Erie Car Insurance Review [2025]: Low Rates, 12 States

Erie Insurance offers car, home, life, business, and many other types of insurance. It's the 13th-largest auto insurance issuer in the U.S., according to the NAIC 2023 Market Share Report, putting it just behind Auto-Owners and not far behind Nationwide in terms of size. For the purposes of this Erie Insurance review, I'm going to cover the company's car insurance, including its coverage options, costs, who it's best for, and more.

I'd recommend Erie car insurance to anyone who lives in an eligible state and can find the coverage they need with the company. In addition to a stellar history of customer satisfaction, one of the insurer's key advantages over other companies is its low rates, which beat much of the competition. However, I wouldn't recommend Erie to anyone looking for a telematics-based safe driving discount or the best mobile app possible.

How we evaluate products

FinanceBuzz researches a number of factors in each auto insurance provider to create our reviews. These factors include cost and discounts, complaints and customer satisfaction, coverage, and ease of use. We also gather information from sources such as Insurify, J.D. Power, AM Best, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), and the Better Business Bureau to ensure we provide the most useful information to our readers.

Erie pros and cons

How much does Erie cost?

Erie's costs for car insurance are, across the board, quite a bit lower than the national average. Even for those with imperfections in their records and less experienced drivers, customers are more likely to save money on car insurance by choosing Erie than they would with the average company. These are also some of the lowest rates I've seen from an insurer, which is why I feel Erie is one of the best car insurance companies for affordability. In fact, Erie's premiums are comparable to GEICO's, which is known for its lower costs.

Now, look at how Erie's costs compare to national average rates for liability-only car insurance, and you'll see what I mean about the company being competitive.

Is Erie car insurance good?

Company ratings:

• AM Best: A+ (Superior)
• J.D. Power claims satisfaction: 733
• BBB: A+
• NAIC complaints: 0.82

Each of the above ratings and scores reflects well on Erie, and I want to take a moment to break down what each one might mean for consumers. First, you've got the AM Best rating. AM Best is an independent research agency that takes a deep dive into a company's financial viability, and a grade of A+ for Financial Strength means that it feels Erie is more than capable of fulfilling its insurance obligations to consumers. Erie has received this rating for many years in a row. A++ is the best grade possible, and some car insurance companies (like GEICO and State Farm) have received it.

In the J.D. Power 2024 U.S. Auto Claims Satisfaction Study, Erie ranked as the third-best insurer. This put it above Nationwide, State Farm, GEICO, Allstate, Progressive, and well above the study's average of 697. It also received the highest grade possible from the BBB, indicating that the bureau has found the company to have exceptionally high standards for ethics and trust with regard to complaints.

Erie also has a below-average NAIC Company Complaint Index. This index measures how many complaints a given company receives in proportion to its market share, and 1.00 is considered the baseline. For Erie to have an index below this means that customers are filing complaints with their state departments about this company less often than they are for other companies. For insurance, this is an important measure of customer satisfaction.

Discounts

Erie has a respectable number of discounts that is somewhat above average. This is not the most discounts I've seen, but it's far from the least.

It's worth noting that Erie provides a few unique discounts, including a Youthful Driver discount for single drivers under 21 who live at home with their parents, First Accident Forgiveness, and an optional diminishing deductible (meaning you can save on your deductible costs each year you go without filing a claim).

Here's how Erie's discounts compare to those offered by two of the company's competitors.

