Travelers vs. Nationwide: Compare insurance companies in 2024

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

Travelers and Nationwide are similar in many ways. Their premiums are similar and the percentage of satisfied customers is nearly identical. 

Travelers stands out for offering worthwhile bundling opportunities for customers who want to manage multiple insurance policies with a single insurer. Nationwide boasts a slightly higher customer satisfaction rating. Both companies exhibit robust financial stability. 

Rating comparison for Travelers vs. Nationwide car insurance

Travelers offers a great discount for drivers who want to bundle their car insurance with other insurance policies like homeowners or renters insurance. In addition to great bundling options, Travelers offers relatively low rates paired with a high customer satisfaction rating. 

Nationwide also offers relatively low rates and high customer satisfaction. However, the company doesn’t offer policies in Alaska, Hawaii, Louisiana or Massachusetts. 

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

Travelers vs. Nationwide: 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. 

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

Travelers and Nationwide have very similar rates. For example, the average cost of a state minimum coverage policy is $532 with Nationwide and $506 with Travelers. For a liability-only policy with limits of 50/100/50, drivers pay an average of $635 annually with Travelers and $651 annually with Nationwide. 

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

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

Travelers and Nationwide offer the same average rates for drivers in all age groups. Since average rates are so similar, it’s especially critical to get personal quotes to determine which company has the best rates for your situation.

Your gender can also significantly impact your car insurance costs in most states. Generally, men pay more for car insurance than their female counterparts. 

The table below illustrates how different age groups and genders can expect different rates from each company. 

Travelers vs. Nationwide: Rates by credit score

Drivers with good credit scores often pay less for insurance than those with poor ones. That trend holds true for both Travelers and Nationwide. However, not all states allow the use of credit scores to set rates: California, Hawaii, Michigan and Massachusetts do not.

Drivers with fair credit pay an average annual rate of $2,033 with Travelers. That’s significantly higher than the average of $1,792 that fair credit drivers pay with Nationwide. The discrepancy is even larger for drivers with poor credit.

The table below highlights how these insurance companies’ average rates vary by credit score. 

Travelers vs. Nationwide: Rates for different violations

Maintaining a clean driving record is critical to getting a good car insurance rate. Receiving a moving violation will push your car insurance costs higher. Travelers and Nationwide have comparable rates even with violations—for two speeding tickets, Travelers’ annual premium is $2,731, and Nationwide’s is $2,667. For a second DUI offense, the difference in the annual rate between Travelers and Nationwide is a single dollar.

“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 raise average rates at each insurer. The impact of a violation varies by insurer. 

Travelers vs. Nationwide: Customer satisfaction comparison

When it comes to customer satisfaction, Travelers and Nationwide have similar scores, although Nationwide came out on top. Nationwide beat Travelers with a survey score of 77% of satisfied customers. That’s six points higher than Travelers’ survey score of 71%, according to the 2024 Best Insurance Companies survey. 

Travelers vs. Nationwide: Car insurance discount availability comparison

Travelers and Nationwide each offer a range of discounts for drivers. While the types of discounts you qualify for will vary, it helps to see which discounts each company offers. For example, you could score a discount with Travelers for driving fewer days each week, but that’s not available with Nationwide. 

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

Travelers vs. Nationwide: Additional insurance availability comparison

As major insurance companies, Nationwide and Travelers each offer more types of insurance coverage. But the offerings available vary a bit. For example, you can get long-term care insurance quotes through Nationwide, while Travelers doesn’t offer that type of coverage. 

You can find a breakdown of each company’s other policy types 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

 

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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.