Pros and cons: Amica
✓ Very high claims satisfaction
✓ Receives few complaints
✓ Lots of discounts available
✕ Higher rates than GEICO
Pros and cons: GEICO
✓ Cheaper rates than Amica
✓ Plenty of discounts
✓ Available in all 50 states
✕ Fewer coverage add-ons than Amica
Amica vs. GEICO: Which is better?
Amica and GEICO are two of the top car insurance companies, but Amica has a better customer experience, while GEICO is better if low rates are most important to you.
Since they’re so close, the best way to decide whether Amica or GEICO is better for you is to compare quotes from both companies. You might even find out that neither company is right for you.
Category | Amica | GEICO |
|---|---|---|
Price and discounts | 4.2 | 4.7 |
Financial strength | 3.6 | 5.0 |
Customer experience | 4.9 | 4.1 |
Coverage options | 3.6 | 2.8 |
Overall Policygenius rating | 4.7 | 4.7 |
We scored these categories on a five-point scale.
Why you can trust our insurance company comparisons
We calculated our expert ratings by considering cost, availability, customer experience and satisfaction, and coverage options. Our own Policygenius agents — who have years of experience working with real car insurance shoppers — also weighed in.
To come up with our company ratings, we accumulated company data for price, financial strength, customer experience, and coverage options. We assigned a weight to each category based on research and insight from our own licensed insurance editors and operations specialists. Here’s how our ratings categories break down:
Price (35%): We gave each company a score based on its average rate and available discounts.
Financial strength (25%): We gave point values based on each company’s A.M. Best Financial Strength Rating, S&P credit rating, and Moody’s credit rating.
Customer experience (20%): We scored companies based on how they performed on the most recent J.D. Power Auto Claims Satisfaction and Digital Experience surveys. This category also considers a company's complaint index, which is provided by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.
Coverage options (20%): We scored companies for the number of coverage types offered and the quality of these options. Less common endorsements earned higher scores compared to add-ons that most companies offer.
Next, we converted each company’s raw values to the same standardized “z-score” and “t-score.” Finally, using a weighted average formula, we combined each category rating and converted it to a 5-point scale to calculate each company's overall Policygenius rating.
How we calculated coverage cost:
We determined the average costs for full-coverage car insurance from each company using rate data provided by Quadrant Information Services.
These rates were from every ZIP code across every state, along with the District of Columbia. Rates were for a 30-year-old male driver with a 2017 Toyota Camry. Our sample full-coverage policy included the following limits:
Bodily injury liability: $50,000 per person, $100,000 per accident
Property damage liability: $50,000 per accident
Uninsured/underinsured motorist: $50,000 per person, $100,000 per accident
Comprehensive: $500 deductible
Collision: $500 deductible
Some carriers may be represented by affiliates or subsidiaries. Rates provided are a sample of costs. Your actual quotes may differ.
Is Amica or GEICO cheaper?
GEICO has much cheaper car insurance than Amica. On average, the cost of car insurance from GEICO is $1,192 per year for someone with a clean record compared to $1,574 per year from Amica. Both companies are cheaper than the national average of $1,638 per year.
Amica | GEICO | |
|---|---|---|
Clean record | $1,574 | $1,192 |
Policygenius cost rating | 4.2 | 4.7 |
GEICO is cheaper for high-risk drivers
GEICO is cheaper for high-risk drivers who have an accident or driving violation on their records. GEICO is also much cheaper for drivers who have a poor credit score – $2,417 cheaper per year than Amica.
Amica | GEICO | |
|---|---|---|
No-fault accident | $1,614 | $1,265 |
$2,507 | $2,071 | |
$5,369 | $3,047 | |
$2,850 | $2,119 | |
$4,302 | $1,885 |
GEICO is cheaper across multiple age groups
GEICO has cheaper rates than Amica for drivers from five different age groups. Both companies have similar rates for drivers ages 25 to 45, but GEICO is much cheaper than Amica for senior drivers (over 65 age) and newly licensed drivers.
Driver age | Amica | GEICO |
|---|---|---|
$4,601 | $2,773 | |
$1,719 | $1,316 | |
$1,589 | $1,217 | |
$1,518 | $1,194 | |
65-year-old | $2,895 | $1,110 |
Costs shown are for a 16-year-old driver who is added to an existing policy.
Does Amica or GEICO have better discounts?
Amica has more car insurance discounts than GEICO, including discounts for homeowners and young drivers who complete a driving safety class. Amica also has a legacy discount for young drivers whose parents also have Amica car insurance.