Discount	Does Erie have it?	Progressive	Auto-Owners
Loyalty	No	No	No
Multi-policy/bundling	Yes	Yes	Yes
Multiple vehicle	Yes	Yes	Yes
Airbag	Yes	No	Yes
Anti-lock brakes	Yes	No	Yes
Anti-theft	Yes	Yes (select states)	Yes
Safe driver	No	Yes	No
Good student	No	Yes	Yes
Away-from-home student	Yes	Yes	Yes
New car	No	No	No
Pay in full	Yes	Yes	Yes
Automatic payments	No	Yes	Yes
GAP insurance	No	No	No
Senior	No	No	No
Military	No	No	No
Defensive driving course	No	Yes (select states)	Yes

YourTurn

YourTurn by Erie Insurance is a telematics program that monitors your driving via an app with the goal of helping you drive more safely. It calculates a driving score for you over a two-week testing period. If your score is good enough, you might be eligible to receive "monetary rewards" that can be redeemed for gift cards and charitable donations.

But unlike other telematics programs that may help you save money on car insurance, YourTurn is mainly designed to give you feedback on your driving and won't lead directly to discounts on your policy. For instance, it'll assess how often you use your phone when driving and factor this into your score, but it won't automatically shave a percentage off of your rate if you get a great score. Instead, you might earn rewards.

Coverage

For a somewhat smaller insurer, Erie's coverage options are pretty extensive. Not only can you purchase standard auto insurance policies like the liability and PIP coverage required by many states, but you can also choose from less common types of coverage add-ons like new car replacement and rental car reimbursement.

Erie offers about as many or more coverage options compared to companies larger than itself, such as State Farm, but not quite as many as some, like Allstate. I would like to see an option for medical payments coverage from Erie.

Erie offers the following types of coverage:

• Liability protection for bodily injury
• Liability protection for property damage
• Personal injury protection (PIP)
• Uninsured or underinsured motorist insurance
• Collision insurance
• Comprehensive insurance
• Roadside assistance
• New car replacement
• Rental car reimbursement
• Motorcycle insurance
• Boat insurance
• Recreational vehicle insurance
• Classic car insurance

Learn more: How Much Car Insurance Do I Need?

Erie vs. competitors

As mentioned, Erie beats a lot of its competitors on prices. This is somewhat unusual for a regional company, and I'm impressed with how transparent Erie is about its policies and premiums. Some companies that operate with this many independent agents and in so few states will require you to visit an office or at least call an agent to learn more about insurance options and pricing, but Erie is more like the biggest insurers in the way it discloses information.

It isn't featured in the table below, but Erie is generally closest in price to Allstate and State Farm for liability-only insurance.

However, I'm going to compare the company to Progressive to give you an alternative from a national carrier that performs very similarly in customer satisfaction, and to Auto-Owners because this company is slightly larger by market share but operates in more states.

Erie vs. Progressive

Progressive differs from Erie not only for being nationally available but also for being the second-largest insurer in the U.S. by market share. But its breadth doesn't translate to lower average rates in Progressive's case, and you can probably expect to pay more if you choose this insurer.

That said, Progressive does well with customer satisfaction, too, for the most part. It's ranked similarly to Erie by AM Best and the BBB, and its NAIC index is comparable. However, its claim satisfaction score with J.D. Power is much lower, so Erie has the edge here.

Compared to Erie, Progressive offers more convenience because you can file claims through the company's well-rated mobile app.

Erie vs. Auto-Owners

Auto-Owners is similar to Erie in size by market share, and the two provide comparable coverage options, too. But Auto-Owners provides even lower average rates than Erie and operates in 26 states to Erie's 12, so it could potentially be a better option for some people. However, you can't get a quote online with Auto-Owners and will need to find an agent, which can take a little more time and make comparing your options more difficult.

The one I'd recommend for you between Erie and Auto-Owners depends on where you live and what coverage you need. For instance, Erie provides car insurance policies in New York, while Auto-Owners does not; and Auto-Owners provides policies in Michigan, while Erie does not.

FAQs

Bottom line

Erie car insurance, available in 12 states and Washington, D.C., provides a good amount of coverage with below-average rates. The company is rated exceptionally well for customer satisfaction by many agencies, and I appreciate that you can get support from independent agents. I wish policies were offered in more states, but this is a good company to consider if you're looking for low rates on the coverage you need, as long as you see the type of policy you're after.