Pros
- High rating for overall customer satisfaction and claims servicing.
- Good coverage options.
- Plenty of discounts.
Cons
- Limited online account management and no online claims filing option.
- Must call insurance agent to receive a quote.
- Only available in 30 states.
Auto-Owners Review Summary
Auto-Owners car insurance earns high marks for customer service and financial stability, but it is not the best choice for drivers who want to manage their policy online. Everything from getting a quote to purchasing a policy to filing a claim must be done through an Auto-Owners insurance agent.
For people who don’t mind having to go through an agent, Auto-Owners is a pretty good option. It offers a variety of coverage add-ons and a solid list of discounts.
In the sections below, you can learn more about the Auto-Owners Insurance coverage options, how much they cost, and how they stack up against popular competitors.
Auto-Owners Car Insurance Availability by State
Auto-Owners Insurance sells auto policies in 30 states.
Summary: Auto-Owners Scores by Review Category
| Category | Score |
|---|---|
| Auto-Owners Quotes / Pricing | 30/30 |
| Customer Service & Reviews | 12.5/30 |
| Auto-Owners Financial Stability | 4/4 |
| Auto-Owners Claims Process | 10/15 |
| Auto-Owners Types of Insurance and Additional Services Offered | 5/5 |
| Auto-Owners Discounts | 3/5 |
| Auto-Owners Transparency | 5/5 |
| OVERALL | 69.5/94 |
Now that you’re familiar with how Auto-Owners scores in each of our review categories, let’s see how it compares to top competitors in a handful of key areas. Hopefully, this will help you find the best insurance company for your needs.
Auto-Owners Car Insurance Pricing
Category Rating: 100% (30 out of 30)
Auto-Owners received a score of 30/30 in the cost portion of this review, as its premiums rank in the first quartile of the major car insurance providers that WalletHub evaluated. Learn more about WalletHub’s methodology.
Auto-Owners Customer Service & Reviews
Category Rating: 42% (12.5 out of 30)
- Reviews on WalletHub: 2.2/5
- J.D. Power: 3.3/5
- NAIC: 0.58
- BBB: A+
Auto-Owners car insurance has received mixed scores as the company lost points given its lack of a 24/7 live customer support line, as well as its relatively low user rating on WalletHub.
Auto-Owners’ Financial Stability
Category Rating: 100% (4 out of 4)
- AM Best: A+
In terms of financial stability, Auto-Owners Insurance earned an A+ (Superior) rating from AM Best, a leading credit rating agency for the insurance industry. Credit rating agencies like AM Best measure a company’s ability to pay claims, meaning that customers can rest assured that Auto-Owners is reliable.
Auto-Owners Claims
Category Rating: 67% (10 out of 15)
Auto-Owners customers can file a claim by calling their independent agent or by calling 1-888-252-4626 after-hours. Auto-Owners does not provide the option of filing a claim online, which lost the company points in this category, per WalletHub’s grading criteria.
Learn more about Auto-Owners' claims process.
Auto-Owners’ Types of Insurance
Category Rating: 100% (5 out of 5)
- Auto insurance
- Annuities insurance
- ATV & Off-Road Vehicle insurance
- Boat insurance
- Bonds insurance
- Business insurance
- Commercial Auto insurance
- Commercial Umbrella insurance
- Condo insurance
- Disability Income insurance
- Farm insurance
- Flood insurance
- Homeowners insurance
- Life insurance
- Loss Control insurance
- Mobile Home insurance
- Motor Home & RV insurance
- Motorcycle insurance
- Pet insurance
- Property & Valuables insurance
- Rental Dwelling insurance
- Renters insurance
- Term Life insurance
- Trailer insurance
- Umbrella insurance
- Universal Life insurance
- Whole Life insurance
- Workers Compensation
Auto-Owners offers a wide variety of insurance types. As a result, it’s easy for car insurance customers to benefit from a multi-policy discount.
Car insurance options from Auto-Owners include all the major coverage types that are typically required by states and lenders: bodily injury liability, property damage liability, medical payments, personal injury protection, uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage, collision, and comprehensive.
Free Benefits of Auto-Owners Car Insurance
- Auto-Owners provides rental car protection to keep you covered when you rent a vehicle, up to the broadest coverage and limits on your policy.
- The company’s “Collision Coverage Advantage” waives your collision deductible if you are in an accident involving another Auto-Owners car insurance policyholder.
- Auto-Owners will pay a claim for a collision with an animal under either collision or comprehensive insurance, whichever pays the most.
- A “common loss deductible” applies if you have home and auto insurance through Auto-Owners and the same event damages both your car and your house. In this case, the company will reduce your car insurance deductible by the amount of your personal property deductible, saving you money.
