Trying to determine the best car insurance company is no easy task.  Not all insurance companies operate in all states and what might be a great company for me, might turn out to be a terrible choice for you.

However, I’ll try to cover what to look for, and I’ll give you a list of some of the best rated companies.

Just because an insurance provider spends a lot of money on advertising doesn’t mean they’re actually the best or even all that good.  For example, the only one you’re likely to see plastering the air waves with their advertisements that ranks in the top 5 in customer satisfaction is State Farm (#2 in 2009, Amica was #1 if you’re curious).

Two methods for finding out who is good to work with in your state is to head to your state department’s insurance website and check out the consumer complaint ratios.  Just about every insurer is great to work with if you never have to file a claim, the consumer complaint ratio tells you who’s still their for you when you need them the most.

If you have a body shop you trust or know someone who works at one, you can also ask them who they recommend.

Doing a search online yields plenty of lists with rankings and isn’t necessarily as reliable as you’d hope.  For example, the first one I found rated eSurance as the best insurance company.  However, they had a clear commercial stake in recommending them as the best, and a little bit of searching reveals that eSurance doesn’t perform all that well in independent third party reviews.

Two that consistently get the best ratings are Amica Mutual and Erie Insurance.  I did have Amica in the past and can personally attest to them being extremely easy to work with and their rates were excellent.  The only reason I switched (I have State Farm now) was because I bought a motorcycle and they wanted no part in insuring a vehicle that has virtually no safety features, goes 0-60 in 3 seconds, and tops out around 166 mph.

The Top 5 auto insurers according to J.D. Power and Associates (2009):

• Amica Mutual
• State Farm
• Shelter
• Auto-Owners
• Erie Insurance

Notable exceptions:  Allstate, Geico, American Family, Progressive, Nationwide, Esurance.

Two others that get extremely high ratings are the USAA, but it’s only open to U.S. military personnel and their familes, and New Jersey manufacturers Insurance which is only open to assocation members.  If either are available to you, you’ll probably want to use them.