Secured with SHA-256 EncryptionGoAuto Insurance Review
GoAuto insurance is a family-oriented company that believes everyone should be able to get auto insurance at an affordable price.
Instead of spending money on commissioned agents, GoAuto sells directly to you. Online and phone agents walk consumers through the various coverage options without pushing expensive add-ons.
The company only sells auto insurance, providing an alternative to traditional insurance companies. This GoAuto insurance review offers the information you need to make an informed auto insurance decision.
In this review:
GoAuto Car Insurance
GoAuto offers online quotes for useful comparisons and accepts filed claims directly online.
To find out how much car insurance costs, you need to take into account different types of coverages such as the following offered by GoAuto:
- Collector Car Insurance: Collector car insurance is protection for vehicles used in car shows, selective afternoon drives, and other special events. It’s not for your primary vehicle. Antique, limited-edition, exotic, or military-grade vehicles can all be classified as collector cars.
- Bodily Injury Liability: This pays for injuries and death that may occur because of an accident caused by you or another person driving your car.
- Property Damage Liability: This coverage reimburses others for damage to another vehicle or property such as utility poles or fences in an at-fault accident.
- Collision: This optional coverage pays for damage to your car because of a crash with another vehicle or other object in an accident you cause. Collision policies also protect you from damage caused by driving incidents that are not accident-related, such as pothole damage.
- Comprehensive: This coverage option takes care of theft and damage due to a non-collision event, including most natural hazards.
Financial Strength
Many consumers forget to consider how a company’s financial strength and stability can impact its ability to pay existing and new claims. However, we consider it a vital part of any GoAuto insurance review.
Otherwise, there’s no way of telling if an insurer can pay its outstanding obligations should a large-scale disaster occur. The Insurance Information Institute provides essential information on how to research GoAuto insurance’s financial health from five independent rating companies.
A.M. Best and Moody’s Investors Services don’t have financial health scores for GoAuto insurance. However, it’s possible to obtain financial statement information from the NAIC website and to have an independent third-party review them for stability.
Use this GoAuto insurance review to help you decide if this company is the right choice for you and your family. If you have experienced eligibility difficulties with other insurers or just want to work with a smaller carrier, GoAuto insurance may be the best solution for your needs.
GoAuto Claims Satisfaction
After you buy a policy with a GoAuto representative, you may not communicate with the company again for a long time. In the case of a life event change, you may need to add another driver, new car, additional car, or teen drivers to your policy, or you may have random billing questions.
Otherwise, most drivers don’t speak with a GoAuto representative again unless they have to file a claim for an accident. Therefore, most GoAuto insurance reviews place a lot of emphasis on how the insurer deals with customers and their claims.
Market research firms such as J.D. Power rank insurers based on many factors, including three key performance indicator categories: communication, ease of service interaction, and timeliness of responses.
The J.D. Powers 2017 U.S. Auto Claims Satisfaction Study scores companies based on how it handles client claims. GoAuto insurance ratings are not included in the J.D. Powers study, but many other well-known companies are.
The company’s BBB profile shows that GoAuto is accredited by the organization, and the company received an A+ rating based on its handling of complaints. Customer reviews yield 1 out of 5 stars, but satisfied customers rarely take the time to drop in good reviews to BBB or any other comparable review site. It may be wise to ask family, neighbors, and friends if they have any positive or negative experiences associated with GoAuto.
GoAuto Pricing
All car insurance policy premiums depend on several factors such as your age, gender, driving history, and geographic location, as well as the make and model of your car.
The Maryland Insurance Administration has created a guide to allow drivers to compare insurance rates for several companies based on a multitude of scenarios. (For more information, read our “Cheap Car Insurance in Maryland“).
Here are two pulled from its publication, Auto Insurance, a Comprehensive Guide to Rates.
- Single male (age 18), driving a 2011 Toyota Camry with one at-fault accident 18 months ago, no driving violations, drives to work 30 miles round trip, 15,000 miles annually
- Single female (age 18), driving a 2011 Toyota Camry with one at-fault accident 18 months ago, no driving violations, drives to work 30 miles round trip, 15,000 miles annually
For scenario one, GoAuto insurance charges an annual premium of $3,726 in Baton Rouge for liability only, while Amica is the cheapest at $804. The highest premium for this scenario is by Imperial Fire & Casualty at $7,666.
For scenario two, GoAuto insurance charges an annual premium of $2,777 in Baton Rouge for liability only. The highest premium for this scenario is by Imperial Fire & Casualty at $5,183, while the lowest is by Auto Club at $589.
As you can see, premium rates vary widely by carrier and individual variables. That is why all potential insurance customers should obtain a variety of quotes before settling on an insurance provider.
GoAuto Customer Ratings
When drivers are looking for a new auto insurance company, one of the most common things to consider is how satisfied current customers are with their coverage.
Other elements to think about include whether the company communicates with customers online, in person, or via direct mail contacts, and how it manages complaints—these can all help determine how customers view the company going forward.
Satisfied customers will often recommend the insurer to a friend or family member, so keep in mind any recommendations you may have had, as well.
Though the most recent J.D. Power shopping study doesn’t include GoAuto insurance, other companies in the study are scored for their performance in these categories: policy offerings, price, the billing process, interaction, and claims. Remembering these categories during your research can be helpful.
Complaints
The Louisiana Department of Insurance provides Consumer Complaint Data for auto and other types of insurance. It’s searchable by company or pull the prior year’s report to see all available data. (For more information, read our “Cheapest Car Insurance in Louisiana“).
GoAuto holds 3.21 percent of the market share in the state and shows 74 complaints filed, for a ratio of 2.36 (calculated by complaints received vs. premiums written), more than double the median of 1.00, and the worst among the top 10 insurers reported. Of these, Allstate has the best complaint ratio, with 0.34 based on 25 complaints.
The National Association of Insurance Commission produces ratio reports based on the company’s market share of complaints vs. the company’s market share of premiums. GoAuto’s report shows a very high complaint ratio of 1.89, much higher than the national average of 1.00, with 25 complaints filed against the company (NAIC #10685) in 2017.