Auto-Owners car insurance customers can also purchase additional coverage options to enhance their auto policies with more protections and benefits.
Supplemental Coverage Options from Auto-Owners Car Insurance
- Personal Automobile Plus Package: Bundles a variety of coverage options at one convenient price. Coverage in addition to car insurance includes protection against identity theft, the cost of cell phone replacement, and the expense of re-keying locks, among other things.
- Roadside Service: Covers the cost of towing, fuel delivery, lockout services, flat tire changes, and jump-starts.
- Additional Expense: Covers the cost of a rental car, food, and lodging if you are in a car accident far from home.
- Loan-Lease Gap Coverage: Covers the difference between the actual cash value of your vehicle and the remaining balance on your loan or lease.
- Diminished Value: Compensates you for the decreased value of your car after an accident.
Coverage details vary, and coverage options may not be available in every state.
Specialty Types of Auto Insurance from Auto-Owners Insurance
- Auto-Owners Commercial Car Insurance: For individuals who use their personal vehicles for work and businesses looking to purchase coverage for their company-owned vehicles.
- Auto-Owners Classic Car Insurance: For owners of antique cars that appreciate in value over time.
- Auto-Owners Modified Car Insurance: For vehicles that have been converted for special purposes, such as wheelchair accessibility.
Auto-Owners earned the highest possible score in this category, given its variety of optional add-ons and insurance types. You can contact an independent agent to get a new quote or to learn how much it would cost to add supplemental coverage options to an existing policy.
Auto-Owners Discounts
Category Rating: 60% (3 out of 5)
- Multi-policy discount
- Payment history discount
- Green discount
- Multi-car discount
- Good student discount
- Student away at school discount
- Teen driver monitoring discount
- Life multi-policy discount
- Paid-in-full discount
- Advance quote discount
- Safety feature discount
- Favorable loss history discount
- Deductibles discount
Auto-Owners offers 13 discounts, which is not as many as some of its competitors. The company does not disclose the amount of any discount except for the good student discount, which can save customers up to 20%. Discounts may also vary by state.
Since it offers an average number of discounts, Auto-Owners received a mid-range score in this category.
Auto-Owners Transparency
Category Rating: 100% (5 out of 5)
Key information is easy to find on Auto-Owners’ website and mobile app, so it gets a good score in the transparency department from WalletHub.
Bottom Line
Auto-Owners is a pretty good insurance company, with relatively low premiums and a variety of coverage options. The company scores pretty well in terms of customer service, too. However, Auto-Owners is not a good choice for drivers looking to manage their insurance policy online.
Auto-Owners Insurance vs. Popular Alternatives
| Insurer | Auto- Owners | State Farm | Progressive | GEICO |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average Premium* | $1,268 per year | $1,410 per year | $1,296 per year | $1,009 per year |
| Number of Car Insurance Discounts | 13 | 16 | 18 | 23 |
| Offers Home Insurance | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Complaints Score (lower is best) | 0.58 | 1.35 | 1.52 | 0.81 |
| Editor’s Rating | 3.8 | 3.8 | 3.1 | 3.8 |
*Complaints Score represents the company's overall NAIC rating. Car insurance-specific rating may differ.
*Average annual premiums are based on a variety of driver profiles. Individuals premiums may differ, but these rates illustrate how costs from these insurers typically compare. Learn more about how these rates were calculated in the methodology section below.
Methodology
In order to provide fair, helpful reviews of insurance companies such as Auto-Owners that can lead consumers to the best insurance coverage for their needs, WalletHub rates each insurance company in seven major categories: Cost, Insurance Types, Customer Service & Reviews, Discounts, Claims, Financial Stability and Transparency. Below, you can find an overview of what each section in our scoring rubric entails.
- The “Cost” section includes information about how expensive the insurance policies are. Auto-Owners average premiums and quartile rankings are based on data from Illinois, one of the largest states Auto-Owners operates in. Rate information is provided by Quadrant Information Services. Individual rates will be different.
- The “Insurance Types” section examines what types of insurance policies the company offers.
- The “Customer Service & Reviews” section measures the insurance company’s reputation as well user reviews and information from watchdog organizations.
- The “Discounts” section examines how many and what types of discounts the company offers. It also takes into consideration whether or not there are discounts for bundling policies.
- The “Claims” section examines the ways in which customers can make claims with the policy. It considers whether or not customers can make claims by phone or online, as well as whether or not the company has a 24/7 support line.
- The “Financial Stability” section considers the company’s status with credit rating agencies A.M. Best, S&P and Moody’s.
- The “Transparency” section measures how clearly the insurer discloses key information on its website.
The final score takes these seven categories into account and reflects how close an insurance company is to WalletHub’s definition of a 5-star insurer. For more information, please read WalletHub’s full insurance company methodology.
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