State Farm Auto Insurance Review 2024

Drew Gula
By Drew Gula 
Edited by Ben Moore

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Our Take

5.0

NerdWallet rating 

The bottom line:

With generous coverage and discounts for good driving habits, State Farm is a popular insurer with fewer complaints compared to other large competitors.

State Farm Auto Insurance
NAIC complaints
Fewer than expected
Ease of use
Above average
Discounts
Average set of discounts

Pros & Cons

Pros

  • Numerous discounts offered, including two programs — one for safe driving and the other for young drivers.

  • Generous rental car and travel expenses coverage.

  • Customer satisfaction rating for buying auto insurance is the highest among large insurers, according to J.D. Power.

Cons

  • Doesn't offer gap insurance.

Full Review

State Farm earned 5 stars out of 5 for overall performance. NerdWallet’s ratings are determined by our editorial team. The scoring formula takes into account consumer experience, complaint data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and financial strength ratings.

State Farm is the largest private passenger auto insurer, but it offers a wide variety of other insurance and financial products, sold exclusively by State Farm agents. If you’re looking for a well-known brand name with a generous selection of products and consumer-friendly pricing, State Farm might be right for you.

Why you can trust NerdWallet: Our writers and editors follow strict editorial guidelines to ensure fairness and accuracy in our coverage so you can choose the insurance policy that works best for you. These carrier ratings are specific to auto insurance — a company's rating for other products may be different on our site. See our criteria for evaluating auto insurance companies.

In our auto insurance reviews, our editorial team considers both the customer and the insurer. These are some of the factors we take into account:

Financial strength. We use A.M. Best ratings to confirm an insurer’s long-term financial stability and ability to pay claims. NerdWallet does not recommend companies with a rating lower than a B. 

Complaints. These ratings are based on complaints to state regulators relative to a company’s size, according to three years’ worth of data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. The best auto insurance companies have fewer than the expected number of complaints.

Ease of use. This category looks at how easily consumers can interact with an insurer through its mobile app and website. This includes how much coverage information is offered online, whether a user can start and track a claim online and get a quote and mobile app scores based on the Apple and Google Play store ratings.

Discounts. We look at both the kind of discounts a company offers and the total number of discounts available.

Where State Farm stands out

Customer support. State Farm had fewer than the expected number of complaints when compared to other companies of the same size.

Ease of use. If you're looking for a seamless online experience, you would do well to consider State Farm. The company lets you make payments, plus start and track claims online. It also lets you manage your policy through its app, which is rated highly by both Apple and Google Play.

Where State Farm falls short

State availability. Although State Farm sells policies in most states, it doesn't sell new policies in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Compare to other insurers

Current Product

State Farm Auto Insurance
Progressive Auto Insurance
Geico Auto Insurance
NerdWallet rating 

5.0

/5
NerdWallet rating 

4.5

/5
NerdWallet rating 

5.0

/5

Complaints to NAIC 

Fewer than expected

Complaints to NAIC 

Close to expected

Complaints to NAIC 

Close to expected

Ease of use 

Above average

Ease of use 

Above average

Ease of use 

Above average

Discounts 

Average set of discounts

Discounts 

Great set of discounts

Discounts 

Great set of discounts

Bottom line 

State Farm offers numerous discounts and extras including travel expense coverage, making it a good choice for most drivers.

Bottom line 

Progressive offers a variety of products, but there’s room for improvement when it comes to customer satisfaction.

Bottom line 

With nationwide availability and a raft of discounts, Geico is a popular, and often affordable, choice for car insurance.

How much does State Farm car insurance cost?

State Farm car insurance costs $1,976 per year on average for full coverage insurance. That is less than $10 a year below the average national rate of $1,982 per year. State Farm's annual full coverage rates are similar to other large insurers, on average.

