Progressive Auto Insurance Review 2021

The country’s third-largest auto insurance provider, Progressive offers insurance for just about anything with a motor. Progressive offers a lengthy slate of discounts and a wide range of coverage, including rideshare insurance and coverage for pets injured in a car accident.

Progressive auto insurance

Progressive 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, Progressive is among NerdWallet’s Best Car Insurance Companies for 2021.

Progressive offers the usual auto insurance choices, as well as other typical add-on options like roadside assistance and rental car coverage. Depending on your state, you can choose from:

• Gap insurance, under which Progressive pays up to 25% above the value of your car if it’s totaled, to cover a loan or lease balance. You must purchase both comprehensive and collision coverage to buy gap insurance from Progressive.
• Custom parts and equipment value, which pays to fix or replace custom accessories you add to your car.
• Pet injury protection, included if you buy collision coverage. It pays veterinarian bills if your pet is injured in a car accident.
• Deductible savings bank: If you have comprehensive and collision coverage, you can opt in to this program that reduces your deductible by $50 every six months you’re claim-free, all the way down to $0.

Rideshare insurance is available from Progressive but is not an option in all states. Typical insurance from ridesharing companies only covers the period between accepting a ride and dropping off a customer. This add-on insurance expands your personal auto policy anytime you have the app on, so you’re covered even between rides.

» MORE: Rideshare insurance for drivers

Progressive offers two types of accident forgiveness:

• Small accident forgiveness: The company won’t raise your premium for claims under $500.
• Large accident forgiveness: If you’ve been insured with Progressive for at least five years and accident-free for at least three, the company won’t raise your rate even for a large accident claim.

Snapshot is a free opt-in program that collects information on your driving habits, including speed, how much you drive and when you drive. Progressive uses the data to adjust your insurance rates up or down next time you renew, and you get an automatic discount for signing up (this discount is not available to policyholders in Alaska, Hawaii or New York). Data is collected from either a device you plug into your vehicle or a mobile app.

» MORE: Compare car insurance rates

Progressive’s auto insurance discounts include:

• Multi-policy discount.
• Multi-car discount.
• Discount for continuous insurance (even if it was with another company).
• Snapshot good driver program.
• Discount for adding a teen driver.
• Good student discount.
• Distant student discount.
• Discount if you get an online quote for car insurance.
• Discount for signing your policy documents online.
• Paperless discount.
• Discount for paying your six-month policy upfront.
• Discount for setting up automatic payments from a checking account.

» MORE: Car insurance quotes: What to know

Progressive complaints and customer satisfaction

Progressive had fewer than the expected number of complaints to state regulators relative to its size for auto insurance, according to three years’ worth of data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

Progressive was rated slightly below average for consumer satisfaction with the auto insurance shopping experience in a 2020 J.D. Power study. Customer satisfaction was below average for auto insurance claims.

More about Progressive

Website: Progressive’s website includes an insurance quote tool and a portal where customers can log on, pay bills and see claim statuses. Additional helpful features include:

• The Name Your Price tool, which helps you find a policy to fit your budget. Keep in mind that a lower price will come with a trade-off in coverage.
• A comparison feature that shows competitor rates alongside Progressive’s quote for the same policy options.

Mobile app: Progressive’s main smartphone app allows you to report and track claims, view policy information, get quotes for new policies and request roadside assistance.

Snapshot mobile app: When you sign up for Snapshot, this app displays information about your driving behavior, records details about your trips and provides custom tips to improve your driving.

Virtual assistance: If you have a Google Home device, you can use it to ask Progressive’s digital voice assistant a variety of insurance questions. Or you can use Facebook Messenger to get a quote from Progressive’s Flo Chatbot or ask an insurance-related question.

More insurance from Progressive

You can buy many types of insurance through Progressive, but may not always end up with a Progressive policy. Here are policies that come directly from the insurer, aside from car insurance.

Progressive homeowners and renters insurance

Progressive offers coverage for houses, garages, sheds and more through third-party insurers. To get more details about coverage options and discounts, see our Progressive homeowners insurance review.

Progressive sells renters insurance policies through a subsidiary (Progressive Home) and a third-party company (Homesite). To learn more about this coverage, see our Progressive renters insurance review.

In addition to homeowners and renters insurance, Progressive offers other policies through third parties. You can get a quote and sign up for these policies through Progressive, and even receive a discount on your existing Progressive policy if you combine the policies. However, you may not be able to manage all policies through the same website or agent. Here are other types of insurance you can get from Progressive’s partners:

Recap: Progressive pros and cons

Auto insurance ratings methodology

NerdWallet’s auto insurance ratings reward companies for customer-first features and practices. Ratings are based on weighted averages of scores in several categories, including financial strength, consumer complaints and discounts. Our “ease of use” category looks at factors such as website transparency and how easy it is to file a claim. Using our editorial discretion, we also consider customer satisfaction surveys. These ratings are a guide, but we encourage you to shop around and compare several insurance quotes to find the best rate for you. NerdWallet does not receive compensation for any reviews. Read our editorial guidelines.

Methodology: Insurer complaints

NerdWallet examined complaints received by state insurance regulators and reported to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners in 2018-2020. To assess how insurers compare to one another, the NAIC calculates a complaint index each year for each subsidiary, measuring its share of total complaints relative to its size, or share of total premiums in the industry. To evaluate a company’s complaint history, NerdWallet calculated a similar index for each insurer, weighted by market shares of each subsidiary, over the three-year period. Ratios are determined separately for auto, home (including renters and condo) and life insurance.