Esurance Review: Cheaper Auto Insurance For All

EsuranceĀ is one of the premier online discount insurers owned by industry giant Allstate. Although Esurance offers insurance products in auto, homeowners, renters, and motorcycle, its main bread and butter products are for auto and motorcycle.

Given everything has gone online, it behooves you to check for no obligation quotes online with a company like Esurance. They consistently offer some of the lowest auto insurance rates today.

If you are a good driver with no prior traffic violations over the past 1-5 years, depending on your state, you may qualify for even further auto insurance discounts. Further, if you add a renters or homeowners policy to their auto policy and complete a defensive driving course, extra discounts may apply

As an auto insurance policy holder, your main concerns are price and whether the insurance carrier will be around to pay a claim. Esurance checks both boxes. Let's dive into some details.

Esurance Full Review

As a driver, you want to focus on the road without worrying about your insurance coverage. Esurance is an excellent auto insurance company that is best known for its stand-out mobile and online tools. For instance, you can use the mobile app to put in a claim with a photo of the damage.

You can get an estimate almost immediately, and you can often get paid in just one day. You can also get on a video chat with an appraiser, who may be able to approve your payment right then.

Esurance Auto Insurance Review

If you have a car in the middle of being repaired, you can use RepairView on the app to get updates on your carā€™s status. Or you can use the appā€™s What If calculator to see how certain events might raise or lower your rate.

Esurance is also known for just having an intuitive interface and an easy-to-operate app. This appeals to those among us, including yours truly, who prefer to handle everything via web rather than over the phone or in person.

Esurance Offers A Variety Of Insurance Products

Of course, Esurance also offers aĀ variety of insurance products, which are highly customizable. Their CoverageMyWay program lets you personalize your coverage options. Besides the standard liability, comprehensive, and collision service, Esurance offers add-ons like:

  • Loan/lease gap coverage
  • Emergency roadside assistance coverage
  • Rental car coverage
  • Uninsured/underinsured motorist liability coverage
  • Medical payments coverage
  • Personal injury protection coverage
  • Custom equipment coverage
  • Pay Per Mile insurance (but only for Oregon residents)

Overall, you can probably find the policy you need with Esurance if youā€™re like most vehicle owners.

Pros Of Esurance

  • They offer excellent technology, including great mobile tools that make filing claims quick and easy.
  • They offer aĀ variety of discounts, including multi-policy discounts, emergency roadside assistance discounts, online shopper discounts, and claim-free discounts.
  • The company generally has good ratings from J.D. Power and Company.
  • Theyā€™re backed by Allstate, which has excellent financial ratings and overall stability.

Cons Of Esurance

  • Their prices may be higher than some other budget insurers, such as Progressive and GEICO. But overall, they are quote competitive.

Auto Insurance Fundamentals

Now that you've got a great understanding of Esurance, let's go over some auto insurance fundamentals to help you figure out how much auto insurance and what type of auto insurance you need.

There are three things you want to protect with auto insurance in case of an accident: 1) You and your passengers, 2) Your assets, and 3) Your vehicle. Most people would choose protecting you and your passengers as the most important purpose of auto insurance. I would too. However, it all depends on the premiums and how wealthy you are.

1) Insurance To Protect Your Financial Resources

Letā€™s say you are multi-millionaire who employs 10,000 people who depend on your existence to put food on the table. If you go down, so does the company. Protecting your financial assets might be more important than protecting you and your passengers sad to say!

If you nod off and accidentally kill several pedestrians on the sidewalk, you can be sure you will be in a legal battle for multi-millions of dollars. You will be all over the news and you wonā€™t be able to focus on running your company.

If you did the same thing and were poor, the victims or family of the deceased canā€™t squeeze blood from stone. As a result, you care less about protecting your own financial resources since you have little, and care more about protecting the passengers in your car. Of course, if you are the multi-millionaire, then you can afford to care for everything and get the most protection possible.

