Every state in the union has a Department or Office of Insurance run by a Commissioner. This all sounds very impressive but, for the most part, these Commissioners have quite a low profile. Only in states where the holder of the office is activist and defends consumer rights, do you get any publicity in the media. Mostly, in these cases, it's all negative coverage as the large corporations pay for big headlines saying they will be put out of business if the Commissioner continues to wage war against them. In other words, the insurers are perfectly content with the system so long as it's toothless. But the moment it may threaten their profits, it's the worst type of state intervention imaginable. So is this role and the department in support actually a good thing, or is it yet another example of big government wasting taxpayers' money?

The framework is an ideal for the protection of consumer rights. In theory, the Commissioner sets the framework for competition within each state. With competition, insurers are forced to offer better products at lower prices to keep their market share. There are potential controls over the right to raise premiums and a role in handling and adjudicating on complaints. So if you have the good fortune to live in a state controlled by the Democrats, the odds are you have a Commissioner who is actively defending your rights, limiting rises in premiums and prepared to punish any insurer found to have treated you badly. If you live in a Republican state, the likelihood is your Commissioner rarely does anything to threaten the local insurers and, if complaints are upheld against local insurers, you can be sure you will never hear about it.

As an example of good practice, let's swing by New York which has just published its Annual Ranking of Complaints. Why is this important? Well, if you are coming up to a renewal or looking around for your first policy, it's a good idea to know which companies have the lowest number of complaints. If you buy blind, you could get to a claim and then discover why this insurer has one of the highest number of complaints about its claims handling. In many states, this information is either not published or only published as bare numbers with the identities of the insurers carefully removed from public view. New York is proud of its record in consumer protection. This is important because, in 2009, New Yorkers spent about $10 billion on insuring their vehicles.

So the next time you use this site to get auto insurance quotes, check out the website operated by your state's Commissioner to see what information on complaints has been published. In New York, you would discover that Nationwide Mutual has the best record with no complaints upheld whereas Long Island Insurance has the worst record among the 167 insurance companies licensed to sell policies in New York. It had 265 complaints upheld against it. Remember, size is everything. Allstate Insurance took in $1.26 billion in premiums and had 180 complaints upheld against it. Just buying your car insurance from a large company is no guarantee of better treatment.