Progressive Review

Monday, December 2nd

2024 Auto Insurance Plan Reviews

Progressive

• Immediate online quotes
• Save by bundling home and auto
• Pick Your Price tool
• Easy-to-understand coverage information

The heart of Progressive's business model, as you may be able to guess from their company name, is progress. They aim to offer unwavering care and unparalleled coverage for customers whether it's for their vehicles, homes, or businesses. Progressive was founded in 1937 and within the last few years, they became the second-largest auto insurer in the U.S. market. They have over 27 million policies in force and have well over 50 billion dollars in net written premiums. There's definitely a reason why this company has garnered so much attention and recognition over the years.

Starts off personal

So is Progressive really all it's cracked up to be? Their commercials are compelling, that's for sure. But aside from their marketing and efforts to make their name known, are they really "an insurance company you can rely on” as their name suggests? To find out if their rates are any good, you can start by inputting your zip code to their "Quote and Compare” tool. Next you'll need to add your name, email address, and home address, and tell them all about your vehicle(s). You'll also have to add your gender, marital status, level of education, and other demographic-related information (which mostly allows them to store up data and information on customers, unfortunately), and even your social security number if you're willing.

3 package options

If you want to bundle auto and home insurance through Progressive, it's possible you'll get a discount. If not, you can skip this step and within seconds you'll get three quotes from Progressive. They made it look like they were going to give us a quote and compare it with other companies, but by the end, the only quote or information came directly from Progressive. They offer a 6-month policy in either the Basic, Choice, or Recommended package. Basic is the cheapest (for us a total of $362 if we paid the 6 months in full), Choice is the middle option ($458 for 6 months if we paid in full), and the Recommended choice is the most expensive ($1,968 if we paid in full).

Higher payments = more coverage

The differences in the price ranges from Progressive are in the policy details. The more you pay monthly, the more coverage you're going to have. The only way to get comprehensive collision, rental, or roadside coverage is to go with the Recommended plan. Progressive clearly lays out what's covered with each package so that you can see the differences among them.

Name your price tool

Progressive has a "Name Your Price Tool” that gives you a sliding scale so you can adjust to what you would ideally want your monthly payments to be. Then you'll see your policy change and how it affects your coverage. This allows you to stay within a range you're comfortable with and clearly see what you are gaining or losing by doing so.

Unhappy customers

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) has awarded Progressive a "B” rating. This is definitely not as high as we'd like it to be, but it's not terrible either. In the last 3 years alone, Progressive has closed over 5,280 customer complaints through the BBB. Third-party ratings of this company are quite frightening, but this is often the case when disgruntled customers who have been in an accident take to the internet. However, instances of Progressive randomly canceling people's policies, claims taking forever to process or being denied, and surprise bills are something to take into consideration.

May be difficult to work with

Most people who have insurance coverage and aren't actively needing it won't be posting reviews about Progressive online. Surely not every customer is angry with Progressive, but they do seem to give people the runaround a lot of times. From a company that positions itself to be so reputable and affordable, we wish they could get a grip on their customer service and even improve their Better Business Bureau rating. We like how straightforward their website is, so if they could just have better follow-through with their service, this would truly be a great company. If you find that they quote you way lower than what you're already spending, it may be worth reading all the fine details and switching to Progressive. However, we can't confidently recommend them as one of the easiest auto insurance companies to work with.