Allstate is an insurance giant that has been in business since 1931 for 90 years and counting. Surely you've heard their slogan, “You're in good hands” and seen their auto insurance commercials. Although Allstate is best known for car insurance, they offer much more. In this Allstate Review 2023, we'll go over their main offerings, the pros and cons, and how much you could save by switching to Allstate.
Although Allstate offers insurance products in auto, homeowners, renters, life, and motorcycle, its main bread and butter products are for auto and motorcycle.
Given everything has gone online, it's worth regularly getting free, no obligation auto insurance quotes online with a reliable company like Allstate. They consistently offer some of the lowest auto insurance rates today. In fact, drivers who switch and save can often save over $700. That's a significant savings.
If you are a good driver with no prior traffic violations over the past 1-5 years, depending on your state, you may qualify for even further auto insurance discounts. Further, if you bundle products, you can typically save even more. For example, you could purchase auto insurance, a renters or a homeowners policy, and life insurance all from Allstate for greater savings.
As an auto insurance policy holder, your main concerns are cost and ease of handling claims. Allstate reliably offers both. They have an extensive amount of product offerings and features to meet the needs of drivers across the country. In addition, Allstate offers a vast network of local agents to deliver personalized, hands-on service. Now let's dive into our Allstate Review for 2023.
Allstate Review 2023
When it comes to car insurance, you want a company you can depend on. In this 2023 Allstate review, you'll learn about the company's offerings, what makes their auto insurance stand out, where it can improve, and why having car insurance is so vital.
Allstate is an excellent auto insurance company that has been around since 1931. The company has over 10,000 agents across the US.
This makes it easy to access a local agent to assist you with selecting the best coverage for your needs. In addition, your agent can ensure you maximize available discounts, answer questions, and assist with claims.
In addition, Allstate also has excellent mobile and online tools. For instance, they have a QuickFoto Claim feature in their mobile app. This lets you start a claim right from your phone. Take and submit photos, get a repair estimate, and receive your claim payment all from your phone. Easy!
Allstate has an intuitive interface and an easy-to-operate app. This appeals to those among us, including yours truly, who prefer to handle everything via web rather than over the phone or in person.
As an insurance giant, Allstate also offers a variety of insurance products, which are highly customizable.
You can personalize your coverage options and bundle products to save money.
Besides the standard liability, comprehensive, and collision service, Allstate offers add-ons like:
- Emergency roadside assistance coverage
- Rental car coverage
- Uninsured/underinsured motorist liability coverage
- Medical payments coverage
- Personal injury protection coverage
- Custom equipment coverage
Overall, you can probably find the policy you need with Allstate if you’re like most vehicle owners.
Allstate Review: Noteworthy Offers
You can get all the common auto insurance coverage options with Allstate. In addition, here are some noteworthy free features we want to highlight in this Allstate review that are available in most states.
- Car buying service: This free feature is great if you're looking to buy a car. Allstate lets you know what other people paid for the same vehicle in your search. They also advertise discounts and savings to help you get the best deal for your money.
- Claim satisfaction guarantee: Let's say you so happen to need to file a claim and are unhappy with the service you received. You can get a six-month credit on your car insurance premium to make up for the inconveniences. The only downside is this free guarantee isn't available in every state.
- Drivewise: This is a mobile app that analyzes your driving. It tracks when you're on the road, your speed, and braking behavior. In states where this is offered, you can earn cash back for being a good driver every six months. In addition, you can also earn points towards shopping discounts.
- Milewise: In some states, you can benefit from Allstate's Milewise feature. This insurance uses a daily base rate plus a per-mile rate. For folks with short commutes or low mileage, this plan structure could help you save money.
Allstate's Extra Features
In addition, Allstate offers some excellent extra features that are also worth mentioning. Here is a list of additional options you can add to an auto insurance policy with Allstate. Extra fees apply and availability varies by state.
- Accident forgiveness: This features protects your rates from going up if you have an accident even if you are at fault.
- Deductible rewards: Allstate offers $100 discounts on your collision deductible for every year you don't have any driving violations. There's a $500 cap. You get the first $100 off when you join.
- New car replacement: Worried about buying a new car? The nice thing about this Allstate feature is if your new car is totaled in the first two model years, your claim payment will be for the cost of the car new instead of the depreciated value.
