Esurance Car Insurance is owned by Allstate Car Insurance. The esurance side of Allstate comprises over 2,500 associates in 16 offices located throughout the country. This is a car insurance company that is geared more towards being virtual rather than having a physical presence with many office locations. The savings, in turn, are passed along to you.
Allstate History
If you’re not familiar with Allstate, let me introduce this car insurance company. Allstate is probably best known for its car insurance policies, despite being one of the giants in providing a variety of financial services.
This insurance company has gained a massive reach thanks to the wide array of products it offers and the number of local agents available to provide service. It is a good choice for those who are looking for a one-stop insurance company.
Meanwhile, formerly known as Esurance Insurance Services, INC., its esurance brand offers automotive insurance services to nearly 90 percent of the United States population comprising 34 states.
The company was originally incorporated in June of 1998 as Silicon Sierra, INC by co-founders Jean-Bernard Duler, Jeffrey Goodman, Huyen Bui, David Griffin, and CHarles Wallace in a $5.5 Million dollar venture. Another $34 dollars was invested in October of 1999.
After offering personal auto insurance to just 3 states initially, esurance was one of the first insurance companies to give side-by-side quote comparisons. In May of 2011, Allstate auto insurance announced the acquisition of esurance for $1 billion.
Company Reputation
While Esurance has an A+ rating through the Better Business Bureau, they do have quite a sketchy reputation online. A quick search for “Esurance review” yields several consumer complaint websites.
After a detailed analysis of these complaints, we determined the largest issue is response time after filing a claim and reaching a customer service rep via telephone.
Several other complaints also indicated that Esurance would not cover engine damage due to a collision. While we are unable to verify the accuracy of those reports, several complaints appeared on both ConsumerAffairs.com and RifOffReport.com.
Esurance Auto Insurance
There is a vast auto insurance coverage type to choose from with Esurance. If you want, you can access every piece of information that you’ll need by simply using their digital online platform. Policyholders can conveniently file claims online by visiting their website or by downloading their app. Everything can be completed right at the comfort of your home.
For reference, here is the types of auto insurance coverage that Esurance provides:
- Collision coverage to help you pay for repair or for a possible replacement of your car (or any vehicle in case it’s damaged or destroyed in an accident that usually involves another car).
- Comprehensive coverage that can help you pay to replace or repair your car or vehicle in the unfortunate event that it gets stolen or damaged in any non-collision incident.
- Other coverage includes emergency roadside assistance, rental car, loan/lease gap, and medical payments. You can also count on their injury protection and liabilities that involve bodily injury, property damage, uninsured motorist bodily injury, uninsured or underinsured motorist property damage, and rideshare coverage for drivers of drive-share companies like Uber and Lyft.
Pros of esurance
Esurance Car Insurance is mostly known for its lower rates and online tools.
Because of their “virtual” nature, you can do almost everything online like file a claim, pay your bill, and even print out your proof of insurance. All the more reason why some reviews often refer to the company as the ideal insurance provider for tech-savvy drivers.
To be more specific, their website is pretty easy to navigate and they have this coverage calculator that you can use to compare quotes from multiple companies as well.
If you are budget-minded and don’t mind the virtual nature of Esurance, this is a great choice.
Drivers who want to bundle their coverage will truly appreciate this company as it offers basic and transparent policies with many customization options. These bundles are also very affordable.
Cons of Esurance
While Esurance Car Insurance is owned by Allstate Car Insurance, they operate mostly independently of each other.
As a consumer, you will not deal with Allstate agents and your policy will be completely exclusive to Esurance terms and conditions.
Allstate Car Insurance is known to be a bit more “in-depth” with their insurance coverage, too. But you won’t get that personal feeling with Esurance.
Instead of having a personal agent you can go see in person, you will communicate online or via telephone with whichever customer service rep is available (they may or may not be located in North America). Response times can be slow and there are generally more hoops to jump through to complete your claim.
If you are not residing in an area where Esurance does not do business in yet, then you won’t have access to their company information as well because their website won’t be available in your location! Too bad, because I just said how simple and easy it is to navigate their website, right?
Finally, you may not get some of the freebies that come with other insurance companies like roadside assistance.
With all that said, I guess you’ll understand if I remind you again to be sure to read your policy carefully and compare it to other quotes before signing anything with Esurance.
Who is esurance best suited for
As mentioned above, Esurance is best for those on a budget and/or those who enjoy the virtual nature of Esurance.
If you are looking for a company that gives you personalized service with an agent you can physically go talk to, this is not the car insurance company for you.
However, if you’d like to take advantage of some savings by giving up the premium customer service, Esurance is a very viable option.