Prudential ranks fifth in Insure.com’s Best Life Insurance Companies rankings, getting 3.4 out of 5 stars. Most customers we surveyed said they would renew their policy with the insurer.
Chris Kissell is a Denver-based writer and editor with work featured on U.S. News & World Report, MSN Money, Fox Business, Forbes, Yahoo Finance, Money Talks News and more.
Nupur Gambhir is a content editor and licensed life, health, and disability insurance expert. She has extensive experience bringing brands to life and has built award-nominated campaigns for travel and tech. Her insurance expertise has been featured in Bloomberg News, Forbes Advisor, CNET, Fortune, Slate, Real Simple, Lifehacker, The Financial Gym, and the end-of-life planning service.
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Prudential earns strong loyalty from customers surveyed by Insure.com, with most reporting they would renew their policy with the insurer.
The company also received high marks for customer satisfaction and trustworthiness.
Overall, Prudential ranked fifth in the Insure.com Best Life Insurance Companies ranking and earned 3.4 stars out of 5.
Below is Insure.com’s review of the company. It’s based on third-party metrics and an in-depth survey of insurance customers. Find the full methodology here, including an explanation of our survey scores.
AM Best's Financial Strength Rating is an independent opinion of an insurer's financial strength and ability to meet its ongoing insurance policy and contract obligations.
More than 80% of the Prudential’s customers we surveyed gave the company high marks for customer service. That was one of the higher scores among the companies we ranked. State Farm led this category. J.D. Power, in its satisfaction ranking, gave the company a score one point below its average of 774.
Customers want a hassle-free insurance experience. When compared to other insurers surveyed, Prudential’s 75% score puts it in the middle of the pack among ranked companies. State Farm led this category.
A wide range of policy offerings makes it easier for customers to get the coverage they need.
The company scored in the bottom half of the companies we ranked in this category, which was led by State Farm.
Trust is a vital part of the relationship between an insurer and its policyholders.
Almost 80% of the company’s customers we surveyed said it was trustworthy, which was one of the highest scores among the companies we ranked.
Happy customers are loyal customers. All of Prudential’s customers plan to stick with the company. It was one of a handful of companies with the highest score in this category.
Prudential is a Fortune 500 company that provides insurance, retirement and investment products. It is the fourth-largest life insurance company in the U.S., owning 5.59% market share in 2021. The insurer received $10,644,345,943 in premiums last year.
Founded in Newark, New Jersey, in 1875, Prudential has become one of the world’s largest financial services companies, with $1.35 trillion of assets under management.
Prudential focuses on insurance, investment and retirement income.
Prudential. “Life Insurance Policies.” Accessed December 2022.
Prudential. “Life insurance for life’s changes.” Accessed December 2022.
Prudential. “Annuity Strategies for Your Retirement Challenges.” Accessed December 2022.
Prudential. “Prudential History.” Accessed December 2022.
Prudential. “Prudential Financial Fact Sheet.” Accessed December 2022.
J.D. Power. “Individual Life Insurance Study.” Accessed December 2022.
Insure.com in the fall of 2022 surveyed more than 1,500 people with auto, home, life and health insurance (540 with life insurance). The survey was conducted by online market research company Slice MR. Respondents were asked to name their insurer and the editors then selected – based on the number of responses – the top companies for this year’s Best Life Insurance Companies ranking. Insure.com needed 20 or more of a company’s customers to respond to the survey for that insurer to be included in the ranking, although in some categories the editors did consider companies with 18 or 19 responses.
Respondents were first asked to grade their insurer in the following categories – customer satisfaction, claims satisfaction and policy offerings. The percentage of respondents who said they were satisfied or very satisfied with their insurer is presented in the results.
Survey score calculation: Respondents were then asked to rank their insurer’s top three attributes out of more than a dozen presented – including customer satisfaction and policy offerings. For a number one choice, five points were given; for a second choice, three points; and for a third choice, a single point. The total points for each choice – first, second and third – were then divided by the number of each company’s customers who responded to that survey question to create a percentage. Those percentages are presented in the results as scores.
Respondents were then asked if they would recommend their insurer to someone else. The percentage who said yes is presented in the results.
They also were given the statement “I trust my insurance company” and asked if they strongly agreed, agreed, disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement. The percentage of those who said they agreed or strongly agreed is presented in the results.
The editors compiled the survey results and then collected National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ complaint data, which ranks a company by the number of customer complaints it receives, and AM Best data, which measures financial strength.
They also collected insurance rate data from Quadrant Information Services (for auto and home insurance), Compulife (for life insurance) and the public health marketplace (for health insurance).
With the help of Prof. David Marlett, Ph.D., managing director of the Brantley Risk and Insurance Center at Appalachian State University, the editors created a rating system to determine which insurance companies were best in each sector. For life insurers, we used the following weights to calculate the overall score for each company:
To find the industry average annual premium, insure.com weighed the rates from 9 companies: AAA, Farmers, Guardian Life, John Hancock, Lincoln Financial, MassMutual, New York Life, Northwestern Mutual and Transamerica. Rates are based on premiums for 35-year-old males and females who are non-smokers and in good health. Rates are for a 20-year-term policy that provides $500,000 in coverage.
No insurer in our star ranking received less than 1 star and the highest possible ranking is 5 stars.