The best mobile apps from the biggest car insurance companies
State Farm has a sleek, easy-to-use, and award-winning app that sets the standard in auto insurance. The State Farm app boasts high ratings on Google Play and Apple’s App Store, and offers two extension apps to help people drive safer, which we’ll get into below.
Apple users gave Allstate’s mobile app a glowing 4.8 rating with nearly 1 million reviews. Allstate’s mobile app comes with a simple tracking system that doesn’t require any plugins, and several extension apps, like the Allstate Motor Club app and Digital Locker.
Auto insurance companies are constantly looking for ways to improve the customer experience and gain an edge over their competitors. In 2023, every large insurance provider (and most of the mid-sized and smaller ones) will have a mobile app and web portal.
Auto insurance apps help drivers manage their plans, make payments, request roadside assistance, file claims, upload photos, access digital insurance cards, and more. But which provider has the best app? And how do these apps differ?
Below we’ll break down the best auto insurance apps from the biggest providers in the country.
Best Overall Auto Insurance App: State Farm
Best Auto Insurance App for iPhone: Geico
Best Auto Insurance App for Android: Progressive
Best App for Online Auto Insurance: Esurance
Best Auto Insurance Apps for Military: USAA
Insurance company | Average annual rates | iOS rating (out of 5) | Android rating (out of 5) | Safety driver app | J.D. Power auto claims satisfaction study (out of 1,000)1 | Review |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
State Farm | $1,419 | 4.8 | 4.7 | Yes | 882 | State Farm review |
GEICO | $1,194 | 4.8 | 4.6 | Yes | 874 | GEICO review |
Progressive | $1,508 | 4.8 | 4.6 | Yes | 889 | Progressive review |
Esurance | $1,724 | 4.8 | 4.4 | Yes | 826 | Esurance review |
USAA | $1,151 | 4.8 | 4.2 | Yes | 890 | USAA review |
On top of being the largest provider in the country, the State Farm app has millions of downloads and hundreds of thousands of reviews across both the Google Play and Apple App stores.2 State Farm is our No. 1 app pick for a few reasons. It’s won several awards for apps, software, and internet services, including the 2019 Mobile Web Award and the Webby Awards. It also connects with extension apps, like Alexa and the State Farm Steer Clear app, that help improve the overall driver experience.
How does State Farm create such a seamless user experience and cull together so many awards? It has innovative features, like damage estimation technology, that set the technological standard for auto insurance providers. Here are a few of State Farm’s app features:
State Farm has several prestigious awards in the technology and software space. In 2020, it won two People’s Voice winner awards and a Webby winner at the Webby Awards. The latter is one of the world’s largest international award ceremonies for innovative technologies. In fact, over the past few years, State Farm has picked up the following awards:
You can get more out of your service with State Farm by downloading the Steer Clear app and Drive Safe & Save app, along with the Amazon Alexa extension. Let’s break down what each of these apps does.
With 3.5 million in the Apple App Store, a long list of app-related awards, and excellent customer satisfaction ratings, GEICO is our top choice for iPhone users. GEICO has some impressive accolades and rankings within the Apple App store, which we’ll get into below. It also boasts excellent ratings for best software development, best app company to work for, and other tech-related accolades.
With 3.5 million reviews and a 4.8 rating, no other major car insurance provider has as many reviews in the Apple App Store as GEICO. It’s also ranked No. 20 out of the top 100 finance apps in the Apple Store, beating out Capital One, Liberty Mutual, and Allstate. Version 5.48 was released in the App Store on December 8, 2022, which included more options to chat with the virtual assistant (chatting in Spanish or chatting about your RV policy, Assurant, or renter’s policy).
Similar to State Farm, GEICO has garnered various industry and app-related awards, honors, and accolades. These awards and accolades vary from internet competitions and global tech awards to recognitions for GEICO’s talented team of web and app developers. Here are a few of GEICO’s most distinguished apps and tech-related recognitions:
In 2022, The 26th annual Webby Awards received about 13,000 entries from almost every U.S. state and 70 countries worldwide.
GEICO has earned several high-scoring third-party ratings for financial strength, customer satisfaction, and customer data usage. The Kanbay Research Institute rated GEICO as the No. 1 desired insurer among customers based on a high regard for customer service and staff/training development. Kanbay also gave top honors in a survey that evaluated how auto insurers treated their customers based on app usability, communication, and trust of personal data.
While these are a few acknowledgments relevant to GEICO’s use of data and site usability, you can still expect GEICO to score highly with known industry leaders. J.D. Power, for example, gave GEICO a 874 out of 1,000 for auto claims satisfaction, which puts GEICO in the top 10 for claims satisfaction among all insurance providers in the J.D. Power study.