But GEICO still has a few discounts that Amica doesn't. For example, federal employees and members of the military may qualify for discounted rates from GEICO.
Discount | Amica | GEICO |
|---|---|---|
Affinity discount | No | Yes |
Yes | No | |
Bundling discount | Yes | Yes |
Yes | No | |
Yes | Yes | |
Yes | No | |
Emergency deployment discount | No | Yes |
Federal employee discount | No | Yes |
Yes | Yes | |
Homeowner discount | Yes | No |
Legacy insured discount | Yes | No |
No | Yes | |
Multi-car discount | Yes | Yes |
New vehicle discount | No | Yes |
Yes | No | |
Pay-in-full discount | Yes | No |
Yes | No | |
Yes | Yes | |
Secure vehicle discount | Yes | Yes |
Young driver training discount | Yes | No |
Comparing usage-based insurance from Amica and GEICO
Both Amica and GEICO offer usage-based discounts through an app or plug-in device. Using your phone, driving at high speeds, and high braking will negatively affect your score with Amica’s StreetSmart and GEICO’s DriveEasy.
Although StreetSmart and DriveEasy are similar, we think that Amica has a better usage-based discount because your rate won’t go up if you get a low score.
UBI highlights | StreetSmart by Amica | DriveEasy by GEICO |
|---|---|---|
Maximum discount | Up to 20% | Up to 25% |
Savings just for signing up | Yes | Yes |
Length of trial period | 91 days | Not listed |
Can it raise your rates? | No | Yes |
Is Amica or GEICO better for customer experience?
Amica is the better car insurance company for customer experience ratings. Amica scored the highest of any company on J.D. Power’s 2022 Claims Satisfaction Study, while GEICO scored close to average.
Fewer Amica policyholders file complaints about their insurance company compared to GEICO customers, according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). The average complaint index is 1.0, but Amica has a complaint index of just 0.66.
Customer service rating | Amica | GEICO |
|---|---|---|
J.D. Power Claims Satisfaction score | 903 | 874 |
J.D. Power Digital Experience score | 702 | 700 |
NAIC Complaint index | 0.66 | 1.07 |
Policygenius customer experience rating | 4.9 | 4.1 |
GEICO has better financial strength than Amica
GEICO has some of the strongest financial strength ratings of any car insurance company. This means that GEICO’s future stability and its ability to pay claims are both rated positively by financial institutions.
That’s why GEICO has the strongest financial strength rating we could give.
Financial strength scores | Amica | GEICO |
|---|---|---|
A.M. Best Financial Strength Rating | A+ | A++ |
S&P credit rating | Not available | AA+ |
Moody's credit rating | Not available | Aa1 |
Policygenius financial strength rating | 4.3 | 5.0 |
Is Amica or GEICO better for complete coverage?
Amica is the better company for drivers who want to add extra types of car insurance coverage to a basic policy. Both Amica and GEICO offer rental car reimbursement and roadside assistance, but Amica has new car replacement and gap insurance.
Gap insurance is especially important if you lease your car or financed it with a loan. It covers the difference between what your comprehensive or collision coverage pays out after your car is totaled and the remainder of your loan or lease. If you don’t own your car outright, finding a company like Amica that offers gap insurance may be very important.
Coverage options | Amica | GEICO |
|---|---|---|
Yes | No | |
Yes | No | |
Mechanical breakdown | No | Yes |
Yes | No | |
Yes | Yes | |
Yes | Yes | |
Policygenius coverage rating | 3.6 | 2.8 |
Are there better companies than Amica and GEICO?
Only three companies have higher Policygenius scores than Amica or GEICO: State Farm, Erie, and USAA. Of these, only State Farm is available to the general public in most states. So, even though they have better composite scores than Amica and GEICO, they won’t necessarily be better for you.
Frequently asked questions
Is Amica or GEICO better at paying claims?
Amica has a higher claims satisfaction rating than GEICO, which means that policyholders are satisfied by Amica’s entire claims process (which includes service and settlement). That said, GEICO still has an average claims satisfaction rating.
Is Amica more popular than GEICO?
GEICO is much more popular than Amica. GEICO is the second largest car insurance company in the country by market share, while Amica ranks 23rd.
Why is GEICO so much cheaper than Amica?
GEICO only sells car insurance through its own agents, not through third-parties. This helps keep GEICO’s operating costs lower than other companies, which allows the company to charge lower rates.
Will Amica and GEICO raise your rates after 6 months?
Insurance companies can increase your car insurance after six months (or whenever your policy is up for renewal). This could happen after your driving record changes, but it can also happen as a result of market-wide rate increases.
