The “royals” – personal lines mutual insurance companies run by motoring asssociations – occupy three of the top five spots in a Roy Morgan general insurance consumer satisfaction survey.

SA insurer RAA recorded the highest score of 91.1% in April, up 1.4 points from a year earlier. Tasmania’s RACT Insurance was second on 90.8%, despite suffering the biggest drop of 3.1 points over the 12-month period.

IAG-owned WFI placed third (89.7%), followed by Perth-based RAC Insurance (89.4%) and Suncorp-owned specialist Shannons (87.9%).

“RAA has the highest satisfaction for general insurance customers for the second consecutive month,” Roy Morgan Industry Communications Director Norman Morris said.

“This market has intense competition across more than 30 major players, making it important to be a leader in customer satisfaction.”

All top-10 insurers outperformed the industry’s average rating of 78.7%.

Scores were calculated based on interviews with more than 50,000 consumers, 39,000 of whom rated their general insurers.

Suncorp brand Apia placed sixth on 87.6%, followed by Defence Service Homes (87%), Youi (83.1%), Bendigo Bank (83%) and RACV Insurance (82.9%).