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Comparing Geico, Progressive, Allstate, and State Farm: Which Is Best for Car Insurance?
There are four big car insurance companies most American consumers turn to: Allstate, State Farm, Progressive, and Geico. While Geico and Progressive tend to offer more competitive rates, maybe you’re wondering what the higher-end insurance companies offer that sets them apart. Or maybe you just want to know what you’ll be missing if you opt for a low-priced policy. Either way, it’s worth taking a look at the four major auto insurance providers in the United States before you get a new insurance or renew your existing policy. After all, the best way to save money on car insurance is to shop around for the best rates.
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Progressive
Progressive is one of the top insurance companies in the nation, in part due to its competitive pricing and industry-wide quotes that let you compare costs between one company and another.
Progressive offers a level of customer service that’s the envy of even premium insurance companies. They’ll pick up your car, bring it to the service center, arrange a rental and take care of basically everything when it comes to repairs. If their competitors offer lower rates, you’re going to find out when you apply on Progressive’s website. What’s more, you can name your price on the website and see what kind of coverage Progressive can offer you at that rate. The pricing isn’t rock bottom, though. And if you install a dash cam, your rates might even go up if Progressive sees that you’re not a particularly careful driver. Satisfaction with claims hovers around average. And if you’re looking to bundle your car policy with your life or health insurance, you’ll have to do it through third-party insurers.
Geico
If you’re looking for the very lowest price on car insurance, Geico is probably where you’re going to find it.
Of course, Progressive’s main competitor is Geico. Their discount prices, along with their clever and relentless advertising, have won them a following (and probably wedged their slogan into your memory). If you’re looking for the very lowest price on car insurance, Geico is probably where you’re going to find it. However, Geico isn’t known for having great customer service, which can be a deal-breaker for some consumers. It might be a case of “you get what you pay for.” You can save a few bucks going with Geico if you don’t care much about service when it comes time for a claim, or you can spend a bit extra and get more attentive service from Progressive. Geico also offers other forms of insurance, including homeowners insurance, through third-party insurers.
Allstate
Now we move onto more premium insurance providers.
Allstate offers plenty of digital services, but it’s an old-school insurer that allows you to go into a brick-and-mortar insurance office, talk to a real person, and get more tailored feedback on what you need and how much you can expect to pay for different kinds of insurance — and they offer all of them, so you can bundle your car and homeowners insurance policies to get a discount, for example.
Another perk Allstate offers is rewards for good drivers, though considering that you’re going to pay more to begin with, that could perhaps be thought of as more of a rebate than a reward.
The pricing isn’t very competitive, and they’re not winning any awards for their claims department, but if you’re looking for solid, comprehensive coverage across several forms of insurance, as well as a personal touch when it comes to customer service, Allstate might be the right choice for you.
State Farm
State Farm consistently gets the top customer service ratings in the industry – in fact, the Simple Dollar ranks them as the best car insurance company out there when it comes to customer service. And, as with Allstate, you can get just about every kind of insurance you might need and bundle those policies for a discount.
State Farm might be the clear leader for those who want to shell out a little extra cash for a personal touch and better customer service, while those shopping exclusively based on price may find Geico or Progressive to be a better pick. For those who are looking for every type of insurance under the sun, the choice is either State Farm or Allstate. In short, which is “the best” for you really comes down to which meets your needs. State Farm isn’t as spendy as Allstate, but you’re going to pay more here than you would at either Geico or Progressive. You can get the same personal touch to your customer service through State Farm with local agents ready to help.
Shop Around for the Best Car Insurance Rates
Use our car insurance quote tool below to compare premiums and policies from a number of different insurance providers at once:
Too long, didn’t read?
Of course, your car insurance premiums will depend on your location, driving history, credit score, and other factors. So you never know who’ll give you the best rate until you get an actual quote.
Methodology
The SimpleScore makes it easy to compare products and services featured here on The Simple Dollar in a transparent, open and honest way. We rate these products and services using five factors and average them to calculate a single SimpleScore. For auto insurance, we compare:
- Discounts
- Coverage options
- Support
- Customer satisfaction
- Accessibility
You can read more about each factor and the details of each score in our auto insurance methodology. Use our ratings and editorial recommendations as you shop for the best auto insurance that fits your coverage needs.
Car insurance rates: We used insurance rates from Quadrant Information Services. This includes analyzing thousands of rates from all 50 states that were publicly sourced from 2019 insurer filings. Rates are based on a 30-year-old male or female that had a clean driving record. Full Coverage premiums assumed a $500 collision and comprehensive deductible, and we looked at those who had both good and poor credit. These rates should be used to inform your car insurance shopping process, but your own quote may differ.
Why do some brands have different SimpleScores on different pages?
To ensure the SimpleScore is as helpful and accurate as possible, we developed unique criteria for every category we compare at The Simple Dollar. Since most brands offer a variety of financial solutions, their products and services will score differently depending on what we’re scoring on a given page.
However, it’s also possible for the same product from the same brand to have multiple SimpleScores. For instance, if we compare State Farm’s home insurance according to our criteria for the best home insurance, it scores a 3.8 out of 5. But when we compare State Farm according to the criteria for the best auto insurance, it scores higher, since the features the company offers can vary by the type of insurance.
Discounts
We looked at the number of discounts each company offers — more discounts mean a higher score.
Coverage Options
We awarded higher scores to the companies that have the most coverage options.
Support
We awarded higher scores to lenders with the most channels for customer support.
Customer Satisfaction
We leveraged the J.D. Power 2019 Auto Insurance Satisfaction Study℠ to see how customers rated their experience with each company. (If a company wasn’t included in J.D. Power’s study, we skipped this aspect and averaged the four remaining aspect scores.)
Accessibility
We looked at the level of accessibility of each company –– the more resources they have the higher their score.