the CDI, below you will find a link to the current Preferred Provider Organizations (PPO) Report Card. This report compares the quality of health care for millions of Californians who get their care through commercial insurance provided by the largest PPOs in California. Specific company complaint information can be obtained by selecting the complaint link inside each carrier's section of the report.
How to view a company's justified complaint data visit:
- Automobile Insurance Complaint Composite Page
- Homeowners Insurance Complaint Composite Page
- Life Insurance Complaint Composite Page
- Health Care Quality Report Cards
See the Example below on how to use the Justified Complaint Study
Company Performance and Comparison Studies
The Company Performance Study displays the Company Performance table and Alleged Violations for a specific company and calendar year. The company performance table provides the complaints determined by the department to require that corrective action be taken against the insurer, or leading to insurer compromise, or other remedy for the complainant, those that are found to be without merit, those with other outcomes, and justified complaints (CIC Section 12921.1 provides definitions of terminology). Included in the Company Performance section is the Alleged Violations table which provides information on the number and type of alleged violations registered with CDI for that company, time period, and line of coverage. The Comparison Data Study provides information on the justified complaint ratio, market share, complaint share, and index.
How to view a company's performance or comparison data studies:
- Use the company links in the Justified Complaint Study, if the company that you are interested in viewing is displayed on the table.
- Search for a specific Company Profile: (Using the "Company Profile Search", type the specific company you are interested in (or part of the name if unknown).
- The Company Profile page will display the "Company Complaint Information" section.
- To view the specific company's performance and comparison data, select the "Company Performance & Comparison Data" from the quick menu.
- If you have additional questions, please visit our Talk to Us page.
Example - Justified Complaint Study
| Sample Rank | Company Name | Approximate Exposure Count | Justified Complaint Ratio | Number of Justified Complaints | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 3 | Year 2 | Year 1 | Year 3 | Year 2 | Year 1 | |||
| 26 | Company A | 200,000 | 0.5 | 1.1 | 1.7 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 27 | Company B | 300,000 | 0.7 | 1.7 | 2.2 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| 28 | Company C | 350,000 | 0.9 | 2.2 | 2.8 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 29 | Company D | 375,000 | 1.1 | 2.8 | 3.3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
The table above is used to illustrate how to read the table in the three year study. From the table, one can learn the following information about Company C:
- Company C is ranked 28th best company among 50 large insurers for homeowners insurance in Year 3. In other words, 27 companies had a lower, or better, complaint ratio than Company C.
- Company C insured approximately 350,000 homeowners exposures.
- The company's Justified Complaint Ratio for Year 3 is 0.9 - based on the number of justified complaints closed between January 1 through December 31 to the number of 100,000 earned exposures. Thus, Company C's 0.9 ratio implies that for every 100,000 earned exposures, the company had 0.9 justified complaints closed against them.
- The Department closed 3 justified complaints for Company C in Year 3.
Footnotes:
1. California Insurance Code (CIC) Section 12921.1 the "Consumer Complaint Study
(CCS) Definitions" provides definitions of terms used for these studies and reports.
