Nationwide vs. Farmers: Compare insurance companies in 2024

Why you can trust Insure.com

Quality Verified

At Insure.com, we are committed to providing the timely, accurate and expert information consumers need to make smart insurance decisions. All our content is written and reviewed by industry professionals and insurance experts. Our team carefully vets our rate data to ensure we only provide reliable and up-to-date insurance pricing. We follow the highest editorial standards. Our content is based solely on objective research and data gathering. We maintain strict editorial independence to ensure unbiased coverage of the insurance industry.

Our recommendation: Nationwide vs. Farmers: Which is better?

Nationwide offers cheaper rates than Farmers. But drivers with Alaska, Hawaii, Louisiana and Massachusetts won’t be able to buy car insurance policies from Nationwide. 

In contrast, Farmers works with drivers in every state. Although the company tends to have higher premiums than Nationwide, a significant number of Farmers customers are happy to recommend the experience. If you want a more personalized touch, Farmers could be a good fit. Read more about these two companies and their insurance offerings below.

Rating comparison for Nationwide vs. Farmers car insurance

Drivers looking for cheaper rates might find what they are looking for through Nationwide. But if you want a more personalized experience, Farmers could be the right fit. While Nationwide earned a higher NAIC rating, both companies have the same AM Best score.

The table below offers more insight into how these two insurance companies stack up against each other. Note that numerical ratings are on a scale of 0-5 with 5 being the highest possible score.

Nationwide vs. Farmers: Pros and cons

Every insurance company has advantages and disadvantages. Below is a closer look at the pros and cons to consider with these companies. 

Nationwide vs. Farmers: Which provides the cheapest car insurance rates?

Nationwide offers cheaper rates than Farmers for state minimum, liability only (limits of 50/100/50) and full coverage car insurance (with limits of 100/300/100). For example, the average annual cost of a full-coverage policy with Nationwide is $1,548. But with Farmers, the average annual cost is $2,387. 

The table below highlights the average costs of different policy levels for each company. Liability-only indicates higher than state minimum coverage limits of 50/100/50.

Nationwide vs. Farmers: Car insurance rates by age and gender

Nationwide offers average rates lower than Farmers for every age group and gender. But the difference in rates is especially pronounced for teen drivers. 

Teen males pay an average annual rate of $5,685 with Nationwide. But with Farmers, male teen drivers pay $3,000 more with a rate of $8,668 annually.

In general, women tend to enjoy lower car insurance rates than men across all age groups. But the gap shrinks as you age. The table below illustrates how different age groups and genders can expect different rates across both companies. 

Nationwide vs. Farmers: Rates by credit score

Drivers with good credit scores often pay less for insurance than drivers with poor credit scores. That trend holds true with both Farmers and Nationwide, but Farmers penalizes drivers significantly for poor credit.

The difference is most noticeable for drivers with poor credit. For example, poor credit drivers with Nationwide pay an average annual rate of $2,259. In contrast, poor credit drivers with Farmers pay an annual average of $4,790. 

The table below highlights how average rates vary by credit score at Farmers and Geico. 

Nationwide vs. Farmers: Rates for different violations

When it comes to getting a good car insurance rate, maintaining a clean driving record is critical. If you receive a moving violation, that tends to drive your car insurance costs higher. Nationwide has cheaper rates for driving violations in every single category than Farmers.

“High-risk behaviors such as speeding, driving under the influence (DUI/DWI) and at-fault accidents typically lead to higher premiums,” says John Crist, founder of Prestizia Insurance. 

The table below shows how a violation can push average rates higher at each insurer. However, the impact of a violation varies based on the insurer. 

Nationwide vs. Farmers: Customer satisfaction comparison

Farmers customers are more satisfied than Nationwide customers. Farmers earned a higher survey score of 84% satisfied customers compared to Nationwide’s 77% satisfied customers out of more than 1,750 insurance consumers surveyed in the fall of 2023. 

Nationwide vs. Farmers: Car insurance discount availability comparison

Drivers looking to save more can find a range of discounts available through both Nationwide and Farmers. As you shop around, don’t forget to see if you qualify for a discount. 

The table below highlights the different discounts you can expect to find with each company. 

Nationwide vs. Farmers: Additional insurance availability comparison

Nationwide and Farmers are both major insurance companies, which means they each offer a range of other insurance products. For example, both companies also offer homeowners insurance, renters insurance and boat insurance. If you choose to purchase multiple policies through the same insurer, you might be able to score a bundling discount. 

You can find a breakdown of which other policy types this company offers in the table below. 

Resources & Methodology

Methodology

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.

• Survey: 40% of the total score (10% customer satisfaction, 10% recommended, 10% renewal rate and 10% claims handling)
• Annual premium: 20% of the total score
• AM Best: 25% of the total score
• NAIC: 15% of the total score

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.

Sarah Sharkey

Contributing Researcher

 

|

 . .

Sarah Sharkey is a personal finance writer with a master’s degree in management from the Hough School of Business at the University of Florida. She enjoys helping readers find money solutions that work. She has written for numerous personal-finance publications including Money Under 30 and The College Investor.