Auto-Owners Insurance Review
- With 3.9/5 stars in 2024, Auto-Owners is an average insurance company.
- Read Auto-Owners reviews, complaints and prices before you buy.
Auto-Owners insurance: Ratings and reviews
Headquartered in Lansing, Michigan, Auto-Owners Insurance Company has provided insurance for more than 100 years. The company is active in 26 states and is represented by thousands of independent agents. Though its name might imply otherwise, Auto-Owners Insurance actually offers a wide variety of insurance products. Its car insurance product is consistently top-rated, according to our own customer satisfaction survey, and the company's home, life, and business insurance options continually receive great reviews as well.
Continue reading our Auto-Owners Insurance review to learn more about coverage options, customer satisfaction, and available discounts.
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Extensive list of discounts and coverage options available
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Highly ranked in The Zebra customer satisfaction survey
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Offers an array of qualifying discounts
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Not available nationwide
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Below average rankings for claims satisfaction by J.D. Power
Is Auto-Owners a good insurance company?
The majority of The Zebra's review incorporates how well Auto-Owners scores in terms of customer service. In order to determine that we looked at the following third-party ratings.
Claims Satisfaction: Above average
- Auto-Owners earned Above average marks in J.D. Power's most recent auto claims satisfaction study[1]
Customer Satisfaction: Below average
- J.D. Power also rated Auto-Owners as Below average in overall auto customer satisfaction[2]
Complaint Index: Below average
- The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) receives Below average customer complaints for Auto-Owners[3]
Financial Strength: Superior
- Auto-Owners received an Superior financial strength rating from A.M. Best for its ability to pay out claims[4]
The Zebra Customer Satisfaction Survey
In addition to third-party ratings, we like to incorporate the results from our own consumer survey where we ranked which home insurance companies are the best based on feedback from real customers. In this survey, Auto-Owners scored 8.36/10 overall, putting them in 19th place.
How much does Auto-Owners insurance cost?
Currently, the national average for a 6 month car insurance policy is $880, whereas Auto-Owners is about $592 or roughly 33% cheaper than a typical policy, so it is one of the cheapest auto insurance options available.
The table below shows how Auto-Owners auto insurance compares against other top insurers.
| Company | Avg. Monthly Premium |
|---|---|
| Auto-Owners | $99 |
| Travelers | $112 |
| GEICO | $129 |
| American Family | $131 |
| State Farm | $131 |
| Acuity | $143 |
| Progressive | $157 |
| MetLife | $184 |
| Allstate | $201 |
Like with any insurance company, pricing for Auto-Owners auto insurance can vary based on your age and generally will get cheaper the older you get.
The table below shows Auto-Owners' car insurance premiums for drivers of different age groups.
| Age Group | Avg. Monthly Premium |
|---|---|
| Teens | $304 |
| 20s | $145 |
| 30s | $100 |
| 40s | $97 |
| 50s | $92 |
| 60s | $93 |
The Zebra’s Dynamic Insurance Rating Tool data methodology
The Zebra’s Dynamic Insurance Rating Tool for home and auto insurance rates utilizes the latest ZIP code-level rate filings from across the U.S., sourced from Quadrant Information Services and S&P Global. These filings, typically updated annually or biennially by insurers, are verified through Quadrant’s QA process and then integrated into The Zebra’s estimator.
The displayed rates are based on a dynamic home and auto profile designed to reflect the content of the page. This profile is tailored to match specific factors such as age, location, and coverage level, which are adjusted based on the page content to show how these variables can impact premiums.
For a comprehensive understanding, see our detailed methodology.
Discounts offered
Auto-Owners Insurance offers several ways to save money on your auto policy. Below, you’ll find a rundown of their discount options.
- Multi-policy discount: Bundle multiple policies with Auto-Owners to find savings on your premiums.
- Payment history: If you’ve paid your premium on time for at least 36 months, you can receive a discount.
- Green discount: Enroll in paperless billing and pay online to qualify for this discount
- Paid-in-full discount: Pay your annual premium in full at the beginning of your policy to find savings.
- Good student discount: Students with grade-point averages of “B” or better could save up to 20% with this discount.
Look further into the wide variety of Auto-Owners available here.
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What types of coverage does Auto-Owners offer?
One feature of Auto-Owners is that the company offers a wide variety of coverage options, despite the name suggesting otherwise. Below are some of the options and perks offered by Auto-Owners.
