Despite more than 50% of motorists sticking with their car insurance provider for the past 12 months, some companies have only managed keep a third of their customers, research has shown.
Market research group JD Power and Associates revealed that an estimated 56% of drivers have not changed their car insurer in the past year, but retention rates among policyholders range from 80% to 35%.
Zurich/Zurich Connect, Liverpool Victoria and RSA came out on top for keeping hold of their customers for a sustained period of time.
Researchers questioned 5,000 policyholders to measure their overall satisfaction with their insurer, with RSA emerging as the most likely to keep its customers happy, achieving an average score of 762 out of 1,000. RSA was closely followed by Liverpool Victoria, Sheilas' Wheels, Diamond and Swiftcover to complete the top five.
Jeremy Bowler, senior director of insurance practice at JD Power and Associates, said: "While some of the highest-performing car insurance companies in the UK market successfully renew more than eight in 10 policyholders, others manage to retain barely one-third of theirs, which means they have to invest in advertising and lead commissions to replace two-thirds of their customers annually.
"Furthermore, 44% of customers overall switched insurers during the past 12 months, which represents nearly £3.5 billion in premiums that were up for bid.
"It's clear that focusing on customer retention can bring insurers substantial benefit in reducing costs and boosting profitability."