Auto-Owners Car Insurance Rates vs. Competitors
Auto-Owners is among the best car insurance companies in Forbes Advisor’s analysis. See how its costs compare to other companies.
Auto-Owners Car Insurance Cost Comparison for Good Drivers
Auto-Owners has mediocre car insurance rates for good drivers. Its national average rate for good drivers is over $150 below the average of $2,026 per year among the companies we analyzed.
Auto-Owners Car Insurance Cost Comparison for Drivers With a Speeding Ticket
Auto-Owners has just okay prices for drivers who have a speeding ticket. If you have a ticket on your driving record, it’s smart to shop around for car insurance quotes because of the wide range in rates among companies.
Auto-Owners Car Insurance Cost Comparison for Drivers Who Caused an Accident With an Injury
Auto-Owners car insurance costs are decent for drivers who caused an accident with an injury to someone else. The national average is $3,009 a year based on our analysis of rates from top insurers and Auto-Owners’ price is $470 cheaper.
Auto-Owners Car Insurance Rate Comparison for Drivers With a DUI
Auto-Owners auto insurance prices for a driver with a DUI are a tad more expensive than average. The national average car insurance cost for drivers with a DUI is $3,363 a year in our analysis while Auto-Owners cost is $3,578.
Auto-Owners Car Insurance Cost Comparison for Drivers With Poor Credit
Auto-Owners auto insurance rates for drivers with poor credit are pretty high compared to competitors.
Insurers say that a person’s credit correlates with the chances someone will make an insurance claim in the future. This correlation leads to higher rates. All states except California, Hawaii, Massachusetts and Michigan permit car insurance companies to use a credit when establishing prices.
Auto-Owners Car Insurance Cost Comparison for Adding a Teen Driver
Auto-Owners average car insurance costs for adding a teen are higher than top competitors.
Auto insurance rates can skyrocket when adding a teen to your policy. Parents can easily pay $2,000 more a year to add a 16-year-old driver.
Auto-Owners Car Insurance Cost Comparison for Young Drivers Ages 18 to 25
Auto-Owners car insurance costs are cheaper than many competitors for drivers between ages 18 and 25. Its cost is over $700 below the national average of $3,113 a year among the large insurance companies we evaluated.
The rates below are for young drivers on their own auto insurance policies. You can typically reduce costs by a young driver staying on their parent’s policy as long as possible.
Auto-Owners Car Insurance Cost Comparison for Senior Drivers Ages 65 to 80
Auto-Owners car insurance costs for drivers ages 65 to 80 are pretty good compared to top competitors. The national average is $2,150 a year, based on our assessment of prices from large insurers. Auto-Owners is more than $300 a year below the average.
Auto Insurance Complaints Against Auto-Owners
Auto-Owners has a lower level of auto insurance complaints than many large insurers, based on complaints made to state insurance departments across the country. Auto-Owner complaints are also considerably below the industry average.
The top auto insurance complaints against Auto-Owners are related to claim delays, unsatisfactory claim settlements and the adjusters’ handling of claims.
Auto-Owners Grade from Collision Repair Professionals: B
In a survey of collision repair professionals by the CRASH Network, Auto-Owners earned a B grade.
The opinions of auto body professionals are worth considering because they see how insurance companies compare in the use of lower-quality repair parts, whether insurers encourage the use of repair procedures by car manufacturers and whether car insurance companies have claims processes that lead to quick and satisfactory claims for customers.
Does Auto-Owners Offer Accident Forgiveness?
Yes, Auto-Owners offers accident forgiveness insurance as an optional add-on. The enhanced coverage, available for an extra cost, is only for drivers who have had no claims paid for causing an accident or major violations for 36 months before signing up for the benefit. Auto-Owners waives the accident surcharge for customers with this coverage for their first at-fault accident after adding it to their policy.
The company’s Collision Coverage Advantage coverage will also waive your collision deductible if you’re involved in an accident with another vehicle that’s insured by Auto-Owners.
Does Auto-Owners Offer New Car Replacement?
Yes, Auto-Owners has new car replacement coverage, which you can add to a policy. Auto-Owners’ purchase price guarantee is akin to new car replacement coverage and pays the original purchase price of your new vehicle if it is totaled, minus any associated deductible. The coverage can last up to two years from the purchase date of your car and you must be the original title owner of the vehicle.
Does Auto-Owners Offer Gap Insurance?
Yes, Auto-Owners provides loan or lease gap insurance. Gap insurance covers the difference between what your car is worth and how much you still owe on the vehicle. So, if your vehicle is totaled and the insurance company says it’s worth $20,000 but you owe $25,000 on the car loan, gap coverage would pick up the $5,000.
Does Auto-Owners Offer a Diminishing Deductible?
Yes, Auto-Owners has a diminishing deductible option. With this feature, the insurance company reduces your deductible after a period of no accidents.
Does Auto-Owners Offer SR-22s?
No, Auto-Owners doesn’t provide SR-22 insurance. Car owners who might be required to get an SR-22 certificate from their insurance companies can include someone with multiple traffic accidents or a person charged with driving without car insurance.
Does Auto-Owners Offer Usage-Based Insurance?
No. Auto-Owners previously had a usage-based insurance program called TrueRide offered in Ohio but discontinued it in April 2023.
Usage-based insurance programs track your driving behavior and usually offer discounts if you show good driving habits.
Does Auto-Owners Offer Pay-Per-Mile Insurance?
