Best Car Insurance Companies of 2018

Best Car Insurance Companies of 2018

Getting the right car insurance policy starts with picking the right insurance company.

Good insurance companies provide a variety of coverage and service options, great customer service, and a smooth claim resolution process, all at an affordable rate. Since virtually every state requires drivers to have a minimum amount of auto insurance coverage, you might as well get a policy – and an insurer – you can be happy with in both good times and bad.

While it’s easy to get lured in by an insurance carrier offering extremely low rates, try to remember that price is not the only factor to consider when you’re choosing an auto insurance company – in fact, it’s probably not even the most important factor. In normal circumstances, the most noticeable aspect of your auto insurance policy is your premium payment, so it’s easy to focus solely on price. However, when something goes wrong – you get in an accident, your car is stolen, etc. – the other aspects of your insurance policy and the quality of your carrier will suddenly become a lot more important. If you’ve chosen wisely, your car insurance carrier can make the claims process an easy and relatively pleasant experience; if not, your carrier can make an already miserable situation even worse.

With that in mind, Insurify set out to analyze all major car insurance companies and rank them with a single, multi-point score. The result is the Insurify Composite Score— a number that gives you an easy way to see which carriers are the best fit for you before you need to use your policy. And by choosing a policy with the right coverage level from a highly rated carrier, you can give yourself peace of mind on the road.

Methodology
The Insurify Composite Score is calculated by analyzing multiple factors that reflect the quality, reliability, and health of an insurance company. Inputs to the score include financial strength ratings from A.M. Best, Standard & Poor's, Moody's, and Fitch; J.D. Power ratings, Consumer Reports customer satisfaction surveys, mobile app reviews, and user-generated company reviews. Insurify’s data scientists took these variables, weighted them, and combined them into a single, easy-to-understand numeric score for each carrier.
Top Rated Car Insurance Companies
After crunching the data, these 10 car insurance companies stood out above the rest of the pack. While it’s always important to shop around when choosing auto insurance, getting your next policy from one of these carriers will help ensure you’ve got a carrier you can trust to protect you and your vehicle.

1. Amica  – Best Overall

Insurify Composite Score: 94
Company name: Amica Mutual Insurance Company
Year founded: 1907
Number of customers/policies: 1.6 million policies
Awards and rankings:
‘A+’ financial rating from A.M. Best
Highest in Customer Satisfaction Among Auto Insurers in the New England Region in the J.D. Power 2017 U.S. Auto Insurance Study
Product highlights: Amica is a mutual insurance company. That means the company is owned by its policyholders and its purpose is to provide insurance for them, not to make a profit. As a result, mutual insurance companies can often afford to offer much lower rates than standard insurance carriers. Amica’s Car Connection program allows customers to get special pricing on new and used cars through the program’s dealer network.
Available discounts: Amica offers safe driver, loyalty, multi-product and e-discounts, among others.

2. Auto-Owners

Insurify Composite Score: 93
Company name: Auto-Owners Insurance Group
Year founded: 1916
Number of customers/policies: 2.7 million policyholders
Awards and rankings:
‘A++’ financial rating from A.M. Best
Fortune 500 company
Certified as a Great Place to Work by reviews.greatplacetowork.com.
Product highlights: Like Amica, Auto-Owners is a mutual insurance company. It works solely through independent agents, arguing that this ensures a local, friendly face will be there to help out in case a customer needs to file a claim.
Available discounts: Auto-Owners offers multi-product, safety features, good payment history and student discounts, among others.

3. American Family

Insurify Composite Score: 92
Company name: American Family Insurance
Year founded: 1927
Number of customers/policies: 10.2 million policies
Awards and rankings:
‘A’ financial rating from A.M. Best
Fortune 500 company
Product highlights: Another mutual insurance company, American Family developed the Dreams Restored Program (DRP) for its auto insurance customers. If a policyholder uses a DRP-certified repair shop after filing a claim, the repairs have a lifetime warranty and the bill goes to American Family rather than to the customer.
Available discounts: American Family offers multi-product, loyalty, defensive driver and student discounts, among others.

