The U.S. insurance industry has lost its “average” customer, with 88% of all reviews now either 1-star or 5-stars, according to a new report by customer feedback platform Trustpilot.

Reviews tend to reflect polarized experiences, Trustpilot said, noting that the most active reviewers are usually the happiest or most angry customers. Over 7 out of 10 reviews are 5-stars, on average. This share grew from about 71% in early 2023 to about 75% throughout much of 2024 and 2025, according to the firm’s analysis.

Trustpilot said this suggests that interactions with insurance companies rarely result in “average” sentiment. When insurers get customer service right, they can achieve strong loyalty. When they fail—often due to poor communication or frustrating automated systems—reputational damage can be severe and often public.

For example, ignoring a consumer complaint carries a quantifiable cost, Trustpilot said, decreasing a review’s star rating by over 1.6 stars.

Like with any other major purchase, most consumers read reviews before selecting an insurance provider. A company’s response (or lack thereof) to negative reviews can make a huge difference when it comes to building trust, Trustpilot said. A timely, empathetic and personalized response that acknowledges a mistake and offers a resolution could help an insurer convert a 1-star detractor into an advocate.

Trustpilot said that insurers’ increased use of artificial intelligence is also having an impact on consumer reviews. Reviews mentioning AI scored significantly lower in sentiment (-0.15) compared to non-AI reviews (+0.68).

While AI offers operational efficiency—faster underwriting, automated claims triage, 24/7 chatbot support—Trustpilot’s data shows that lack of adequate transparency or human oversight can cause issues.

Many customers complained about the difficulty of reaching a human representative. The phrase “I couldn’t speak to a real person” has become a common theme in low-rated insurance reviews, Trustpilot said. Consumers are also often frustrated by chatbots that provide irrelevant answers or cannot resolve complex queries.

Trustpilot said lack of transparency is a large part of the problem when it comes to claims complaints, citing the “black box” nature of automated decisions. When consumers receive a denial or a delay with no clear explanation and cannot reach a human representative, their only remaining recourse is a public review.

Report Methodology

Analysis of 145,000 reviews written on Trustpilot by U.S. consumers for insurance businesses in 2025. The research was conducted in February 2026.

The sentiment model used identifies emotions behind customer feedback, studying reviews sentence by sentence rather than giving a single overall score.

The analysis uses a specialized, multilingual AI model to categorize feedback into specific topics at a detailed level.