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The Hanover Insurance Group, which began in 1852 as a property and casualty insurance company, is now the holding company for several insurance companies and other financial services.

Collectively, these form one of the 500 largest publicly-traded companies in the United States.

This long-time familiarity with customer interaction and service has resulted in consistently positive Hanover Auto Insurance reviews.
The Hanover Insurance Group logo
In this review:

Hanover Auto Insurance Coverage Options

Hanover Auto insurance offers policyholders a number of options for choosing the best coverage for their individual needs.

Here are a few of the coverage options available:

  • Liability: This pays for damages caused to property in an accident or collision where the insured driver is at fault.
  • Comprehensive and Collision Options: This covers the cost of damages to the insured driver’s car in a collision, vehicle theft, acts of nature, vandalism, or other unexpected events.
  • Medical Payments/PIP (Personal Injury Protection): PIP covers accident-related medical or funeral expenses for injury or death of an insured driver or passengers in the vehicle.
  • Roadside Assistance: Insured drivers can contact their insurance provider if they run out of gas, lock their keys in the car, need a battery boost, or have a flat tire that needs changing from any location.

Claims Satisfaction

After a customer creates an insurance policy with a Hanover Auto representative, the next contact a policyholder will probably have with the company will mostly be limited to quick calls or office visits to change details such as an address, phone number, or new vehicle.

Aside from this, most subsequent interactions happen during the claims process, which is why companies who rate insurance providers put such emphasis on claims service satisfaction when gathering Hanover Auto insurance reviews.

When J.D. Power and other market research firms gather information to create a Hanover Auto insurance rating, they each use a unique process to analyze the company along with its major competitors. One thing these companies have in common, though, is their use of three key performance indicators (KPIs) to determine each insurance provider’s performance.

These KPIs all relate to the claims process and consist of communication, ease of service interaction, and timeliness.

In the J.D. Power 2017 U.S. Auto Claims Satisfaction Study, Hanover Auto was rated 4 out of 5 for Overall Satisfaction. This grade is the average of six individual categories that include Claims Servicing, Estimation Process, and Settlement.

Hanover Auto received a 4 out of 5 rating on most of these categories; however, it received a grade of 2 out of 5 on Rental Experience and 3 out of 5 on Repair Process.

These ratings place the company just above Geico and MAPFRE Insurance and just below Erie Insurance and Auto-Owners Insurance.

Overall Customer Satisfaction

Aside from the claims process, several other factors are used to determine each insurance provider’s overall customer satisfaction, such as how well the company answers customer inquiries and handles complaints. Every single interaction between the company and its customers can affect the latter’s overall satisfaction, either positively or negatively.

The J.D. Power shopping study provides customers with ratings across various categories, determining an overall customer satisfaction rating based on an average of these categories.

Although Hanover Auto and its affiliates are not ranked in the main study, the New England and North Central areas of the U.S. did produce survey results on policy offerings, pricing, billing processes, interactions, and claims.

The Hanover received a 2 out of 5 score in all categories except Interactions and Claims, which ranged between 3 and 4 out of 5. This may explain The Hanover’s high overall score in claim satisfaction.

Complaints

Another good resource is the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ Complaint Ratio Report, which analyzes a company’s number of justified complaints and compares that to the number the company processes to create a complaint ratio.

Consumers can check these reports to learn more about how each insurance provider handles complaints.

The Hanover American Insurance Company (NAIC #36064) and the Citizens Insurance Company (NAIC #31534), both affiliates of The Hanover, have a posted 2017 complaint ratio for private passenger vehicles of 0.64 and 0.61 respectively.

This is 40 percent below the national median of 1.00, and complaint trends have been decreasing for both companies from 2016 through 2018.

Pricing

Determining the price of any auto insurance policy depends on several factors, including the driver’s age, gender, driving experience and history, as well as their geographic location and the make and model of the vehicle.

For comparison, we used the following scenario for the pricing portion of this insurance review.

Basic coverage for a policy with three vehicle operators and two vehicles—a 2013 Toyota Camry LE and a 2010 Chevrolet Impala LT:

  • Operator #1 licensed 24 years with one infraction 1.5 years ago
  • Operator #2 licensed 22 years with one infraction 8 years ago
  • Operator #3 licensed 1.5 years with one infraction 1 year ago

In this scenario pulled from the state of Massachusetts Division of Insurance, Citizens Insurance, a subsidiary of The Hanover Insurance Group, is priced fairly averagely at $3,257. The lowest price point for this scenario comes from USAA at $1,442, and the highest is from Occidental at $7,331.

Financial Strength

In the event of any large disaster where your insurance provider is receiving a multitude of claims at the same time, it’s crucial to feel confident that the insurer you’ve chosen will be financially able to honor your policy.

The Insurance Information Institute helps consumers to understand how financial ratings are issued from the five independent agencies and what the scores mean.

Financial ratings for Hanover Auto indicate that the company is in very good standing.

A.M. Best gave a Financial Strength Rating (FSR) of A (excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of A to The Hanover Insurance Group.

Moody’s Investors Services has provided a senior debt rating of Baa3 and an Insurance Financial Strength Rating (IFS) of A3 to The Hanover Insurance Group.

Is Hanover Car Insurance Right for You?

After reading this Hanover Auto insurance review and learning more about the company’s insurance ratings, you should have a better idea of where the company stands among its competition and be able to confidently decide if the policy offerings are right for your needs.