4. Esurance

Insurify Composite Score: 92
Company name: Esurance Insurance Company
Year founded: 1999
Number of customers/policies: 1.5 million policies
Awards and rankings:
‘A+’ financial rating from A.M. Best
J.D. Power award for Highest Customer Satisfaction Among Auto Insurers in California
Product highlights: Esurance is owned by Allstate. The company’s Photo Claims program allows customers to snap a smartphone photo of any accident damage rather than setting an appointment with an appraiser. This can allow claims to be settled in as little as one day.
Available discounts: Esurance offers multi-product, switch-and-save, good driver, and homeowners discounts, among others.

5. The Hartford

Insurify Composite Score: 92
Company name: The Hartford
Year founded: 1810
Number of customers/policies: $3.6 billion in personal insurance premiums
Awards and rankings:
‘A’ financial rating from A.M. Best
Fortune 500 company
2018 World’s Most Ethical Companies Honoree, Ethisphere Institute
Product highlights: The Hartford offers a number of special benefits to auto insurance policyholders, including RecoverCare (which provides reimbursement for home services if you’re injured in an accident) and lifetime renewability. Policyholders can also buy into the Advantage PLUS package, which provides first accident forgiveness, an annual reduction in collision deductibles, and more.
Available discounts: The Hartford offers multi-product, safety features, good student, and AARP member discounts, among others.

6. ERIE

Insurify Composite Score: 89
Company name: Erie Insurance
Year founded: 1925
Number of customers/policies: 5.2 million policies
Awards and rankings:
‘A+’ financial rating from A.M. Best
Fortune 500 company
J.D. Power award for Highest Satisfaction with the Auto Insurers Shopping Experience
Product highlights: ERIE offers a Rate Lock feature on its auto insurance policies that keeps the rate constant from year to year, even if the policyholder files a claim. Rate Lock lasts until the policyholder makes certain changes to the policy, such as adding or removing a driver or vehicle.
Available discounts: ERIE offers multi-product, multi-car, safe driver, and reduced usage discounts, among others.

7. GEICO

Insurify Composite Score: 89
Company name: Government Employees Insurance Company
Year founded: 1936
Number of customers/policies: 16 million policies
Awards and rankings:
‘A++’ financial rating from A.M. Best
Top score in Forrester Research's US Mobile Auto Insurance Functionality Benchmark
Product highlights: GEICO has several programs to help policyholders save money on auto expenses, such as the Fuel Finder feature on GEICO’s mobile app to find the cheapest gas station in your area and the Car Buying service to compare features and prices on new and used cars.
Available discounts: GEICO offers mature driver, military, federal employee, and student discounts, among others.

8. Allstate

Insurify Composite Score: 88
Company name: Allstate Insurance Company
Year founded: 1931
Number of customers/policies: 16 million households
Awards and rankings:
‘A+’ financial rating from A.M. Best
2018 World’s Most Ethical Companies Honoree, Ethisphere Institute
Product highlights: Allstate customers can sign up for Drivewise, a mobile app that awards points for completing safe driving challenges. Those points can be redeemed for gift cards, merchandise, and other prizes.
Available discounts: Allstate offers multi-product, new car, student, and safety feature discounts, among others.

9. State Auto

Insurify Composite Score: 87
Company name: State Automobile Mutual Insurance Company
Year founded: 1921
Number of customers/policies: Almost $2 billion in premiums
Awards and rankings:
‘A-’ financial rating from A.M. Best
One of Forbes' 50 Most Trustworthy Financial Companies in America
Product highlights: State Auto’s customers can reduce their premiums by joining the Safety 360 program, which entails installing a telematics device in the car that tracks the driver’s actions. Customers who join this program receive a score rating how safely they drive and can get higher discounts if they increase their score.
Available discounts: State Auto offers multi-product, safety feature, multi-car, and student discounts, among others.

10. Nationwide

Insurify Composite Score: 85
Company name: Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company
Year founded: 1925
Number of customers/policies: $11.7 billion in personal insurance premiums
Awards and rankings:
‘A+’ financial rating from A.M. Best
Listed on Fortune’s 2018 “100 Best Companies to Work For” list
Product highlights: Nationwide has a number of optional programs that customers can join to save money on their policies. SmartRide requires drivers to plug a mileage-tracking device into their vehicles, but rewards them with discounts for driving less. And Vanishing Deductible reduces the policy deductible by $100 per year for each year that the driver goes without filing a claim.
Available discounts: Nationwide offers multi-product, safe driver, e-document, and safety feature discounts, among others.



source: https://insurify.com