CSE
CSE
Car Insurance
Smart Score

Smart Score

77

Industry Average: 75

Smart Score

Mini Shield

77
/100

Industry Average: 75

Customer Service

Mini Shield

7.7
/10

Industry Average: 7.7

Claims Process

Mini Shield

9.8
/10

Industry Average: 8

Value for Price

Mini Shield

6.6
/10

Industry Average: 7

CSE Overview

Civil Service Employees Insurance, or CSE Insurance Group, founded in 1949, is based out of Walnut Creek, California. CSE Insurance currently insures 200,000 policyholders, and works with nearly 400 independent agencies. CSE Insurance Group offers auto insurance, home insurance, and business insurance focused on the needs of public employees such as teachers, law enforcement, firefighters, government employees and military personnel.

Lines of Business:

CSE Ratings Breakdown

Smart Score

77

CSE: 77
Industry Average: 75
CSE: 77
Industry Average: 75

Why our Smart Score matters

CSE’s Smart Score of 77 was created by combining weighted averages of ratings for customer service, claims process, and value for price from 3rd party sources as well as our own research. We view these as the most important factors since they cover the entire experience of shopping for, maintaining, and making a claim on an insurance policy.


How our Smart Score is calculated

Data comes from customer reviews, officially filed complaints, financial stability data, and other insurance industry rating companies. Combining these metrics and sources provides the most accurate and broad-based analysis of what matters most when considering CSE’s overall quality compared to other auto insurers. While there is some overlap between our three primary metrics, each has unique characteristics that set them apart from each other.


What does this mean for you?

With a score of 77, CSE sits near the industry average of 75. While this metric isn’t the be-all and end-all, it’s definitely a good point of reference when comparing auto insurance options.

Customer Service

7.7

CSE: 7.7
Industry Average: 7.7
CSE: 7.7
Industry Average: 7.7

Our customer service score measures two primary things: user satisfaction when interacting with CSE’s representatives, and their experience with online tools like quoting and managing a policy via website or app. CSE’s customer service score comes from a variety of places. These include user reviews on Honest Policy, as well as other analytics companies such as JD Power, Insure.com, and Consumer Reports.


What does this mean for you?

As you can see from CSE’s service score of 7.7, they have a decent rating compared to similar auto insurance companies, which clock in at an average of 7.7.


With minimal sources reporting customer service data for this company, we can’t calculate the estimated range. Consequently, we’re not certain about the accuracy of this score, but it’s the closest estimate we have.

Claims Process

9.8

CSE: 9.8
Industry Average: 8
CSE: 9.8
Industry Average: 8

Our claims process score looks at users' experiences when filing claims with CSE. It takes into account not only claim outcomes, but also the ease of making and tracking a claim, as well as how fast CSE handles it.


CSE’s claim score is derived from various sources. These include reviews from Honest Policy users, and outside sources including Consumer Reports, Insure.com and JD Power. We round off our calculation with official complaints filed with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (which primarily are claim related). These complaints are weighted against the size of each company to ensure an apples-to-apples comparison. This gives our claim score the most complete picture of what to expect when filing a claim with CSE.


What does this mean for you?

Evident from a claims score of 9.8, CSE has an outstanding rating compared to the average claim score of 8 for similar auto insurance companies.


With minimal sources reporting claims quality data for this company, we can’t calculate an estimated range. Thus, we can’t be certain about the accuracy of this score, it’s just our best estimate.

Value for Price

6.6

CSE: 6.6
Industry Average: 7
CSE: 6.6
Industry Average: 7

CSE’s value score measures customer satisfaction when considering how much they pay versus the quality of their experience when dealing with the company.


How CSE comes up with the price of a policy varies by state, and relates to a number of different factors. Some of these include driving record, how much you use your car, location, age, gender, and the car you drive. While price is a critical factor for most insurance customers, what they get for that money is even more important. As with our other scores, this rating comes from a variety of sources: Honest Policy, JD Power, Insure.com, Clearsurance, and Consumer Reports.


What does this mean for you?

CSE’s value for price score of 6.6 is not great compared to the average of 7 from other auto insurance companies.

With few sources reporting price value data for this company, we don’t have an estimated range. As a result, we’re not 100% sure about this score. It’s more of an educated guess, so take it with a grain of salt.

CSE Auto Official Complaints

Auto Official Complaints

Better than average

Tracks how many more or less official complaints CSE has than average. With an index of 0.23 CSE is better than average.


The complaint index comes from two variables for each year and type of insurance.

  • The percentage of how many complaints CSE has filed against them with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) compared to the total number of complaints filed with every company.

  • The percentage of how much insurance business (total policy premiums) CSE has compared to the total amount of business of all the other companies.

By weighting complaints and business against their totals, and then dividing share of compliants by share of the market, we get the index value. With 1.0 being an average number of complaints, a 0.5 would be half as many complaints. With an index of 0.23 CSE is better than average.

Complaints by year (normalized against company size)

Customer Reviews

CSE doesn't have reviews yet.

CSE Coverage Options

When it comes to their auto, everyone has a different situation and differing needs for protection. While every auto insurer offers the same standard coverages. they tend to differ when it comes to what they offer or optional additional protections. Below we list and describe all the extras offered by CSE

Optional
Standard
Available OptionWhat it means
Accident Forgiveness

Protects your driving record from being affected by the insurance company's rating system for an at-fault accident, thus preventing your insurance premium from going up due to this type of accident.

Airbag Replacement Coverage

Covers your replacement airbags and labor should they need replacement

Antique or Collector Car Insurance

Special insurance for antique and collectors cars.

Better Car Replacement

Policy that will replace your car if it is a total loss with a car one model year newer and with 15,000 fewer miles.

Build Your Own Plan

Customize your insurance policy with a build your own plan policy.

Child Safety Seat Replacement

A policy that pays for a new child safety seat if yours is damaged in an accident.

Comprehensive Claim Forgiveness

Protects your driving record from being affected by the insurance company's rating system for a comprehensive claim on your history, thus preventing your insurance premium from going up due to this type of accident.

CSE availability in these states

Auto
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CSE Auto Discounts

While all companies offer a range of auto insurance discounts, it's hard to judge any individual discount's value in a meaningful way. For one, the discounts are typically a percentage off the base price, instead of the whole policy.

What does this mean?

Your best bet is to directly discuss your particular situation with an agent to make sure you're getting all the discounts that you may be eligible for on your auto policy. For reference, we've listed all the discounts we believe CSE has below in order to help determine which ones may fit your profile (though keep in mind that they can vary by state).

Available OptionDiscount DataWhat it means
Good Driver

Varies

Typically relates to a driver's history (or lack thereof) of accidents and violations. Often has a 3 to 5 year lookback period.

Multiple Policy

Varies

While insurers are out to protect drivers, they also need to make money, and they tend to make more when a customer has multiple products (policies) with them. As a result, they can offer savings when drivers pair their car policy with another (home, renters, umbrella, etc.) policy.

Multiple Vehicle

Varies

Typically applies to a household with multiple vehicles. More vehicles on the policy result in a greater overall discount.

Compare

How does CSE compare to other insurance companies? Click the following links below to compare CSE to other top insurance companies.

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