Nationwide, with affordable premiums, came in at No. 2 in Insure.com’s ranking of the Best Car Insurance Companies for national carriers in 2024 with 4.33 stars out of 5.
Laura Longero is a content strategist and communications leader with more than 15 years of experience in content development in journalism, marketing and communications for start-ups to global companies. She started her career as a reporter and editor and honed her journalistic skills at the USA Today Network, working in several roles, as well as managing content and writing at MoneyGeek and XYZ Media.
Why you can trust Insure.com
Quality Verified
Nationwide ranks well for its low premiums and high recommendation rate. Overall, Nationwide auto insurance is No. 2 among national carriers in Insure.com’s ranking of the Best car insurance companies for 2024 with 4.33 stars out of 5.
Nationwide’s rates are consistently lower than most of the companies in our ranking – although it isn’t among the best for discounts. But it’s a big company offering many policy options, making it a good choice for one-stop insurance shopping.
Below is Insure.com’s review of the company. It’s based on third-party metrics and an in-depth survey of insurance customers. Find the full methodology here, including an explanation of our survey scores.
AM Best's Financial Strength Rating is an independent opinion of an insurer's financial strength and ability to meet its ongoing insurance policy and contract obligations.
Nationwide has low rates compared to other companies in our survey with a national average of $129 a month. Its premiums are some of the lowest among the companies Insure ranked.
Nationwide wasn’t among the top companies for customer satisfaction. Still, 77% of Nationwide customers in our survey said they were satisfied or highly satisfied with the company. Erie and American Family topped this category.
Seventy-four percent of customers said they were satisfied or highly satisfied with the ease of getting service from Nationwide. Erie and State Farm were leaders in this category, which measures how easy it is for customers to access policy documents and services.
Seventy-six percent of Nationwide customers surveyed said they were satisfied with the company’s policy offerings. However, Erie, American Family and others received scores in the 80s.
Customers would overwhelmingly recommend Nationwide to their friends and relatives. In the survey, 87% of current customers said they’d recommend the company to others. Nationwide’s score was fairly average among the insurers we surveyed. Erie led this category.
Sixty-six percent of Nationwide customers gave the company high marks in this category. But no company had more than 86% of its customers giving it good marks here. Erie led this category.
Most Nationwide customers plan to renew with the company. Of the current customers in the survey, 84% said they would re-up with Nationwide. Erie led this category.
Almost seven in 10 customers gave Nationwide a high score for claims handling, However, many of the other companies we ranked performed better in this category. Allstate was the leader here.
Nationwide ranked highly for digital experience, which includes the company website and mobile app. But it should be noted that none of the insurance companies we ranked did particularly well here. Industry heavyweights Geico and Progressive ranked the highest in our survey.
Nationwide’s customers didn’t often say it was best for discounts. However, thanks to low base rates, Nationwide may still be a very affordable pick, even without many discounts. Auto Club of Southern California with the leader in this category.
Nationwide scored lower than competitors for bundling policies at 44%, tied with Progressive. However, this was another category where insurers didn’t do particularly well. Most companies had scores in the 40th to 60th percentile. Top scorer in this category was Erie (69%), followed by American Family (66%).
Nationwide was founded in 1926 and is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. The company has more than 26,000 employees and is in the top hundred of the Fortune 500 list. Nationwide owns many subsidiary companies across the insurance market and offers just about every type of insurance. Nationwide products are sold directly or through independent insurance agents.
Sources:
Nationwide. “Car insurance quotes by state.” Accessed February 2024.
Nationwide “Full coverage insurance.” Accessed February 2024.
Nationwide. “Auto insurance discounts.” Accessed February 2024.
Insure.com in the fall of 2023 surveyed more than 1,750 insurance consumers (1,459 people with auto insurance). Online market research company Slice MR conducted the survey. Respondents were asked to name their auto insurer and then grade it in the following categories – customer satisfaction, ease of service and policy offerings. The percentage of respondents who said they were satisfied or very satisfied with their insurer is presented in the results.
Respondents were then asked to pick their insurer’s top three attributes out of more than a dozen presented – trustworthiness, claims satisfaction, digital experience, discounts and best for auto/home bundling. The responses for each attribute were totaled and then divided by the number of each company’s customers who responded to that survey question to create a percentage.
Respondents were then asked if they would recommend their auto insurer to someone else and whether they would renew with their company. The percentage who said yes is presented in the results.
Finally, respondents were given the statement “I trust my insurance company” and asked if they strongly agreed, agreed, disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement. The percentage of those who said they agreed or strongly agreed is presented in the results.
The editors compiled the survey results and then selected – based on the number of survey responses – the top companies for further evaluation.
They then collected AM Best data, which measures financial strength, and National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ complaint data, which ranks a company by the number of customer complaints it receives. The Insure.com team identified the NAIC company code or codes that were the primary underwriting companies for each carrier and line of business using total annual premiums. The associated NAIC complaint index score was used in the calculations. If more than one underwriting company was identified for a line, the editors used a weighted average of the NAIC complaint index scores.
In addition, we also created star rankings for each company. Respondents were asked to pick their insurer’s top three attributes out of the more than the dozen presented, again including customer satisfaction and policy offerings. The number of responses for each attribute was totaled and then divided by the number of each company’s customers who responded to that survey question to create the star ranking.
The editors also collected insurance rate data from Quadrant Information Services.
With the help of Prof. David Marlett, Ph.D., Managing Director of the Brantley Risk and Insurance Center at Appalachian State University, the editors created a rating system to determine which insurance companies were best in each sector. For auto insurers, we took the following and gave each a weight.
Each insurer was awarded from half a star to 5 stars. No insurer in our star ranking received less than half a star and 5 stars was the most any insurer could receive.