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Letter to the Editor

Who Pays for What?

Results from INSIGHT’s Annual Survey of P-Page Reimbursements

The results for INSIGHT’s 2008 “Who Pays for What?” survey, included in the January issue, are in. There are some interesting changes this year from the past years.

The data from the returned surveys has been compiled into charts separated by the seven major insurance companies. The charts show payment for 36 of the most common non-included P-page items. However, an overall average of the responses is also included for comparison.

The “never pay” percentage has gone down consistently over the last few years. In 2005, the “never pay” percentage was 43.8 percent. In 2006 it was 41.9 percent. Last year, it dropped again to 40.7 percent. This year, however, the “never pay” percentage is the highest it has been since 2001. The “never pay” percentage for 2008 has gone up to 46.8 percent.

The “sometimes pay” percentage has gone up and down over the past few years, but has stayed right around 30 percent. The “sometimes pay” percentage increased slightly from last year. In 2007, the “sometimes pay” percentage was down from 2006 with a percent of 30.1. This year the average “sometimes pay” is 31.2 percent.

Not surprisingly, the “always pay” percentage is down this year. The average “always pay” is down to 22 percent. Just like “never pay”, this percentage has not been this low since 2001 when the average “always pay” was 21.8 percent.

Interestingly, the highest “always pay” was the following year. In 2002, the average “always pay” was 30.3 percent.

The “always pay” percentage for every insurer this year is down. State Farm’s “always pay” percentage has dropped each year since its 2006 high of 48.8 percent. However, State Farm’s “always pay” is down significantly even from last year’s 41.7 percent. The average “always pay” for State Farm is 32.8 percent. State Farm’s “always pay” percentage has not been in the 30s since (surprise!) 2001. Despite the drop, State Farm still has the highest “always pay” percentage. Although this year, that does not seem to say much.

GEICO and Progressive both had improvements last year in their “always pay” percentages. Last year, GEICO’s “always pay” percentage was up to 30.6 percent from 20.5 percent in 2006. This year, GEICO’s “always pay” percentage is down to 17.5 percent. It has never been this low. Progressive’s “always pay” percentage was up from an extremely low 13.8 percent in 2006 to 20.4 percent in 2007. This year, it is 15.1 percent.

Last year, State Farm was the only insurer to have an increase in its “never pay” percentage. This year the “never pay” percentages are up for every insurer. GEICO and USAA had major increases in this area. In 2007, GEICO’s “never pay” percentage was 39 percent. This year it is up to 49.5 percent. USAA’s “never pay” percentage is up to 45 percent from last year’s 35.1 percent.

Allstate, State Farm, and USAA are all above the overall “always pay” percentage. Farmers, GEICO, Nationwide, and Progressive, are all below the overall “always pay” percentage. Progressive comes in with the lowest “always pay” percentage of 15.1 percent, while State Farm is the highest with 32.8 percent.

The “never pay” percentages followed a similar pattern as the “always pay” percentages. Allstate, Farmers, State Farm, and USAA are all below the overall “never pays” percentages. GEICO, Nationwide, and Progressive are all above it. Progressive still has the highest “never pay” percentage of 57.6 percent and State Farm the lowest of 34.1 percent.

As is always the case, the statistics above reflect the shops’ satisfaction with the insurance companies. The “always pay” and “never pay” percentages are in direct correlation with CSI scores. This year, the “always pay” percentages are all down so the CSI scores are also down. Progressive, with the highest “never pay” percentages and the lowest “always pay” percentages, has the lowest CSI rating of 34 percent. This is the lowest CSI score ever in the history of the “Who Pays for What” survey.

With a decrease in the “always pay” department and an increase in the “never pay” department, State Farm’s CSI is down this year from last year’s rating of 83 percent. State Farm’s CSI score has dropped to 73 percent. This is the lowest score that State Farm has ever received. For the past two years, INSIGHT mentioned that it would be watching State Farm after the announcement of changes in its repair relationships. Are we finally seeing the effects?

With the exception of Allstate, whose CSI score of 52 percent is the exact same as last year’s, all of the insurers’ CSI scores have dropped. With such a dramatic drop in its “always pay” percentages, it is no surprise that GEICO’s CSI score dropped from 64 to 50 percent. Farmers and Nation-wide both received a CSI score of 44 percent. USAA’s score was down from 73 percent last year to 60 percent this year. As a result, there is no Fair Player Award this year. However, all of the insurers have been awarded the Penny Pincher Award for 2008.

In spite of these disappointing (yet not surprising) results, INSIGHT would like to thank all of those that participated in the “Who Pays For What Survey?” Your responses are greatly appreciated.   o

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