The best and worst home insurers for handling claims have been revealed – is yours on the list?

In an ideal world, our homes would tick over nicely as long as we own them and our home insurance policy would remain nothing more than an item stored in our 'important documents' folder.

But the reality is when owning a property things rarely go exactly to plan, and anything from a water escape to damage caused by extreme weather could see us making a claim on our home insurance.

Now Which? (The Consumer's Association) has revealed that in January it questioned 1,456 home insurance customers who had made a claim in the past two years, to reveal the best and worst home insurers when it comes to handling claims.

Participants were asked to outline the claim made, how satisfied they were with their insurer in light of how it was handled and other questions relating to their claims experience.

The results were as follows, with the order below running from best to worst.

Column 1: Rating for speed handling customers' claims

Column 2: Rating for updates/communication on progress

NFU Mutual (61)       5-star  4-star

LV= (76)                      4-star  3-star

Churchill (42)            4-star   3-star

Direct Line (107)       4-star  3-star

M&S Bank (31)          4-star  n/a

Aviva (83)                   4-star  3-star

Halifax (48)                4-star  3-star

RIAS (37)                     4-star  3-star

Worst performers

Ageas (40)                   3-star   2-star

Admiral (62)               3-star    2-star

AXA (69)                      3-star    2-star

Saga (61)                       3-star     2-star

Legal & General (59)  3-star  2-star

More Than (62)           3-star  2-star

RSA (39)                        2-star  2-star

And when it came to how home insurers customers felt about the process of handling particularly claims, less than half (48 per cent) were happy with the overall handling of their subsidence claim.

Following second on the dissatisfaction list (20 per cent) were claims for damage caused by high winds, heavy rain or hail.

At the other end of the spectrum an impressive 87 per cent of those questioned revealed they were happy with how their accidental damage claims were handled.

This claim was also the quickest dealt with in comparison to customer expectations (faster 63 per cent of the time).

Do any of the above findings ring true for you?