Auto insurance company reviews 2026
We reviewed 28 U.S. auto insurers on the six things that actually separate them: what they charge, how claims go, how often customers complain, whether they can pay, what they discount, and how much you can do without picking up the phone. Every score traces back to a published figure, and every figure is cited.
Compare any two insurers
Side by side across all six categories, with the gaps spelled out.
Cheap and good are not the same axis
The two things drivers care about most — what it costs and what happens when you claim — barely correlate. A few insurers manage both; several manage neither. This is the clearest argument we can make for quoting more than one.
No published rate data, so no honest position on the horizontal axis: Liberty Mutual, NJM, Clearcover, Elephant, Lemonade, Root, Texas Farm Bureau. Below the J.D. Power study’s size threshold, so no position on the vertical axis: Kemper, Shelter, Chubb, COUNTRY Financial, MAPFRE, Plymouth Rock, The Hanover. That study samples only the largest insurers, so these carriers will not appear in a future wave either. Premiums from NerdWallet’s August 2026 analysis; claims scores from the J.D. Power 2025 U.S. Auto Claims Satisfaction Study. USAA is scored but not ranked in that study because it serves the military community only.
Cheap doesn’t have to mean complained about
The chart above can only show the fourteen insurers big enough to appear in the J.D. Power study. Complaint records are published far more widely, so this one covers most of the companies we review — including the regional carriers that often turn out to be both cheaper and better behaved than the national names.
Not plotted, because no public rate data exists for them: Liberty Mutual, NJM, Clearcover, Elephant, Lemonade, Root, Texas Farm Bureau. Complaint bands from NerdWallet’s analysis of NAIC complaint data, 2022–2024 (2021–2023 for Liberty Mutual and Mercury). We show the band rather than a numeric complaint index on purpose — the per-carrier indexes published by different compilers contradict each other badly enough to be unusable, because the index is reported per underwriting subsidiary and most sources do not say which one they used.
Explore it yourself
Put any two measures against each other. Hover a point for the figures, click through to the full review.
14 insurers plotted. Hover a point for its figures, or click through to the review. Not shown: Liberty Mutual, Kemper, Shelter, NJM, Chubb, Clearcover, COUNTRY Financial, Elephant, Lemonade, MAPFRE, Plymouth Rock, Root, Texas Farm Bureau, The Hanover — no published figure on one of the selected axes.
Every point is labelled with its insurer’s name, so nothing here depends on telling colours apart. The same figures are in the ranked list below and in each review’s scorecard.
All 28 insurers, ranked by our score
Ranked on our weighted score, not on price alone. The cheapest insurer for you is a question only a quote can answer.
- 1USAAmilitary members, veterans and their families6.2% market share
- 2Geicodrivers who want a low direct-sold rate and a genuinely good app11.6% market share
- 3Travelersprice-focused drivers who want a financially bulletproof insurer2.0% market share
- 4MAPFRENew England drivers who want the lowest average premium here18.0% of Massachusetts
- 5State Farmdrivers who want a local agent rather than an app18.9% market share
- 6Eriedrivers in its twelve states who want the best claims experience available1.4% market share
- 7Plymouth RockNortheast drivers who want a strong app and low complaint volume8.6% of Massachusetts
- 8Progressiveprice shoppers willing to trade some claims experience for a lower premium16.7% market share
- 9Auto-Ownersdrivers in its 26 states who prefer an independent agent1.4% market share
- 10Nationwidedrivers who want good claims handling without an agent-only model1.3% market share
- 11ShelterMidwest drivers who want a low rate through a local agent0.4% market share
- 12American FamilyMidwest drivers who bundle and use telematics1.7% market share
- 13The HartfordAARP members over 50 who value the program's specific features0.7% market share
- 14Amicadrivers who will pay more for service and expect to file claims0.4% market share
- 15Allstatedrivers who want an agent and will bundle enough to offset the premium10.2% market share
- 16COUNTRY Financialdrivers who want a local agent and rarely open an appOutside NAIC top 25
- 17Farmersdrivers who want an agent and have specific coverage needs Farmers can meet3.8% market share
- 18MercuryCalifornia drivers, where Mercury's pricing is most competitive0.9% market share
- 19Chubbhigh-net-worth drivers insuring a luxury or collector carOutside NAIC top 25
- 20Kemperdrivers turned down elsewhere because of their record or credit0.8% market share
- 21The Hanoverdrivers whose independent agent recommends it for a specific reasonOutside NAIC top 25
- –Liberty Mutualdrivers who value claims handling and will quote it directlyNot scored3.3% market share
- –NJMMid-Atlantic drivers who weight claims handling above everythingNot scored0.4% market share
- –Clearcoverdrivers who want a fast app-based purchase and will accept the rating gapNot scoredOutside NAIC top 25
- –Elephantdrivers in its eight states comparing it against other budget optionsNot scoredOutside NAIC top 25
- –Lemonadelow-mileage drivers already using Lemonade for renters or homeNot scoredOutside NAIC top 25
- –Rootconfident drivers willing to be monitored before being quotedNot scoredOutside NAIC top 25
- –Texas Farm BureauTexas drivers willing to join Farm Bureau for a low-complaint insurerNot scoredOutside NAIC top 25
How we review
Every score on this site is built the same way, and we would rather show the arithmetic than ask you to trust it.