Bodily Injury Liability: If you hurt someone in an auto accident, the insurance company will pay a certain amount.  In my case, I elected for $300,000/$500,000 per person/per accident.

Property Damage Liability: If you damage someone elseā€™s property in an auto accident, the insurance co will pay a certain amount. My insurance company pays $100,000 per accident to property.

2) Insurance To Protect You And Your Passengers

You can be the most careful driver in the world, but that is only half of the equation. If someone else is careless, they can easily crash into you and cause damage. Even though auto insurance is mandatory for all drivers, many drivers still do not have auto insurance! As a result, your insurance needs to protect you from others.

Uninsured Motorists Bodily Injury: If an uninsured or underinsured driver injures you or your passengers. I elected $300,000/$500,000 per person/per accident.

Medical Payments: Covers you or your passengers. If someone runs into you, or you run into someone else and have an injured passenger, you want to be able to provide financial coverage for any medical expenses they may incur. Hopefully, your passengers will not sue you if you donā€™t have such coverage, but itā€™s better to be safe than sorry. I have $100,000 per person.

Extended Benefits: Wage earner disability benefits, essential services disability benefits, death benefits. If an auto accident causes so much physical or mental pain that you cannot return to work, your extended benefits beyond your companyā€™s short term disability benefits will kick in if you do not have long term disability insurance. I pay $5.10 for minor distribution of all three. I have my life insurance and disability insurance from work to cover 100%.

3) Insurance To Protect Your Vehicle

One of the most wonderful things about driving a 12 year old vehicle is that it doesnā€™t cost much to replace. Moose, my SUV is probably worth no more than $3,500.

If I were to get in a car accident, the cost to fix whatever part of Moose will probably cost at least $1,000. At this point, itā€™s better to just donate him to charity and consider buying another vehicle. As a result, I do not have comprehensive insurance.

Comprehensive: Covers damage caused by something other than another vehicle such as hail, theft, and collision with Bobo the bear. If you have a shiny new $50,000 BMW, you should get comprehensive insurance because youā€™ll want to fix it in an accident and you wonā€™t want to pay thousands of dollars to do so. The more expensive your car and the more dependent on your car, the more you should consider getting comprehensive insurance.

Collision: Covers damage to your vehicle caused by impact with an object other than an animal. Gray area here, given this is what comprehensive is for. I declined coverage.

Uninsured Motorists Property Damage: If an uninsured driver damages your vehicle. If an uninsured motorist damages Moose, I will just ask him to pay for everything, otherwise, I will introduce him to my cousin Viktor, who will break his legs for non-payment.

Towing & Labor: Provides emergency roadside assistance such as towing, flat tire, jump start, and delivery of gas. This service is a life saver! Iā€™ve run out of gas, had an older car not start before for some reason, blew out my tire, left my lights on, and each time needed roadside assistance. Takes no more than 45 minutes to get everything fixed. I recommend everybody get towing & labor. I pay only $5.88 and I canā€™t believe itā€™s not at least $100 every 6 months.

Great Auto Insurance Is Imperative

As a car enthusiast, I'm always shopping around for auto insurance every time I trade vehicles. I've consistently found that Esurance and Allstate provide some of the best rates with the best policies online.

They've got a great mobile app that's user friendly. Getting a no obligation quote is a cinch. And they offer 24-hour claim service, vital because you never know when you might get into an accident.

About the Author: Sam worked in finance for 13 years. He received his undergraduate degree in Economics from The College of William & Mary and got his MBA from UC Berkeley. In 2012, Sam was able to retire at the age of 34 largely due to his investments that now generate roughly $250,000 a year in passive income. He spends time playing tennis, taking care of his family, and writing online to help others achieve financial freedom too.

Sam started Financial Samurai in 2009 and has grown it to be one of the largest independently owned personal finance sites in the world. You can sign up for his free private newsletter here.

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Esurance
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