Finder Car Insurance Customer Satisfaction Awards 2021

We asked customers of some of the UK’s biggest car insurance companies about their experience and whether they would recommend their insurer to a friend or family member.

You can see our winners below, plus a full table of the results. The winners are based on both overall satisfaction scores (that is, star ratings) and recommendation scores (the percentage of customers who said they’d recommend the brand to a friend). More on this below.

Our car insurance winners

Winner, Best Car Insurance:

Direct Line

Car insurance was the first product on offer from Direct Line, back in 1985. Since then, the company has expanded to offer other products as well, but this hasn’t taken away from the quality of their car cover. Customers in our survey said the company was reliable, trusted and fair. The words “excellent service” appeared quite a few times and one customer even went as far as to brand Direct Line a “cut above a lot of others”.

Read our review of Direct line car insurance

Highly Commended, Car Insurance:

LV=

As well as providing two levels of standard car insurance (comprehensive and third party, fire and theft), LV= recently launched LV= Flow – a temporary car insurance service. This puts the company ahead of many others in the innovating department. The customers we surveyed praised the helpful service and good value policies on offer from LV=.

Read our review of LV= car insurance

Our 2021 car insurance customer satisfaction league table

We asked policyholders to rate their satisfaction with their insurance company, and whether they’d recommend it to a friend. We’ve shown both for each brand in the table below. Our independent survey of 1,513 insurance customers was carried out in December 2020.

Overall satisfaction	Customers who’d recommend	Issuer	Review
★★★★★	82%		Direct Line climbed up two places from last year to claim the top spot in 2021. The company received high praise from customers, with many of them calling Direct Line’s service excellent and praising the good value for money and helpful staff.	View deals
★★★★★	78%		As well as standard car insurance, LV= recently launched LV= Flow – its short term cover service. The company’s comprehensive cover includes windshield damage and replacement locks and was praised by customers as excellent value.	View deals
★★★★★	81%		Age Co, formerly known as Age UK, is an over-50s specialist. While it does offer cover to younger drivers as well, its policies are tailored to those with more experience – in life and on the road. The company’s customers say it’s helpful and friendly with competitive prices.	View deals
★★★★★	79%		As one of the most well-known insurers in the UK, Admiral offers a range of cover options, including a combined home and car policy, multi-car cover and temporary car insurance. Customers praised the competitive prices and good value service.	View deals
★★★★★	79%		Sheilas’ Wheels started life as a female-only car insurance provider but now offers cover to both men and women, with a focus on benefits to appeal to women and parents. Customers in our survey love the helpful staff.	View deals
★★★★★	78%		A staple of the British roads, The AA offers third party, fire and theft cover and a benefit-laden comprehensive cover. AA members get extra perks and customers said the service is helpful and efficient. The AA got the top spot in our new	View deals
★★★★★	76%		Hastings Direct’s two main cover options are Direct and Premier. The company also offers a ‘no-frills’ policy called Essential cover, as well as third party only cover, and third party, fire and theft. Customers like the low prices and good service on offer.	View deals
★★★★★	75%		NFU Mutual started life as provider for farmers and those living in rural areas, but has since expanded to offer three levels of cover to all kinds of customer. All policies include breakdown cover from RAC, and customers love that they can talk to the company’s helpful staff in their local branch.	View deals
★★★★★	82%		Known mostly as a posh department store, John Lewis also provides a range of financial products. Its comprehensive policy comes with a lot of benefits, including misfuelling and vehicle ID theft cover as standard.	View deals
★★★★★	74%		Axa’s comprehensive cover comes with a lifetime guarantee on repairs, a courtesy car and protection from uninsured drivers. Customers in our survey called the company’s service good, but opinions were split on its prices.	View deals
★★★★★	74%		Diamond is another insurer targeting women drivers. Like Sheilas’ Wheels, it covers men as well but has benefits such as handbag and child seat cover, which it believes will appeal to women (who are considered lower risk drivers).	View deals
★★★★★	73%		Most people would be aware of Churchill, largely due to its nodding dog. Love or hate those ads, customers called the service provided by Churchill reliable and helpful, and some were impressed by the competitive prices.	View deals
★★★★★	72%		Last year’s winner, Aviva is the largest general insurer in the UK. It has three levels of comprehensive cover to choose from, as well as third party only, and third party, fire and theft cover. Customers still praise the good service and call the company reliable and trustworthy.	View deals
★★★★★	71%		Another over-50s insurer, Saga offers cover tailored to older drivers, with a minimum age of 45 (you must have at least one named driver over the age of 50 on the policy to qualify). Customers reported friendly service and a good level of cover.	View deals
★★★★★	64%		Ageas only offers comorehensive cover, but it’s pretty decent, with personal accident, windscreen cover and replacement keys all included as standard. Opinions on the quality of service and claim handling are split, but many customers report good experiences.	View deals
★★★★★	70%		More Than’s comprehensive policy includes windscreen cover and replacement locks. The company also offers a third party, fire and theft policy, as well as cover for young drivers and a decent multi-car discount.	View deals
★★★★★	68%		The largest supermarket chain in the UK, Tesco also provides solid car insurance policies. You can choose the Black Box policy for young drivers (17-35), or the standard cover for drivers over 21, which customers reported as being good value.	View deals
★★★★★	67%		Endsleigh was founded in 1965 by the NUS to provide affordable insurance designed for students. It now offers cover for everyone, but still specialises in policies for students. As well as a decent comprehensive policy, the company offers customers 20% off MOT costs and 10% off servicing.	View deals
★★★★★	62%		Swinton offers three levels of comprehensive cover, as well as third party, fire and theft. All comprehensive options offer decent benefits and the company also caters for young drivers, convicted drivers and those looking for short term cover.	View deals

Customer satisfaction ratings methodology

In December 2020, we ran a customer satisfaction survey on insurance providers. We had 1,513 responses about car insurance providers.

The survey asked respondents how satisfied they were with their current insurance company (on a scale from one to five, and also whether they would recommend the brand to a friend or not). We turned the results into star ratings and shortlisted the top-performing brands for our awards. When there was a draw, we used the recommendation score (that is, the percentage of customers who said they would recommend the brand to a friend) as a tie-breaker.

Full details of our star ratings for this sector are on the insurance ratings methodology page.

Written by

Ronny Lavie

Editor

Ronny Lavie was a deputy editor at Finder, specialising in insurance content. She has almost a decade of experience writing about financial topics, including five months spent as the interim managing editor for the Fintech Times newspaper. Ronny has a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from London Middlesex University. See full bio