What is the best car insurance company in the US right now?
Answers vary from one ask to the next, and the apps can search the web and remember the person asking. That is why we ask each question 90 times without web search and 36 times with it.
Amica writes 0.4% of America's car insurance. Ask AI who to trust with a claim and it says Amica.
State Farm and Progressive write 37% between them and come first in 32% of answers without web search and 22% with it. USAA comes first most often, but only because we asked a question from military families. Without it, State Farm leads.
United States
Car insurance
Amica writes 0.4% of America's car insurance. Ask AI who to trust with a claim and it says Amica.
Measured without web search. The search run comes in the next edition.
The brands AI names first most often, plus any this finding is about.
Named firstNamed at all
| Brand | Named first | Named at all |
|---|---|---|
| Amica | 98% | |
| USAA | 88% | |
| Auto-Owners | 71% | |
| Allstate | 41% | |
| State Farm | 61% | |
| Erie | 60% |
90 answers across ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude together, October 2026. These are AI answers, not market shares. The assistants differ.
Safeco: Brand retired by Liberty Mutual in April 2026.
By assistant, and on your own buyers' questions: that is a Position Map. See a Position Map
From memory · All eight questions
| Brand | Named first | Named at all |
|---|---|---|
| USAA | 51% | |
| State Farm | 75% | |
| Progressive | 76% | |
| GEICO | 65% | |
| Amica | 21% | |
| Erie | 25% | |
| Lemonade | 6% | |
| Nationwide | 21% | |
| The General | 15% | |
| Allstate | 41% | |
| Auto-Owners | 25% | |
| Root | 2% | |
| Farm Bureau | 5% | |
| Dairyland | 9% | |
| Travelers | 16% | |
| AAA | 3% | |
| Farmers | 11% | |
| Bristol West | 9% | |
| Liberty Mutual | 9% | |
| Direct Auto | 7% | |
| American Family | 4% | |
| The Hartford | 3% | |
| Kemper | 2% | |
| Chubb | 1% | |
| 1% | ||
| Mercury | 1% | |
| Shelter | <1% |
720 answers across ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude together, October 2026. These are AI answers, not market shares. The three assistants share a favorite on 3 of 8 questions.
With web search · All eight questions
| Brand | Named first | Named at all |
|---|---|---|
| USAA | 55% | |
| State Farm | 56% | |
| Amica | 25% | |
| GEICO | 62% | |
| Erie | 36% | |
| Nationwide | 37% | |
| Progressive | 54% | |
| Travelers | 34% | |
| Allstate | 27% | |
| American Family | 13% | |
| Auto-Owners | 19% | |
| The General | 11% | |
| Dairyland | 10% | |
| Farm Bureau | 8% | |
| Mercury | 3% | |
| Lemonade | 6% | |
| Kemper | 3% | |
| Farmers | 12% | |
| Direct Auto | 6% | |
| MAPFRE | 1% | |
| Liberty Mutual | 11% | |
| AAA | 8% | |
| Bristol West | 5% | |
| Country Financial | 4% | |
| Root | 2% | |
| 1% | ||
| Shelter | 1% | |
| The Hartford | 1% | |
| Hanover | <1% | |
| Chubb | <1% |
287 answers across ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude together, October 2026. These are AI answers, not market shares. The three assistants share a favorite on 3 of 8 questions.
Who sells, and who AI names first.
By market size
By AI's first picks
- 1State Farm18.64%
- 2Progressive18.6%
- 3Berkshire Hathaway (GEICO)11.56%
- 4Allstate10.15%
- 5USAA6.19%
- 6Amica0.44%
- 1USAA26%
- 2State Farm17%
- 3Progressive15%
- 4GEICO9%
- 5Amica8%
- 10Allstate3%
Places count every brand AI names, so the numbers can jump. "=" is a tie. "–" means AI never names it first.
Share of US private passenger auto premiums, 2025: State Farm 18.6%, Progressive 18.6%, Berkshire Hathaway (GEICO) 11.6%, Allstate 10.2%, USAA 6.2%, Amica 0.4%.
National Association of Insurance Commissioners, filings received by March 18, 2026.
What it means.
In a purchase built on trust, the name a driver hears first may be one they have barely heard of. Allstate, the fourth-biggest group, comes first in 2 to 3% of answers, and Liberty Mutual never does. Decades of advertising built those names with drivers, and that has not carried over into the answer. With web search Progressive falls from 15% to 6%, so one company can look safe in one mode and exposed in the other.
The eight questions.
Cheapest car insurance that's still decent?
Which car insurance company is best at actually paying claims?
Best car insurance for a family adding a teenage driver?
Without web search
State FarmAll three agree.
With web search
State FarmThe assistants differ.
Best car insurance after a DUI?
Without web search
ProgressiveThe assistants differ.
With web search
ProgressiveThe assistants differ.
Best car insurance for military members and veterans?
Best car insurance for people who barely drive?
Without web search
LemonadeThe assistants differ.
With web search
NationwideThe assistants differ.
Is it cheaper to bundle home and car insurance with the same company, and which one gives the best bundle?
Without web search
State FarmThe assistants differ.
With web search
State FarmThe assistants differ.
Is your company missing or measured under the wrong name? Tell us. We correct facts at any time. Results change only in the next edition, for everyone.
Edition 1, Q4 2026. Next edition: January 2027.
Eight buying questions per market, each asked in six wordings of ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude: five times without web search (720 answers per market, 14,400 in all) and twice with it (288 per market, 4,600 in all, in sixteen of the twenty markets so far). Measured 25 to 30 October 2026. Kesterley.
Your own questions, not ours. Position Map: where you stand on the questions your buyers ask, why AI puts a rival first, and what to do first. From $2,500. Two weeks.
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