Root
Not yet rated
- By refusing to cover risky drivers, Root can keep rates down.
- Can get an SR22 if you need one.
- Can do just about anything from the app.
- More likely to decline coverage than other companies.
- Not available in all states.
NerdWallet's take on Root auto insurance
NerdWallet wasn’t able to rate Root for overall performance because there is no financial strength information available for the company. NerdWallet’s ratings are determined by our editorial team, and the scoring formula considers consumer experience, complaint data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and financial strength ratings.
Best for: Drivers from certain demographics (like teens or people with poor credit) with good driving history but higher-than-average insurance costs.
Not ideal for: Drivers with an eventful driving record, or those who can get affordable rates from companies that offer traditional policies.
Where Root car insurance stands out
Pricing model. Root Insurance makes a promise most other companies don’t: auto insurance rates based primarily on how you drive. To get an auto insurance quote from Root, you first take a “Test Drive,” where you let the company’s app track your driving behavior for a few weeks. The better your driving, the cheaper your quoted price. This might be helpful for people who can’t get affordable insurance because of their personal information.
Digital experience. The Root Insurance website delivers an intuitive experience as well as informative content. Similarly, the insurer provides a true mobile app-driven experience that might appeal to some drivers, but receives mixed reviews from Android users.
Where Root car insurance falls short
Ways to save. Root’s discount offerings are much more limited than other companies.
Limited coverage options. The company’s usage-based pricing model may be useful for some people, such as nonstandard drivers, but it also doesn’t offer many ways to customize or adjust your policy. If you need a particular type of coverage, you may not be able to get it from Root.
Insurance companies use terms like “nonstandard” or "high-risk" to refer to drivers who usually pay more for insurance. You might be in this category if you have had multiple car accidents or speeding tickets, a lapse in coverage or a serious offense like a DUI.
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Root auto insurance discounts
Root tracks your driving habits to determine your car insurance costs. Because of that, the company doesn’t offer as many discounts as other insurers.
Depending on your state, you may be able to save on Root auto insurance if you pay for your policy upfront rather than make regular payments. You could also get a discount on home or renters insurance from Root if you pair it with a Root auto insurance policy.
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.
Root auto insurance coverage
Root's full coverage car insurance includes the standard types of coverage offered by most insurers:
- Liability insurance
Liability car insurance pays for others’ injuries or property damage you cause in a car accident, up to your auto policy limits. There are two types:
Bodily injury liability covers others’ medical expenses after an accident where you are at fault.
Property damage liability covers the repair costs to other vehicles, fences, mailboxes or buildings from an accident.
Is it required? Yes. Every state, except for Virginia and remote parts of Alaska, requires drivers to have a minimum amount of liability car insurance in order to drive legally.
- Personal injury protection
Also known as "no-fault insurance," PIP covers your own injuries and medical expenses after a crash, regardless of who's at fault, up to your policy limits. Depending on your state, PIP could also help pay for:
Lost wages if you're unable to work due to your injuries from a car accident.
Services you can't perform because of an accident, such as house cleaning or child care.
Funeral costs if an injury from an accident leads to death.
A small death benefit as a cash payout.
Is it required? Personal injury protection is required in the following states: Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Oregon and Utah.
- Medical payments coverage
Medical payments coverage, or MedPay, helps pay for your medical expenses or funeral costs after a car accident, no matter who's at fault, up to your policy limits. It also pays for medical bills if you or one of your family members is hit by a car while on foot, riding a bike or traveling as a passenger in someone else’s car.
Is it required? MedPay is required in Maine and New Hampshire, and can be purchased as an optional add-on in most other states. In a few states, MedPay can't be purchased because personal injury protection is required.
- Uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage
Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage pays out if you're in an accident where the at-fault driver has no liability car insurance, or not enough to cover your injuries or property damage. It can also be used to pay for your passengers’ and household family members’ injuries.
Is it required? Uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage is required in Washington, D.C., and the following states: Connecticut, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
- Collision insurance
Collision insurance reimburses you to fix or replace your car if you crash into another car or object. It can also pay for hit-and-runs, rollovers and damage caused by uninsured or underinsured drivers.
Collision insurance becomes less useful the older your car is. That's because it reimburses you for repairs only up to the actual cash value of your car, minus your deductible.
Is it required? Collision insurance isn't mandatory in any state, but most lenders require it if you finance or lease your car. And when you buy collision insurance, you'll likely have to also get comprehensive insurance, which pays for damage to your car from non-traffic-related causes.