- 3 options for roadside assistance: I've had to use roadside assistance so many times and am so glad to have this coverage. You can get roadside assistance in 3 ways. Pay-per-use, as an add-on to auto policies, or from Allstate’s Motor Club subscription service.
- Rideshare insurance: If you drive for Uber and/or Lyft it's worth getting rideshare insurance if available in your state. Unlike the policy's offered by Uber/Lyft, Allstate's policy will cover you in between rides as long as your app is on.
- Safe driving bonus: Get cash back every six months you drive accident-free. Stay safe, get money back = win, win.
Pros Of Allstate Auto Insurance
Now let's go through the Allstate review pros and cons. Here are the pro highlights.
- Allstate is a one-stop shop where you can bundle various products and save. They offer
- Auto insurance,
- Motorcycle insurance,
- Ride share insurance,
- Home insurance,
- Life insurance,
- Boat insurance,
- Mobile home insurance,
- Business insurance and more
- In business for over 90 years, Allstate is one of the most trusted insurance companies in the country.
- They offer excellent technology, including great mobile tools that make filing and tracking claims quick and easy.
- In addition, Allstate auto insurance offers a variety of discounts and perks. For example,
- Multi-policy discounts,
- Pay in full discounts,
- Smart student discount,
- Drivewise,
- ABS discount,
- Anti-theft device discount,
- Accident forgiveness,
- Deductible rewards,
- New car replacement, and
- A safe-driving bonus every six months.
- Get access to local agents who can help you with coverage decisions, maximize discounts, adjust coverage as your life changes, and help you with claims.
- Claims are easy to file and track through the Allstate mobile app. In addition, you can file online, by phone with your local agent, or via the toll-free number.
Cons Of Allstate Auto Insurance
This 2023 Allstate review wouldn't be complete without mentioning some of the cons of Allstate. Here's what you should be aware of before purchasing a policy with Allstate.
- Their prices may be higher than some other budget insurers, such as Progressive and GEICO. But overall, they are quote competitive. And many drivers who switch are able to save over $700.
- Allstate's customer service satisfaction ratings are below industry average, although they went up in 2020. This doesn't mean you will have a negative experience. But, some customers have felt service could have been better.
- The auto insurance policies are typically sold in six-month terms versus a standard 12-month. This means your plan could possibly renew at a higher rate more often than a 12-month plan.
Auto Insurance Fundamentals
Now that you’ve got a great understanding of Allstate car insurance, let’s go over some auto insurance fundamentals to help you figure out how much auto insurance to get and what type of auto insurance you need.
There are three things you want to protect with auto insurance in case of an accident:
- Yourself and your passengers,
- Your assets, and
- Your vehicle.
Most people would choose protecting yourself and your passengers as the most important purpose of auto insurance. I would too. However, it all depends on the premiums and how wealthy you are.
1) Insurance To Protect Your Financial Resources
Let’s say you are multi-millionaire who employs 10,000 people who depend on your existence to put food on the table. If you go down, so does the company.
Protecting your financial assets might be more important than protecting you and your passengers sad to say! If you nod off and accidentally kill several pedestrians on the sidewalk. You can be sure you will wind up in a legal battle for multi-millions of dollars. In addition, you'll likely be all over the news. And with all of that stress, you won’t be able to focus on running your company.
However, if you did the same thing and were poor, the victims or family of the deceased can’t squeeze blood from stone. As a result, you care less about protecting your own financial resources since you have little, and care more about protecting the passengers in your car.
Of course, if you are the multi-millionaire, then you can afford to care for everything and get the most protection possible.
You can protect your financial resources with two types of liability coverage. They are bodily injury liability coverage and property damage liability coverage.
Bodily Injury Liability: If you hurt someone in an auto accident, the insurance company will pay a certain amount. In my case, I elected for $300,000/$500,000 per person/per accident.
Property Damage Liability: If you damage someone else’s property in an auto accident, the insurance co will pay a certain amount. My insurance company pays $100,000 per accident to property.
2) Insurance To Protect You And Your Passengers
You can be the most careful driver in the world, but that is only half of the equation. If someone else is careless, they can easily crash into you and cause damage. Even though auto insurance is mandatory for all drivers, many drivers still do not have auto insurance! As a result, your insurance needs to protect you from others.
