Homeowner insurance tops list for hurricane claim complaints

LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) - Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon has announced that nearly 80 percent of the 873 complaints that the Louisiana Department of Insurance has received about hurricane claims are about homeowners insurance.

“I encourage any policyholder who’s having trouble with their insurance company to call us,” Commissioner Donelon said. “We can help.”

Hurricane grievances have included complaints about various types of residential, auto and commercial property insurance, as well as complaints about insurance adjusters and agents. But the vast majority of complaints from the 2020 storm season concerned homeowners insurance. The most common grievance was claim delay.

As of January 11, policyholders had filed 691 homeowners insurance complaints about claims from hurricanes Laura, Delta and Zeta. The Louisiana Department of Insurance investigated and closed 597 of the complaints by that date. The 15 insurers with the highest numbers of complaints are listed in the chart below.

Company/Group - Market Share - Number of Complaints - Complaint Index

State Farm Group - 26% - 163 - 0.90856

FedNat Holding Company Group[1] - 3.9% - 93 - 3.48228

GeoVera Specialty Insurance Company - 1.8% - 66 - 5.25358

United Insurance Holdings Group[2] - 4% - 52 - 1.87236

Allstate Insurance Group - 10.8% - 51 - 0.68065

Allied Trust Insurance Company 0.9% - 40 - 6.32678

TWIMG Group[3] - 3.1% - 23 - 1.08225

USAA Group[4] - 6.2% - 23 - 0.53878

Liberty Mutual Group[5] - 5.6% - 18 - 0.46819

Progressive Group[6] - 3.9% - 18 - 0.67448

Centauri National Insurance Company - 1.6% - 15 - 1.389

American Bankers Insurance Company of FL - 1.4% - 14 - 1.43079

IAT Reins Co Grp[7] - 0.9% - 13 - 2.17708

Aegis Security Insurance Company - 0.4% - 10 - 3.77807

Munich Re Grp[8] - 0.1% - 10 - 1.09704

Total for 15 Insurers with the most hurricane complaints - 609

Total Hurricane Homeowners Complaints - 691

Total Hurricane Complaints as of Jan. 11 - 873

Many of these companies are small insurers with a high number of complaints relative to their size, while others have a large number of complaints and a large market share. The chart includes a complaint index that allows consumers to compare companies without regard to size. A company with a complaint index of 1 has an average number of complaints. A A company with a complaint index higher than 1 has more complaints than average.

[1] FedNat Ins Co [52] – Maison Ins Co [41]

[2] United Prop & Cas Ins Co [41] – Family Security Ins Co Inc [11]

[3] Lighthouse Excalibur Ins Co [12] – Lighthouse Prop Ins Corp [11]

[4] USAA Cas Ins Co [16] – USAA Gen Ind Co [5] – Garrison Prop & Cas Ins Co [2]

[5] Liberty Personal Ins Co [13] – Safeco Ins Co of OR [5]

[6] Progressive Prop Ins Co [11] – ASI Lloyds [7]

[7] Occidental Fire & Cas Co of NC [12] – Wilshire Ins Co [1]

[8] American Modern home Ins Co [4] – American Modern Prop & Cas Ins Co [2] – American Western Home Ins Co [2] – American Family Home Ins Co [1] – American Southern Home Ins Co [1]

Commissioner Donelon encourages policyholders who are having trouble with their insurance claims to call the Louisiana Department of Insurance for help at 1-800-259-5300 or file a complaint online at https://www.ldi.la.gov/fileacomplaint. A team of complaint specialists in the LDI’s Office of Consumer Services is working exclusively on issues related to hurricanes Laura, Delta and Zeta, and they stand ready to answer consumer questions and resolve complaints.

In 2015, the Louisiana Department of Insurance re-organized its complaint function so that a new division handled all complaints, whether about life insurance, health insurance, property insurance or any other insurance issue. Trained complaint specialists listen to a consumer’s account of a problem, contact the company on their behalf, investigate the situation, and determine whether the company has complied with Louisiana law and the provisions of the consumer’s contract. Most complaints are resolved within 30 days. If a larger pattern of complaints is observed, it can trigger a broader investigation of a company known as a market conduct exam.

The LDI has an online tool where consumers can view the total number of complaints filed against companies who write insurance in Louisiana. Consumers can visit www.ldi.la.gov/complaintdata to see complaints sorted by company name, premium written and the complaint index, which measures complaints for a company relative to the amount of premium written.

As of November 20, Louisiana insurers had received 236,928 claims for all lines of insurance from hurricanes Laura and Delta. Half of those claims, or 119,127, were closed by insurers with payment. Policyholders can file supplemental claims if they incur additional expenses in repairing their properties or if they discover previously unknown storm damage.