No, Auto-Owners doesn’t provide a pay-per-mile car insurance option. Pay-per-mile car insurance charges a base rate combined with a per-mile rate. Drivers who don’t frequently use their cars can benefit from these kinds of policies.
Additional Auto-Owners Coverage Options
Add-on coverages available from Auto-Owners include:
- Additional expenses coverage: If you can’t use your vehicle because of a problem covered by your policy (like a car accident), this pays for expenses like a rental car. And if you’re stranded far from home, it can cover costs such as lodging and meals.
- Diminished value: If your car is in an accident, its value might depreciate (even after repairs are made). This coverage compensates you for a reduction in value.
- Personal automobile plus package: This package includes 10 additional coverage types like identity theft, replacing your cell phone and re-keying locks.
- Roadside assistance insurance: If you break down on the side of the road, this coverage pays for services, such as a tow truck, battery jump-start, locksmith, refueling and changing a flat tire.
Another benefit available from Auto-Owners is a Common Loss Deductible. If you insure both your car and home with Auto-Owners and an event cause damage to both (such as a tornado), your auto insurance deductible will be reduced by the amount of your personal property deductible—or waived if it is less than your personal property deductible.
Auto-Owners Car Insurance Discounts
Auto-Owners offers its customers a wide range of ways to save on car insurance. Here is a roundup of the types of car insurance discounts available from Auto-Owners.
- Advance quote discount: New customers who ask for a premium quote before the effective date of the policy could qualify for a discount.
- Good student discount: If your student driver maintains a “B” average or higher, you could get a discount of up to 20%.
- Green discount: Get this discount for signing up for paperless billing and paying your auto insurance premium online.
- Multi-car discount: If you insure two or more vehicles with Auto-Owners, you’ll receive a discount.
- Multi-policy discount: Bundling another insurance policy (such as home insurance or life insurance) with your auto policy can land you a discount.
- Paid-in-full discount: This is for paying your auto insurance bill in full for the entire term.
- Payment history discount: You’ll get this if you’ve paid your car insurance on time for 36 months or more.
- Safety features discount: Make sure to get this discount if your car has safety features such as airbags, anti-theft devices and anti-lock brakes.
- Student away at school discount: This price break applies when your student is attending school more than 100 miles from home and is without a vehicle.
- Teen driver monitoring discount: Ask about this if you have a GPS permanently installed in the car your teen primarily drives.
More Insurance from Auto-Owners
In addition to car insurance, Auto-Owners sells:
- Home insurance
- Umbrella insurance
- Life insurance
- Pet insurance
- Business insurance
- Commercial auto insurance
- Workers compensation insurance
- Commercial umbrella insurance
Auto-Owners also sells financial products such as annuities and bonds.
Auto-Owners Insurance Mobile Apps
Auto-Owners Mobile gives users 24/7 access to their insurance policies. You can manage policy tasks from your phone by using the app. Other features include:
- Bill pay
- Manage automatic payments
- Request roadside assistance
About Auto-Owners Car Insurance
In July 1916, Vern V. Moulton and four associates created Auto-Owners Insurance in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. In 1935, they expanded their business outside of Michigan, starting in Indiana. Auto-Owners began selling life insurance in 1966.
Today, Auto-Owners sells insurance in 26 states and is represented by more than 48,000 licensed agents.
Auto-Owners Insurance offers a variety of vehicle insurance options, including cars, all-terrain vehicles, off-road vehicles, motorcycles, trailers, boats, motorhomes and recreational vehicles.
What States Does Auto-Owners Car Insurance Operate In?
Auto-Owners car insurance is available in 26 states:
- Alabama
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- Colorado
- Florida
- Georgia
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- Nebraska
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Pennsylvania
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Utah
- Virginia
- Wisconsin
Methodology
To identify the best car insurance we evaluated each company on its auto insurance rates, the coverage options offered, complaints against the company and its collision repair process.
Auto insurance rates (50% of score): We used data from Quadrant Information Services to find average rates from each company for good drivers, drivers who have caused an accident, drivers with a speeding ticket, drivers with a DUI, drivers with poor credit, drivers caught without insurance, adding a teen driver, senior drivers and young drivers.
Unless otherwise noted, rates are based on a 40-year-old female driver with a Toyota RAV4 and coverage of:
- $100,000 for injuries to one person, $300,000 for injuries per accident and $100,000 of property damage (known as 100/300/100).
- Uninsured motorist coverage of 100/300.
- Collision and comprehensive insurance with a $500 deductible.
Car insurance coverage options (25% of score): Any auto insurance company can provide the basics of liability insurance, collision and comprehensive coverage and other standard offerings. But it’s also important to have access to additional coverage types that can provide greater protection or cost savings. In this category we gave points to companies that offer accident forgiveness, new car replacement, vanishing deductibles, usage-based or pay-per-mile insurance and SR-22s.
Complaints (20% of score): We used complaint data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Each state’s department of insurance is in charge of logging and monitoring complaints against the companies that operate in their states. Most auto insurance complaints center on claims, including unsatisfactory settlements, delays and denials. The industry complaint average is 1.00, so companies with a ratio below 1.00 have lower levels of complaints.
Collision repair (5% of score): We incorporated grades of insurance companies from collision repair professionals. We used data provided by CRASH Network, a weekly newsletter covering the collision repair and auto insurance market segments. CRASH Network’s Insurer Report Card used grades from more than 1,000 collision repair professionals to gauge auto insurers on the quality of their collision claims service.