Here are the types of auto insurance coverage you can get to protect yourself and your passengers.
Uninsured Motorists Bodily Injury: If an uninsured or underinsured driver injures you or your passengers. I elected $300,000/$500,000 per person/per accident.
Medical Payments: Covers you or your passengers. If someone runs into you, or you run into someone else and have an injured passenger, you want to be able to provide financial coverage for any medical expenses they may incur. Hopefully, your passengers will not sue you if you don’t have such coverage, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. I have $100,000 per person.
Extended Benefits: Wage earner disability benefits, essential services disability benefits, death benefits. If an auto accident causes so much physical or mental pain that you cannot return to work, your extended benefits beyond your company’s short term disability benefits will kick in if you do not have long term disability insurance. I pay $5.10 for minor distribution of all three. I have my life insurance and disability insurance from work to cover 100%.
3) Insurance To Protect Your Vehicle
When I had a 12-year-old SUV, Moose, I elected not to get comprehensive insurance. My SUV was probably worth no more than $3,500. If I were to get in a car accident, the cost to fix whatever part of Moose would probably have cost at least $1,000. I was willing to just donate him to charity and consider buying another vehicle if he got totaled.
On the other hand, if you have a brand new car, a rare classic car, or an expensive ride you should consider getting comprehensive coverage.
Comprehensive, Collision, & More
Here's what's involved with comprehensive, collision, and other coverages to protect your vehicle.
Comprehensive: Covers damage caused by something other than another vehicle such as hail, theft, and collision with Bobo the bear. If you have a shiny new $50,000 BMW, you should get comprehensive insurance because you’ll want to fix it in an accident and you won’t want to pay thousands of dollars to do so. The more expensive your car and the more dependent on your car, the more you should consider getting comprehensive insurance.
Collision: Covers damage to your vehicle caused by impact with an object other than an animal. Gray area here, given this is what comprehensive is for. I declined coverage.
Uninsured Motorists Property Damage: If an uninsured driver damages your vehicle. If an uninsured motorist damages Moose, I will just ask him to pay for everything, otherwise, I will introduce him to my cousin Viktor, who will break his legs for non-payment.
Towing & Labor: Provides emergency roadside assistance such as towing, flat tire, jump start, and delivery of gas. This service is a life saver! I’ve run out of gas, had an older car not start before for some reason, blew out my tire, left my lights on, and each time needed roadside assistance. Takes no more than 45 minutes to get everything fixed. I recommend everybody get towing & labor. I pay only $5.88 and I can’t believe it’s not at least $100 every 6 months.
Related: Car Insurance Basics For Dummies: Comprehensive To Collision
Great Auto Insurance Is Imperative
As a car enthusiast, I’m always shopping around for auto insurance every time I trade vehicles. Having reliable coverage is a must. It's crazy how many close calls I see every single day even in my quiet residential neighborhood.
There are too many distracted drivers on the road today. Even though there are laws in place to help prevent distracted drivers, I still see people using their phones all the time. All it takes is one second to get into an accident you never saw coming.
Thus, it's imperative to have a vehicle that keeps you safe and an auto insurance policy that has your back.
Related: Determining How Much Car Insurance You Really Need
Allstate Review Recap
In my extensive research for this Allstate review 2023, I consistently found that Allstate provides some of the best rates with the best policies online.
They’ve got a great mobile app that’s user friendly, a long track record, extensive auto insurance policies, plus a large selection of additional products.
Getting a no obligation quote is a cinch. Allstate also offers over 10,000 local insurance agents and 24-hour claim service. This is vital because you just never know when you might get into an accident. Find out how much you can save with Allstate today.
About the Author: Sam worked in finance for 13 years. He received his undergraduate degree in Economics from The College of William & Mary and got his MBA from UC Berkeley. In 2012, Sam was able to retire at the age of 34 largely due to his investments that now generate roughly $300,000 a year in passive income. He spends time playing tennis, taking care of his family, and writing online to help others achieve financial freedom too.
Sam started Financial Samurai in 2009 and has grown it to be one of the largest independently owned personal finance sites in the world. You can sign up for his free private newsletter here.