JD Power: Total Loss Auto Claims Weigh Down Insurance Customer Satisfaction

Customer satisfaction with total loss auto insurance claims fell for a third straight year, while satisfaction improved for claims involving repairable vehicles, a new study looking at this year shows.

Customer satisfaction with total loss claims fell 12 points on a 1,000-point scale in 2026, marking a 46-point decline since 2023, according to the JD Power 2026 U.S. Auto Claims Satisfaction Study.

However, satisfaction with claims involving repairable vehicles improved four points and overall auto claims customer satisfaction was unchanged from last year at 700.

Overall, 26% of auto insurance claims were classified as total losses this year, up from 16% four years ago. The growing share of total losses reflects rising vehicle repair costs, consumers keeping vehicles longer and higher deductibles removing smaller repairs from the claims process, according to the study. Affordability pressures also led some customers to drop rental coverage or increase deductibles, complicating the claims experience.

Repair cycle times have improved as claim volumes have declined and repair shops have more capacity. Average repair cycle times fell to 15.3 days in the first quarter of 2026, down 10 days from the first quarter of 2024, the study shows.

The study also found differences in customer satisfaction based on how effectively insurers communicate across channels. Satisfaction averaged 804 among customers who strongly agreed their insurers provided a seamless experience across communication channels, compared with 390 among customers who disagreed.

The study shows that insurers provided a seamless cross-channel experience 54% of the time, one of the lowest-performing measures in the study. Problems cited included unclear explanations, customers having to use multiple channels to get answers and digital tools that did not work as expected.

Amica ranked highest in overall customer satisfaction with a score of 775, followed by Nationwide at 743 and Automobile Club of Southern California (AAA) at 740.

The study examines auto claims experiences in order of importance: trust, fairness of settlement, people, time to settle claim, communication, ease of resolving claim, ease of starting claim and digital channels. The 2026 study was based on responses from 8,261 auto insurance customers who settled claims within the nine months before participating in the survey, which was conducted from September 2025 through August 2026.

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