Which US car insurers have the best reputation?

Judging from YouGov Profiles, data insurers are some way off universal adoration among American drivers: a fifth of whom say they believe insurance is for unlucky people (18%), two in five (41%) saying there’s no point to car insurance if they make you pay for accidents anyway, and the same proportion outright claiming that they’d have no insurance at all if they could get away with it (42%).

Reputation, then, is an important value for car insurance providers, who need to be able to assure motorists that they will provide the necessary protection in the event of an accident, that premiums won’t shoot up disproportionately, and that the customer will be able to get through to them easily and without fuss on the phone. But which companies operating in the industry have the best reputations?

According to YouGov BrandIndex, the car insurance provider with the best average Reputation score – a measure of whether a consumer would be proud or embarrassed to work for a particular company – is State Farm. The Illinois-based group (well known for operating at the lower end of the scale in terms of cost, and for its series of ads starring the calm, amiable “Jake from State Farm” character) earned a score of 21.6 between October 2020 and October 2021.

The United Services Automobile Association, which celebrates its 100^th birthday next year, came in second place with a score of 19.3. The Texas-based firm was a little over a point ahead of the American Automobile Association (AAA), a non-profit group of motor-clubs that provides a range of services (including car insurance) to drivers: scoring 17.9 overall. Allstate, also from Illinois, was close behind in fourth with a score of 17.4.

The rest of the table is decidedly closer: Prudential (13.8), Nationwide (13.6), Geico (13.4), MetLife (13.1) are all within a point of each other, with Liberty Mutual (12.6) and Progressive (12.3) rounding out the top 10.

Methodology

YouGov BrandIndex collects data on thousands of brands every day. Reputation scores are delivered as a net score between –100 and + 100. Figures are based on a four-week moving average. Learn more about BrandIndex.

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