Company

Average annual rate with a clean record

Travelers

$1,681

American Family

$1,791

Geico

$1,846

State Farm

$1,976

Allstate

$2,665

Progressive

$2,112

Nationwide

$2,279

Farmers

$3,106

USAA*

$1,432

*USAA auto insurance is available only to active-duty military members, veterans and their families.

These rates are for a 35-year-old driver with a clean driving history and good credit with full coverage insurance. The rates we cite for full coverage include liability, comprehensive, collision and any additional insurance a state requires a driver to have. These rates are averages, and your own price will depend on your driving history, car make and model, location and other factors. 

For more information on State Farm car insnce rates, including rates after an at-fault accident or DUI, check out the drop-down below.

How State Farm's rates compare

In most states, your car insurance rate is determined by a variety of factors, including your driving record and credit history. California, Hawaii, Massachusetts and Michigan don’t allow insurers to use credit when determining car insurance rates.

Here are State Farm’s average annual auto insurance rates compared to 2023 national averages for full coverage insurance based on four driving profiles.

Driving profile

State Farm average rate

National average rate

Good driver, good credit

$1,976

$1,982

Recent at-fault accident, good credit

$2,488

$2,936

Recent DUI, good credit

$2,940

$3,693

Good driver, poor credit

$7,289

$3,222

🤓Nerdy Tip

If you’re looking for the cheapest auto insurance rates possible, you may want to buy the minimum car insurance needed to drive in your state. Read our cheap car insurance article to see average minimum car insurance rates by company and state.

State Farm auto insurance coverage

When you're shopping for car insurance coverage, it's important to understand what car insurance coverage you want and what you’re required to buy. For instance, most states require a minimum amount of car insurance to drive a vehicle. Alternatively, if you want extra protection, you may be interested in full coverage insurance. Read about the most common types of car insurance coverage to see how they work.

State Farm’s rental car and travel expenses coverage is superior to what’s offered by its competitors. Not only does State Farm auto insurance pay for a rental car if yours is in the shop due to a covered collision, but it also pays for meals, lodging and transportation if you’re stranded more than 50 miles from home. Coverage limits apply and vary by state, and you need to have comprehensive or collision coverage to opt in.

The Steer Clear Driver Program is a driver training refresher course available online, through an agent or via mobile app. State Farm offers savings for drivers under age 25 who complete the course and have had no at-fault accidents or moving violations within the past three years.

Rideshare insurance: If you drive for a company such as Uber or Lyft, this option allows you to have one policy that covers both personal and ridesharing use. This option is not available in all states.

Auto insurance discounts

Depending on your state, you may be able to save on auto insurance by:

  • Remaining accident-free for a specified period of time.

  • Taking a driver safety course.

  • Being a student (or having one on your policy) who stores their vehicle at home while away at school.

  • Meeting State Farm's standards for a good driver.

  • Meeting State Farm's standards for a good student.

  • Having certain safety features in your car.

  • Installing an anti-theft device.

  • Having a factory-installed air bag or other passive restraint device in your older-model vehicle.

  • Insuring multiple vehicles with State Farm.

  • Buying multiple policies from State Farm (bundling).

🤓Nerdy Tip

First time shopping for auto insurance? Unsure where to start? Check out our guide on how to shop for car insurance.

Pricing based on tracked driving habits

State Farm offers a usage-based program called Drive Safe & Save. This program calculates discounts based on your mileage and “safe driving” measurements such as smooth acceleration and braking. It also considers risk factors such as speed and time of day. You’ll get up to a 30% discount once State Farm has analyzed your driving behavior. Availability and discounts may vary.

Complaints and customer satisfaction

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

State Farm received an overall satisfaction score of 80 out of 100 by a pool of its customers in a NerdWallet survey conducted online in June and July 2023. To put that in perspective, the average score among seven insurers was 78, and the highest was 82.

2023 J.D. Power study

State Farm ranking

Insurance Shopping (Auto)

No. 1 out of 8 companies.

Auto Insurance Claims Satisfaction

No. 5 out of 24 companies.