The six categories
Scored as a ratio against the $2,356 national average from the same rate study. At or below 70% of the national average scores a 5; above 140% scores a 1.5. Weighted highest because it is the factor most likely to change which company you actually buy from.
Scored against the study's own 700-point segment average: 35 points or more above it scores a 5, 35 or more below scores a 2. Weighted second because a claim is the only time the product is actually used.
Scored from the published band rather than a numeric index. Fewer complaints than expected scores 4.5, about the expected number 3.5, more 2.5, far more 1.5. We do not publish a numeric NAIC complaint index because the figures circulating for these companies contradict each other — the index is published per subsidiary and per line of business, and most sources state neither.
A++ scores 5, A+ scores 4.5, A scores 4, A− scores 3.5. Weighted lowest of the six on purpose: every company here is rated A or better, so this separates the strong from the exceptional rather than the safe from the risky.
Counted from the discounts the carrier publishes on its own site, with a half-point added for a usage-based program. This is the more editorial of the two remaining categories: a long list of small discounts is not automatically better than a short list of large ones, and carriers publish these lists inconsistently.
The Apple and Google Play averages are averaged together, not cherry-picked — they disagree sharply for several carriers, and quoting only the higher one would misrepresent half of each userbase. Both raw figures and their rating counts are shown on the review page.
What the scores are and aren’t
Each category is scored 1–5 against its published figure using a fixed rubric, then weighted into an overall score. The figures are sourced; the weights are an editorial judgment. Someone who files a claim once a decade should reasonably weight price higher than we do, and someone who has just been through a bad claim should weight it lower.
Where a company does not publish a figure, we say so on the page rather than estimate one. Liberty Mutual, for instance, releases no public rate data, so no honest national average exists for it — ours included.
Which insurers, and why
We review 28 U.S. auto insurers: the largest companies by direct premiums written, plus regional and digital-first carriers that draw heavy search interest. We exclude the AAA/Auto Club group, which is a federation of independent regional clubs rather than one company you can review as a single product. NAIC publishes market share only for the top 25, so carriers below that line appear without a market-share rank rather than with an invented one.
Independence
VIP Car Insurance is a free comparison service, not an insurer. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any company reviewed here, and no company can pay for a score, a ranking, or a place on this list. Company names and marks are used for identification only. We earn revenue when readers request quotes through the site, which is why the scores are built from published third-party data rather than from anything we control.
Sources
- Premiums — NerdWallet August 2026 rate analysis, using Quadrant Information Services data from public rate filings. Benchmark profile: a 35-year-old driver, clean record, good credit, 2023 Toyota Camry LE, 12,000 miles a year, 100/300/50 liability plus 100/300 uninsured motorist, $1,000 comprehensive and collision deductibles, averaged across every ZIP code in all 50 states and D.C. National average $2,356 a year for full coverage.
- Claims satisfaction — J.D. Power 2025 U.S. Auto Claims Satisfaction Study, released 28 October 2025 — 9,455 customers who settled a claim, fielded September 2024 to August 2025, segment average 700 out of 1,000. The 2026 wave is not due until late October 2026, so these scores will change.
- Complaint record — NerdWallet's analysis of NAIC complaint data, 2022–2024 (2021–2023 for Liberty Mutual and Mercury), weighted across each company's subsidiaries by market share. We publish the band rather than a numeric complaint index deliberately — see the note on scoring below.
- Financial strength — AM Best Financial Strength Ratings, current as of August 2026. Erie's rating reflects AM Best's September 2025 downgrade from A+ to A.
- Market share — NAIC 2024 direct premiums written, private passenger auto. Geico's share is reported under its parent, Berkshire Hathaway. Only the top 25 is published — the full table is a paid product — so carriers below that line show no national figure. Where a regional carrier's state share is available we show that instead, labelled with its market, because a national share for a six-state company is true and useless. Massachusetts figures are from Agency Checklists' 2024 state market-share report.
- Discounts, coverage features and apps — Each carrier's own published discount and coverage pages, retrieved 10 August 2026, plus Apple App Store and Google Play averages retrieved the same day. Farmers and Auto-Owners block automated access to their discount pages; their discount counts come from secondary sources and are flagged in the code.
Data reviewed and updated August 2026.
Reviews narrow it down. Quotes decide it.
50+ insurers, about four minutes, free either way.