No. A-02/99
Property & Casualty
- Auto

Auto insurers' claimant satisfaction survey for 1999

To the attention of all insurance companies licensed
to transact automobile insurance in Ontario

We are releasing, with this Bulletin, the 1999 Guidelines for Ontario Auto Insurance Claimant Satisfaction Research (Guidelines). On January 1, 1998, the Ontario Insurance Commission, now the Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO), put in place a new compliance mechanism to monitor and help improve insurers’ claims management practices relating to private passenger automobile claims. It required property & casualty (P & C) insurance companies to conduct a claimant satisfaction survey annually beginning in 1998.

A working group comprising representatives of the insurance industry and the FSCO endorsed the use of the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) survey guidelines to implement this initiative.

Claimant Satisfaction Survey

All P & C insurance companies writing private passenger automobile business are required to conduct the 1999 claimant satisfaction survey, using the attached Guidelines.

To ensure consistency in the data collected, insurers must retain a marketing research organization that is a member of the Canadian Association of Marketing Research Organizations (CAMRO). Insurers are required to file the tabulated results of the survey with FSCO by June 30, 1999.

Companies with less than $10 million in direct written premiums (Private Passenger Automobile) or with fewer than 300 closed claims in 1998 are not required to undertake the survey. Insurers must notify FSCO in writing if they qualify for exemption from conducting the survey.

We are also attaching a set of questions and answers (Qs_and_As) to this Bulletin to assist your staff who are coordinating the survey.

FSCO Contact

If you need additional information or clarification on the 1999 claim satisfaction survey process, please contact Mario Manov, Industry Practices Analyst, Office of the Insurance Ombudsman, at (416) 590-7062; fax (416) 590-8480.

Dina Palozzi
Chief Executive Officer and
Superintendent of Financial Services

March 22, 1999

Attachments:    

• Guidelines for Ontario Auto Insurance Claimant Satisfaction Research
• Questions and Answers on Claimant Satisfaction Survey

ISSN 1481-1510