- Comprehensive insurance
Comprehensive insurance reimburses you to fix or replace your car after non-traffic-related causes, such as:
Weather events, like hail, floods or tornadoes.
Falling objects, such as tree limbs.
Fire or explosions.
Hitting an animal.
Car theft and broken windows.
Earthquakes.
Vandalism or civil disobedience, such as a riot.
Comprehensive insurance becomes less useful the older your car is. That's because it reimburses you for repairs only up to the actual cash value of your car, minus your deductible.
Is it required? Comprehensive insurance isn't mandatory in any state, but most lenders require it if you finance or lease your car. And when you buy comprehensive insurance, you'll likely have to also get collision insurance, which pays for damage to your car from traffic-related causes.
Optional coverage
Root also offers a few types of optional coverage, such as:
Rental car reimbursement, which covers the cost of a rental car while yours is in the shop as part of a covered claim. You might also be able to choose a rideshare credit instead of reimbursement for a rental vehicle.
Roadside assistance, which can help whether you crash your car, run out of gas or blow a tire. Root will cover three incidents per vehicle on your policy, up to $100 for each incident, during a single 6-month policy period. (Roadside assistance is included in all Root policies and can be requested in the mobile app.)
SR22 documentation, which you can start in the Root mobile app. You can also review each state’s SR22 requirements on Root’s website, and learn more about why you might need one.
When shopping for car insurance, it's important to understand what coverage you want and what you’re required to buy. Most states require a minimum amount of car insurance to drive a vehicle, but if you can afford it, we recommend getting full coverage insurance.
Root usage-based insurance
Some companies offer usage-based savings through mobile apps that track your driving habits, but Root requires a Test Drive before finalizing the price of your insurance policy. During this period, Root’s mobile app records things like your average speed, when you drive and how hard you brake, then adjusts your price before finalizing your quote.
Because it tracks driving behavior to price your policy, Root doesn’t offer an optional telematics program or safe driving discount.
Is Root a good insurance company?
State regulators received far more than the expected number of complaints about Root auto insurance, relative to other companies of its size, according to three years’ worth of data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. This can be an indication that drivers are regularly dissatisfied with the service they get from an insurer.
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More information about Root car insurance
Customer service: Call 866-980-9431, send an email to help@joinroot.com or speak with an agent via live chat.
Website: Root has an intuitive website that includes an extensive FAQ, a blog and other useful information. You can sign up and start a quote online, but you have to take the Test Drive to finalize your quote. Root uses this Test Drive to adjust your price based on your driving habits, so safe drivers might pay less than their initially quoted price.
Mobile app: Root policies are entirely app-based, and the company uses its mobile app to track your driving for a few weeks before giving you a final price on your policy. You can view your policy documents, pay bills, file and track claims, summon roadside assistance and even request an SR22 within the app, which is available on both Apple and Android devices.
How we review auto insurance companies
Our editorial team considers these factors when reviewing auto insurance companies:
- Financial strength
We use AM 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 the kind of discounts a company offers and the total number of discounts available.
Read our full auto insurance methodology.
We nerd out on car insurance
Our goal is to give you what you need to make smart decisions about your car insurance.
Here’s why you can trust NerdWallet:
We do our homework. We regularly evaluate and review many of the insurance companies we write about. And all of our content is fact-checked before publication. This means the star ratings you see on our reviews are accurate and up-to-date.
We analyze the data. We update our average car insurance rates every month. To do that, we analyze more than 500 million rates from across the country. These rates are provided by Quadrant Information Services.
We are unbiased. NerdWallet’s content is never influenced by our business partners and advertisers. Learn more about how we write in our editorial guidelines.
Frequently asked questions
How can I contact Root Insurance?
How can I contact Root Insurance?
You can contact Root Insurance at 866-980-9431 or by emailing help@joinroot.com.
How do I add another car to my Root Insurance auto policy?
How do I add another car to my Root Insurance auto policy?
You can add vehicles or drivers to your auto policy within the Root mobile app.
Does Root car insurance offer SR22 assistance?
Does Root car insurance offer SR22 assistance?
Yes, Root Insurance can help you get an SR22. The company website also has helpful information about SR22s, including each state’s requirements for the process.
Methodology
Insurer complaints methodology
NerdWallet examined complaints received by state insurance regulators and reported to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners in 2022-2024. 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.
