Progressive Auto Insurance Review 2022: Pros and Cons – NerdWallet

The country’s third-largest auto insurance company, 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 is among NerdWallet’s Best Car Insurance Companies.

Progressive auto insurance coverage

When you’re shopping for car insurance, it’s important to understand what car insurance coverage you want and what you’re required to buy. Most states require car insurance in order to drive a vehicle. Although minimum coverage requirements vary from state to state, they generally include liability insurance and uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage.

If you want extra protection, you may be interested in full coverage insurance. Full coverage isn’t a specific policy type; it’s a combination of coverage types, like liability, collision and comprehensive insurance.

Check out the most common types of car insurance coverage below to see how they work:

Coverage type

What it pays for

Required?

Bodily injury and property damage liability

Costs for injuries, deaths or property damage from an accident you caused.

Typically required.

Uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage

Medical and property damage costs after an accident with a driver who has insufficient insurance or none at all.

Often required.

Collision coverage

Repair expenses from traffic-related accidents, regardless of who’s at fault.

A car loan or lease may require it.

Comprehensive coverage

Repair costs from events outside of your control, including weather events, hitting an animal while driving, theft and vandalism.

A car loan or lease may require it.

Depending on your state, you might be able to add these types of coverage to your policy:

  • Gap insurance: Under this coverage, 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: Pays to fix or replace custom accessories you add to your car, up to $5,000.

  • Pet injury insurance: 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 deductibles by $50 every six months you’re claim-free, all the way down to $0.

  • Rideshare insurance: Available from Progressive in some states. Typical insurance from ridesharing companies covers only the period between accepting a ride and dropping off a customer. This add-on insurance expands your personal auto policy any time you have the app on, so you’re covered even between rides.

Progressive offers two types of accident forgiveness:

  • Small accident forgiveness: The company won’t raise your premium for claims up to $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.

with Insure.com

See what you could save on car insurance

Easily compare personalized rates to see how much switching car insurance could save you.

ZIP Code

GET MY RATES

Get started on Insure.com

Auto insurance discounts

Progressive’s auto insurance discounts include:

  • Multipolicy discount.

  • Multicar discount.

  • Discount for continuous auto insurance, even if it was with another company

  • 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.

  • Discount for owning a home.

Pricing based on tracked driving habits

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 in to your vehicle or a mobile app.

How much is Progressive insurance?

A policy with full coverage insurance costs $1,739 on average per year from Progressive. But that’s if you have good credit and a clean driving history without any accidents or other traffic violations. Your rate will vary based on factors like age, location and more.

To give you a better idea of what to expect, check out the average rates below, based on driving record and credit history. All rates are for full coverage insurance. See our methodology for more details.

Full coverage

Minimum coverage

Good driver, good credit

$1,739

$625

Good driver, poor credit

$3,242

$1,166

After an accident, good credit

$2,765

$984

After a DUI, good credit

$2,213

$777

After a speeding ticket, good credit

$2,245

$783

Auto insurance buying guide

Before you compare car insurance companies, you’ll need to collect some basic information. This includes the driving history of everyone who will be on the policy, as well as facts about your car, such as safety features and annual mileage driven. You’ll also want to determine which types of coverage you need. For example, do you want only the bare minimum insurance that your state requires, or do you need more extensive coverage, such as gap insurance or rideshare coverage? Check that each company you’re considering has the options you want.

When comparing rates among insurers, make sure each is offering the same coverage limits and deductibles. You may not want to make your decision based on price alone. Look at how many consumer complaints each company has, as a high number of complaints could be a red flag about the quality of service you’ll receive.

Depending on which company you choose, you may be able to buy insurance online, over the phone or through an agent. For more guidance, see how to get car insurance.

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 received an overall satisfaction score of 76 out of 100 by a pool of its customers, in a NerdWallet survey conducted online in July 2021. To put that in perspective, the average score among seven insurers was 79, and the highest was 83.

Progressive was rated below average for consumer satisfaction with auto insurance claims and shopping in 2021 J.D. Power studies.

2021 J.D. Power study

Progressive ranking

Auto insurance shopping

No. 7 out of 8 companies.

Auto insurance claims satisfaction

No. 17 out of 18 companies.

More about Progressive auto insurance 

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

Life, homeowners and renters insurance from Progressive

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.

Progressive also sells term and permanent life insurance policies through a third party, eFinancial. You can start the quote process on Progressive’s site, but you’ll eventually be transferred.

Other 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:

  • All-terrain vehicle insurance.

  • Boat insurance.

  • Commercial auto insurance.

  • Golf cart insurance.

  • Motorcycle insurance.

  • Personal watercraft insurance.

  • Recreational vehicle insurance.

  • Segway insurance.

  • Snowmobile insurance.

  • Umbrella insurance.

These are other types of insurance you can get from Progressive’s partners:

  • Business insurance.

  • Classic car insurance.

  • Condo insurance.

  • Dental and vision insurance.

  • Flood insurance.

  • Health insurance.

  • ID theft insurance.

  • Insurance for driving in Mexico.

  • Mobile home insurance.

  • Pet insurance.

  • Phone and device insurance.

  • Travel insurance.

  • Wedding and event insurance.