Texas Department of Insurance sees complaints double since 2020

Data shared by the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) on Thursday shows auto insurance complaints have increased 10% since 2020, doubling the total number of complaints.

Cindy Wright, TDI’s Complaint and Dispute Resolution Section director, noted during a July 10 webinar that, in 2024, the number of auto complaints doubled and the homeowner complaints tripled from 2020. Complaints related to other lines of insurance remained about the same.

All public TDI complaint data can be viewed here.

“Even with doubling the volume with auto and tripling the volume on homeowners, the popularity of reasons for complaints are still the same,” Wright said. “Consumers are often upset about how their claim was handled, and following not far behind is claim delay for P&C. Dissatisfaction with claim offers ranks high pretty much each year.”

Wright shared some examples of common complaints:

• • “When I try to reach them by phone, I’m on hold for one to three hours to get through to a person.”
  • “An appeal was sent with all the appropriate documentation, but charges were still denied.”
  • “I called the adjuster multiple times to get an update regarding the claim. All of my calls have been unreturned.”
  • “I need my $1,000 deductible that I paid back. The claim report info. isn’t correct at all. I also need the claim paperwork updated and listed correctly as everything on the report is false other than date of loss.”

Wright pointed out that when a consumer has to file a claim for damaged or destroyed property, they’re already very stressed out.

“This can really prompt them to reach out with some frequency, and when those calls or emails or texts aren’t responded to, then over time the frustration builds and they’ll oftentimes reach out to TDI for help,” she said.

Wright also shared a couple of complaint examples to illustrate improper company responses and how the claim should’ve been handled instead. One involves a homeowner claim delay without the insurance company providing updates to the policyholder.

According to the complaint, the policyholder hadn’t received an adjuster’s estimate after 60 days, and the assigned adjuster wouldn’t return their calls or emails, she said. The response the company sent to TDI was problematic, Wright said.

The claim was filed on July 11, 2024, but no other mention of speaking with the consumer after scheduling the inspection is made in the response until Sept. 5 — the same day the insurance company received the TDI complaint.

She said the insurance company’s response to the complaint states, “After my review of the complaint and the above-specified information, it appears that the insured’s claim was properly investigated according to TDI requirements.”

“It seems kind of a bold statement to make, at least as far as we are concerned, especially since the consumer mentioned reaching out multiple times and not getting a response,” Wright said. “It doesn’t appear as though the company actually did that until they received the complaint. So while some behind-the-scenes work could have been happening on this consumer’s claim, the consumer didn’t know anything about it. This would be one example of a company response that we think would need a little bit more work. Show us a more detailed claim timeline. Show us the documentation or a log of the calls, maybe that were made to the consumer and not just that a payment was made, but how did you satisfy prompt payment guidelines?

“The bottom line to all of the examples is that insurance really is complicated… People and systems make mistakes. Customer service and communication are so important, but they’re often lacking. All of this frustration eventually will lead to complaints.”

Wright also shared an overview of how the TDI complaint system works and how complaints are handled.

She said more than 30 of her staffers work full-time on recording new complaints and inquiries and reviewing correspondence, and supporting documentation to resolve complaints. Resolution includes examining policies to ensure compliance and looking for potential violations of the Texas Insurance Code or Texas Administrative Code, according to Wright.

“We have experienced insurance specialists, many of whom are subject matter experts in specific lines,” she said. “We’re organized into a life accident and health team and a property and casualty team. Our most experienced specialists can handle complaints about any line of coverage. We receive and handle complaints from all sorts of individuals, not just consumers. Our IDR team also handles complaints usually related to participation in that process, payments to providers and facilitators, and claim eligibility.”

Complaints filed via TDI’s website lead to a consumer portal, which Wright said is where TDI receives 95% of its complaints.

“This portal enables folks to set up an account, tell us their problem, upload and receive documents, and correspond by a built-in messaging feature,” she said. “Once we get the complaint, we send the narrative and any supporting documents to the insurance company, agent, adjuster, or agency named in the complaint for a response. This part happens within a few business days.”

According to Wright, the process then goes as follows:

• • The complaint is received by the licensee, and they have 15 days to respond. They can ask for an additional 10 days to do so.
  • Once the response is received, the assigned insurance specialist reviews all the documents from both the complainant and the respondent.
  • TDI may have to reach back out to the respondent for additional information.
  • After the analysis is complete, the specialist decides whether the complaint is confirmed or not.
  • Once everything is done, closing correspondence is sent to the complainant along with the company’s response.

She added that about 20% of the time, complaints are confirmed.

“The definition of a complaint is confirmed if the department receives information indicating that a company committed any violation of an applicable state insurance law or regulation, a federal requirement the department has the authority to enforce, or the term or condition of an insurance policy or certificate.

“A complaint is also confirmed if the complaint and the company’s response, considered together, suggest that the company was in error or that the complainant had a valid reason for the complaint. That last sentence is an important one because… complaints are most commonly confirmed for a combination of communication and/or customer service missteps.”

During the Q&A portion of the webinar, someone asked if TDI writes a response to the complainant or if they only forward the response from the involved insurance company.

“We do both,” said Teresa Luna, TDI Complaint and Dispute Resolution Section intake and life/health complaints team manager. “We send a letter to them along with the company’s response, unless it’s marked confidential. And what we do is when we’re sending our response to the complainant, we explain how or what we found in our research, the complaint and the company’s response, and how we can or cannot help that consumer or what the response was if it was a favorable outcome or if it wasn’t and if it wasn’t, why we couldn’t help them. And then we try to provide them with other resources that they can contact to see if they can get help through them.”

Images

Featured image:TDI’s Cindy Wright, Markus Wilcox, and Teresa Luna speak during a July 10, 2025, webinar. 

TDI data charts provided during July 10, 2025, webinar.