Autobody’s 2022 appraisal on insurer practices
Story by ALLISON ROGERS
It takes two to make a thing go right. It also takes two to make it outta sight. And, in our case, it takes two parties to ensure a customer leaves the repair centre with a safe, reliable, pre-accident condition vehicle. Collision Repair magazine has witnessed plenty of industry anticipation regarding this year’s annual Insurer Report card. Below are some of our key findings, based on more than 120 submissions from collision centres across the country.
For the third straight year, Collision Repair’s Insurer Report card has recognized the Co-Operators as the highest-scoring insurer, receiving an A grade for the second year in a row. In 2020, the Co-Operators took the crown with an overall grade of B+.
The Co-Operators was not alone at the top this year, though. Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI) grabbed clean As in every category—contrary to the Co-Operators A-, A and A+, respectively. The two insurers are tied for top scorer in our 2022 report. Economical scored Fs in all categories—the only party to do so. The insurer also received an F-grade overall in last year’s report. The industry certainly recalls RSA’s integration with Intact, which started in June 2021 when the latter acquired RSA. RSA had scored a B in last year’s Insurer Report card; Intact a D. The integration resulted in an overall letter grade of D+ for Intact; a small improvement over 2021’s results. The insurer scored an F in the bodyshop relations category.
The Co-Operators and Saskatchewan’s crown insurer were the only two parties with overall clean A-grades, though Wawanesa claimed an A-. Its lowest score was in dispute management practices, claiming a modest B grade.
In terms of top performers per category, two crown insurers came out on top where quick payment is concerned. SGI and MPI touted the top grades in the category with two As.
The Co-Operators and SGI can be commended for their dispute management practices; both insurers scored As for the category. The Co-Operators went one step further to claim an A+ for its bodyshop relations—the only A+ in the entire report.