More about State Farm insurance

Website: State Farm’s website is intuitive, easy to navigate and loaded with useful information. You can get a quote online, find a nearby agent or manage a claim.

Mobile app: State Farm’s customer app lets you view your insurance card and policy information, contact your agent, submit a claim online and view a claim status.

State Farm also has mobile apps for two of its auto insurance programs: the Steer Clear program for drivers under 25 and the Drive Safe & Save program that tracks driving behavior.

Life, homeowners and renters insurance from State Farm

State Farm offers home insurance and renters insurance in every state except Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and renters insurance in every state except Massachusetts, Rhode Island and California. It is also available in Washington, D.C. To learn more about the coverage options available, read our State Farm homeowners insurance review and State Farm renters insurance review.

State Farm also offers term, whole and universal life insurance. To read about these products, see our State Farm life insurance review.

Other insurance from State Farm

State Farm offers a variety of other types of insurance, including:

  • Condo insurance.

  • Identity theft insurance.

  • Motorcycle insurance

  • Boat insurance.

  • Farm and ranch insurance.

  • Off-road vehicle insurance.

  • Manufactured home insurance.

  • Commercial auto insurance.

  • Business insurance.

Methodology

Insurer complaints methodology

NerdWallet examined complaints received by state insurance regulators and reported to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners in 2020-2022. 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. NerdWallet conducts its data analysis and reaches conclusions independently and without the endorsement of the NAIC. Ratios are determined separately for auto, home (including renters and condo) and life insurance.

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 and full ratings methodology for auto insurance.

2024 auto insurance survey methodology

The opt-in survey of 7,514 adults age 18 and older was conducted online by Russell Research on behalf of NerdWallet in June and July 2023. Respondents were asked to rate one auto insurance brand they obtained or renewed a policy with within the past 12 months. These brands were rated on overall satisfaction, overall value, online experience, trustworthiness, mobile app experience, claims experience and customer support on a scale of 1-100.

Only brands with 100 or more qualifying respondents are reported. Of those respondents: 301 were State Farm customers, 300 were Progressive customers, 300 were Allstate customers, 300 were Geico customers, 140 were USAA customers, 125 were AAA customers, 105 were Liberty Mutual customers, 103 were American Family customers, 104 were Farmers customers, 104 were Travelers customers and 104 were Nationwide customers.

Average rates methodology

NerdWallet averaged rates based on public filings obtained by pricing analytics company Quadrant Information Services. We examined rates for men and women for all ZIP codes in any of the 50 states and Washington, D.C. Although it’s one of the largest insurers in the country, Liberty Mutual is not included in our rates analysis due to a lack of publicly available information.

In our analysis, “good drivers” had no moving violations on record; a “good driving” discount was included for this profile. Our “good” and “poor” credit rates are based on credit score approximations and do not account for proprietary scoring criteria used by insurance providers.

These are average rates, and your rate will vary based on your personal details, state and insurance provider.

Sample drivers had the following coverage limits:

-$100,000 bodily injury liability coverage per person.

-$300,000 bodily injury liability coverage per crash.

-$50,000 property damage liability coverage per crash.

-$100,000 uninsured motorist bodily injury coverage per person.

-$300,000 uninsured motorist bodily injury coverage per crash.

-Collision coverage with $1,000 deductible.

-Comprehensive coverage with $1,000 deductible.

We used the same assumptions for all other driver profiles, with the following exceptions:

-We changed the credit tier from “good” to “poor” as reported to the insurer to see rates for drivers with poor credit. In states where credit isn’t taken into account, we only used rates for “good credit.”

-For drivers with one at-fault crash, we added a single at-fault crash costing $10,000 in property damage.

-For drivers with a DUI, we added a single drunken-driving violation.

We used a 2020 Toyota Camry L in all cases and assumed 12,000 annual miles driven. We analyzed rates for drivers of the following ages: 20, 30, 35, 40, 50, 60 and 70.

Frequently asked questions