- Bundling options - In addition to homeowners and renters' policies, Auto-Owners has a variety of other types of insurance that may be bundled together including life, business insurance, boat, RV, condo, and more. View the full list of Auto-Owners' products here.
- Roadside assistance - Auto-Owners' Road Trouble Service coverage is there to offer help if you experience a flat tire, dead battery, or other roadside issue.
- Loan or lease gap - When you purchase a new vehicle, the value decreases as soon as you drive it home. If you're involved in an accident and that new car is totaled, you're still responsible for the balance of the loan or lease. This coverage steps in to cover that difference.
- Additional expenses - This optional add-on covers the costs you might incur after an incident when your vehicle is unusable. For instance, it's there to help with the cost of a rental car, but also food and lodging if you're stranded away from home.
Read more about Auto-Owners' coverages here.
Additional lines of insurance
Although homeowners and auto insurance tend to be the most-used products, Auto-Owners offers an array of other products to meet just about anyone's insurance needs:
It's worth asking whether or not carrying these additional products can qualify you for a bundling discount.
Auto-Owners insurance review: Summary
To summarize, Auto-Owners insurance offers relatively affordable rates and a wide variety of coverage choices if you're in the market for multiple policies and discount options. Although their customer service ratings fall below average, they have strong financial stability and low NAIC complaint numbers. Auto-Owners may be a good option to explore if you're comparing companies or are ready to try something different.
Methodology — how The Zebra reviews insurance companies
The team of insurance experts at The Zebra considers the company's standing in five main categories to come up with an overall rating. These metrics are weighted according to importance and are detailed below:
- Price (20%): Using the base profile detailed below, we compared the company's average rate with the national average. If it surpassed this average, we gave a lower rating; if it fell below, we awarded a higher rating.
- Coverage (20%): The highest-scoring companies offer a variety of coverage options, including bundling options, roadside assistance, telematics, beyond-basic coverage levels, and a variety of other coverage types.
- Customer service (30%): We averaged ratings from JD Power, the NAIC complaint index to come up with a rating for the company's customer service. In instances when a company is not rated, we may use alternative rating agencies such as the Better Business Bureau and Trust Pilot.
- Financial strength (10%): We use AM Best to determine a company's financial standing. In some cases when a company is not rated by AM Best, we may use an alternative measure such as Demotech.
- The Zebra's Customer Satisfaction Survey (20%): The Zebra conducts an annual survey measuring customer satisfaction for many of the top insurance companies with the goal of ranking both the best auto insurance companies and best home insurance companies. Read more below.
For our auto insurance review, we analyzed more than 83 million insurance rates spanning every U.S. ZIP code using a sample user profile: a 30-year-old single male driver with a Honda Accord, good credit and full coverage at these levels:
- $50,000 per person/$100,000 per incident for bodily injury liability
- $50,000 per incident for property damage liability
- $500 deductibles for collision and comprehensive coverage
For our home insurance review, rates are based on a sample user profile: a 45-year-old married homeowner living in a 2,500-square-foot single-story home built in 2011 with these coverage levels:
- $200,000 for the dwelling
- $20,000 for other structures
- $100,000 for personal property
- $100,000 for personal liability
- $1,000 deductible
These sample premiums are dynamic and automatically refresh whenever the newest data is made available.
To generate pricing for particular rating factors, we adjusted this profile based on common pricing factors used by major car insurance companies. These factors include credit score, coverage level and others.
For The Zebra's Customer Satisfaction Survey, findings are based on an online quantitative survey of 4,134 current U.S. auto and home insurance customers, with Census-balanced sampling by age, gender and region. Categories with n=<20 responses are considered insufficient sample size and are not reported. This survey was developed by The Zebra and executed by independent research firm Maru/Blue in 2023.
Auto-Owners insurance: Frequently asked questions
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About The Zebra
The Zebra is not an insurance company. We publish data-backed, expert-reviewed resources to help consumers make more informed insurance decisions.
- The Zebra’s insurance content is written and reviewed for accuracy by licensed insurance agents.
- The Zebra’s insurance editorial content is not subject to review or alteration by insurance companies or partners.
- The Zebra’s editorial team operates independently of the company’s partnerships and commercialization interests, publishing unbiased information for consumer benefit.
- The auto insurance rates published on The Zebra’s pages are based on a comprehensive analysis of car insurance pricing data, evaluating more than 83 million insurance rates from across the United States.