Auto-Owners auto insurance

Auto-Owners auto insurance earned 4.5 stars out of 5 for overall performance. NerdWallet’s ratings are determined by our editorial team. The scoring formula takes into account pricing and discounts, ease of filing a claim, website transparency, financial strength, complaint data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and more.

Based on these ratings, Auto-Owners ranked 12th in our list of the 20 best car insurance companies for 2020.

Auto-Owners offers all the usual coverages, including liability, other state-required coverage types, roadside assistance and comprehensive and collision. The company also offers several add-on coverages and options:

• Gap coverage can come in handy if you have a loan or lease balance and your car is totaled or stolen. Comprehensive and collision coverages pay out only up to the value of your car, which might be less than you owe on a loan or lease. Gap insurance pays the difference if you buy it.
• Diminished value coverage is similar to gap insurance, but for less extreme situations. If your car is damaged (rather than stolen or totaled), this add-on will compensate you for the reduced value of your car.
• Additional expenses insurance goes further than traditional rental car coverage. In addition to paying for a rental car if your car is in the shop for a covered claim, this optional coverage also pays for food, lodging and other incidentals if you’re stranded.
• The Personal Automobile Plus package has more than 10 perks and coverages, including identity theft coverage, cell phone insurance and coverage for replacing lost or stolen keys.

Auto-Owners also includes a few benefits in its auto policies that other major insurers don’t.

Common loss deductible. If you have your home insurance through Auto-Owners in addition to an auto policy with comprehensive coverage. If you need to make a claim to both policies for the same event — such as a bad storm or a tree falling on both your house and car — the company will reduce your auto deductible by the amount of your property deductible. If your homeowners deductible is higher, the company will waive your auto deductible.

Collision coverage advantage from Auto-Owners has two parts. First, if you’re in a collision with another customer of the company, your collision deductibles will be waived. Second, if you’re in a collision with an animal, Auto-Owners will either pay from your collision or comprehensive coverage — whichever pays you more. With most insurers, animal collisions strictly fall under comprehensive coverage.

Rental car insurance. When you rent a car, your Auto-Owners policy covers as much as it does for your personal car, as well as any fees from the rental company associated with an accident. Many auto policies have lower coverage limits when you rent a car and don’t pay those fees.

Discounts from Auto-Owners include:

• Multipolicy discount.
• Life insurance multipolicy premium discount.
• Discount for a 36-month history of on-time payments.
• Discount for paying your premium in full, upfront.
• Paperless and online payments discount.
• Multicar discount.
• Discount for safety features like anti-lock brakes and air bags.
• Discount for having few or favorable (not at-fault) claims.
• Student discounts for good grades, leaving the car at home while attending school more than 100 miles away and monitoring a teen driver with GPS.

TrueRide from Auto-Owners is a usage-based discount with an app to match, available to Auto-Owners customers in Ohio. You get a discount for signing up, then the app tracks your driving behavior and provides feedback on behaviors such as hard braking, sharp turns and acceleration. You get a driving score with each trip and, if you drive safely, an additional discount when you renew your policy. nerdwallet.com

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