Progressive has some of the highest app ratings on Android (4.6 out of five) across more than 10 million downloads and thousands of reviews. If you’re a young driver or the parent of a young driver, you can benefit from the many discounts for young adults. With the Snapshot app, you can also track your driving habits (or your teen’s) and earn some discounts along the way.
Young adults and teen drivers spend more than any other age group on car insurance on average. Drivers between the ages of 16 and 19 spend $3,751 on average for car insurance annually, which is about three times more than the national average of $1,204 (according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners).3
Young adults or parents of young adults could save on their car insurance through the following discounts:
Progressive has a comprehensive and reliable roadside assistance service that you can access from the app 24/7. Agero provides Progressive’s roadside assistance, which serves over 80 million drivers nationwide. Roadside assistance with Progressive is available for car insurance policies, motorcycles, RVs, and some towing vehicles. Roadside assistance covers:
Managing your policy, plans, and coverage has never been easier for Progressive customers. Not only is all of your policy information available at your fingertips, but you can also make changes to your plan directly from the app. With the Progressive mobile app, you’ll be able to:
Esurance was designed for online and app-based insurance management. Rather than working with agents, customers have to navigate Esurance’s user-friendly app to find quotes, file claims, and review their policies. With the financial backing of Allstate, its parent company, and several coverage options/discounts, Esurance provides reliable, flexible insurance for those who prefer a do-it-yourself approach.
Esurance is not a typical car insurance provider because you can navigate its services only online. You can’t work with an agent to compare quotes, file claims, or manage your policies. However, Esurance has a few interactive online and app resources to help you manage your plan on your own.
The Coverage Counselor, for example, is an interactive tool that helps you find the best plan for your budgets and needs. You can look for discounts, bundle policies, check your eligibility for policy changes, and more — all from the comfort of your phone.
Esurance has excellent third-party financial strength ratings. Because it’s the child company of Allstate, one of the largest providers in the country, Esurance benefits from all of Allstate’s financial ratings and risk scores. Moody’s, a financial research institution, gave Allstate an A3 ranking in its credit and risk assessment, which indicates a high-quality financial rating and low credit risk. Esurance also has an A+ rating with AM Best’s credit rating system, which is the second-highest credit score rating.
Esurance’s online and app-based platform makes it easy to see what discounts you qualify for. Through the Coverage Counselor feature, you can check your eligibility for the following set of discounts:
USAA boasts some of the highest customer satisfaction ratings, sizable discounts, and the cheapest insurance rates in the country. It has several services and benefits for its members, like savings on tires and repair shops, which you can find through the web portal or mobile app. USAA has a 4.2 out of five in the Google Play Store and a 4.8 rating in the Apple App Store with more than 1.5 million reviews.
With USAA’s mobile app, you get a seamless user experience, sleek design, and comprehensive app with a number of useful features. And in 2022, you get USAA’s updated version with simplified navigation, smart search features, security fingerprint, voice, face recognition, and more. Here’s what you can do directly through the USAA app:
USAA members get access to a long list of discounts that help make it one of the most affordable providers in the country, with a national annual average rate of $1,151. Here are a few ways you can save on car insurance with USAA:
On top of being one of the most affordable auto insurance providers in the country, USAA offers several coverage options that you can review and add through the mobile app. USAA comes with basic car insurance options such as liability coverage (bodily injury and property damage), uninsured/underinsured coverage, collision coverage, comprehensive coverage, and medical coverage (PIP), but it has a few add-ons as well:
The short answer is no; none of the providers in our list allow their customers to cancel their plans through the mobile app. Most car insurance providers require you to call them or send a written requisition in the mail.
No. Most car insurance apps and their features are 100 percent free.
Yes, many telematics tracking apps, like State Farm’s mobile app Drive Safe & Save, will detect if you are texting or browsing the web while driving.
No. If your insurer requires a plug-in device for your tracking app to function, then it will send you a device in the mail free of charge.
Auto Insurance Customer Satisfaction Stalls Despite $18 Billion in Premium Relief, J.D. Power Finds. J.D. Power. (2021, Jun).
https://www.jdpower.com/business/press-releases/2021-us-auto-insurance-study
Facts + Statistics: Insurance company rankings. Insurance Information Institute. (2021).
https://www.iii.org/fact-statistic/facts-statistics-insurance-company-rankings
2018/2019 Auto Insurance Database Report. National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). (2022).
https://content.naic.org/sites/default/files/publication-aut-pb-auto-insurance-database.pdf
Switch & Save®. Esurance. (2022).
https://www.esurance.com/switchandsave