American Family Auto Insurance Review

Last Updated on November 9, 2023

American Family Insurance, also known as AmFam, is a property and casualty insurance company based in Madison, Wisconsin. Founded in 1927, the company employs 11,300+ people across the United States while covering a range of drivers, homeowners, business owners, and more. American Family also maintains regional corporate headquarters in Minnesota, Missouri, Colorado, and Ohio. In addition to offering auto insurance, American Family also offers home insurance, commercial insurance, life insurance, and health insurance.

Key Takeaways:

• American Family Insurance is a large and reputable insurance company that offers auto, home, life, and other types of insurance in 19 states.
• American Family Insurance has various auto insurance coverage options and discounts to suit different drivers’ needs and budgets.
• American Family Insurance has excellent ratings from industry experts and customers for its claims satisfaction, customer service, and pricing.
• American Family Insurance is not available in all states and may not be the cheapest option for some drivers, especially those with poor driving records.

Types of Auto Insurance Coverage Offered by American Family

American Family offers similar auto insurance products and services as other large companies. Here are all of the types of auto insurance coverage available through American Family:

Liability Coverage: Virtually every state requires liability insurance coverage, which covers damage you cause to other drivers, their property, and their passengers during an accident. You can buy bodily injury and property damage liability through American Family. Some policyholders buy insurance that meets minimum insurance requirements in their state, while others buy insurance that exceeds minimum requirements.

Collision Coverage: American Family offers collision coverage to protect drivers’ vehicles after an accident. If you caused an accident, then you can make a claim through AmFam’s collision coverage to repair or replace your damaged vehicle.

Comprehensive Coverage: Comprehensive coverage covers accidents that do not involve a collision with another vehicle, including hail damage, fire damage, flooding, vandalism, theft, and collisions with animals. It’s optional in all states.

Medical Expense Coverage: American Family offers medical expense coverage. Also known as medical payments coverage, medical expense coverage helps cover medical care for you and your passengers, regardless of fault.

Personal Injury Protection Coverage: Required in some states, personal injury protection reimburses you and your passengers for lost income, medical costs, and childcare costs after an accident, regardless of fault.

Gap Coverage: Gap coverage covers the gap between what your car is worth and what you owe on your vehicle. In total loss accidents involving newer vehicles, gap coverage could save you thousands.

Underinsured Motorist Protection Coverage: Underinsured motorist protection coverage protects you against drivers who have too little car insurance. Some drivers carry minimum liability insurance, for example, that can leave you underinsured in an accident.

Rental Reimbursement Coverage: If your ordinary vehicle cannot be driven after an accident and you need to rent a replacement vehicle, then American Family can cover this cost via its rental reimbursement coverage.

Uninsured Motorist Protection Coverage: If you are involved in a hit and run, or if the other driver does not have insurance, then you can make a claim through your uninsured motorist protection coverage. AmFam’s uninsured motorist protection coverage also covers you as a pedestrian injured in a motor vehicle accident.

Emergency Road Service Coverage: You can request roadside assistance at any time via the MyAmFam app after adding roadside assistance to your policy. You make a call or request through the app, an AmFam dispatches a technician to your location to get you back on the road.

Accidental Death and Dismemberment Coverage: If your vehicle has been struck, then accidental death and dismemberment coverage will pay for certain injuries regardless of fault.

Windshield/Glass Coverage: If you have comprehensive coverage with AmFam, windshield repairs and replacements will be covered. If you live in Kentucky, Florida, or South Carolina, you will not have to pay a deductible for windshield repairs and replacements.

What Makes American Family’s Auto Insurance Unique?

American Family differentiates itself from the competition with strong claims satisfaction ratings, a wide range of discounts, and other unique perks, including:

MyAmFam App: All major car insurance companies have a mobile app. American Family is no exception. The company offers the MyAmFam app, which is well-rated by iPhone and Android users. The app currently has a 4.8-star rating on the app stores.

Discounts for Young Volunteers: American Family offers an extensive range of discounts, including unique options like its young volunteer discount. If you’re under 25 and have completed 40 hours of volunteer work per year for a non-profit, then you could save money on your auto insurance policy.

Extensive Range of Insurance Products: AmFam offers a wide range of insurance products beyond just auto insurance, including business insurance, farm and ranch insurance, life insurance, umbrella insurance, home insurance, and more.

Not Available in All States: Although American Family is one of the nation’s largest insurance companies, they do not offer auto insurance in all states. As of 2022, American Family sells auto insurance in 19 states, including Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin.

Strong Ratings from J.D. Power: Industry ratings organization J.D. Power provides top scores to J.D. Power based on its pricing, availability, and claims satisfaction. J.D. Power polls policyholders who have recently made a claim. American Family was the #1 rated company in the Southwest subregion and scored top marks in multiple other subregions. High J.D. Power ratings mean customers are generally happy with the claims process from American Family.

Dreams Restored Program (DRP): American Family maintains a network of trusted repair shops across the United States called the Dreams Restored Program. You can take advantage of this network to complete repairs more quickly. Plus, AmFam offers a lifetime workmanship guarantee on any repairs performed at DRP auto shops.

Accident Forgiveness: You can add AmFam’s accident forgiveness to your policy for a few dollars per month. American Family also offers free accident forgiveness to drivers that have years of claims-free driving.

How Much Are American Family’s Auto Insurance Rates?

American Family tends to offer average pricing compared to competitors, although the company also tends to provide more service and better claims satisfaction for that price.

According to our research, the average American Family policyholder in the United States pays around $1,439 per year for full coverage car insurance, which is slightly lower than the nationwide average of $1,450 per year.

American Family’s auto insurance rates vary widely based on driving history, state insurance laws, and other factors. Drivers with a DUI or serious at-fault accident on their driving record, for example, tend to pay particularly high rates with AmFam.

American Family’s Auto Insurance Discounts

American Family makes it easy to save money by offering an extensive range of discounts. The company offers multi-vehicle discounts, loyalty discounts, early-bird discounts, and more.

Here are some of the ways to save with American Family:

Multi-Vehicle: If you insure multiple vehicles with American Family, then you may qualify for reduced auto insurance premiums.

Loyalty: AmFam offers loyalty discounts. If you have been an AmFam customer for a while, then you may receive a discount. The longer you’ve been with the company, the more you’ll save.

Early Bird: AmFam offers early bird discounts. If you have an active policy with another carrier and receive a quote from AmFam at least seven days before the policy goes into effect, then you could get a discount. This discount varies by state.

Multi-Product Discount: AmFam offers bundling discounts, letting you save money by bundling home, auto, and other policies together into a single account.

Steer Into Savings: AmFam offers a “steer into savings” discount as a reward for switching to the company from a competing provider. If switching to AmFam from a competitor, you could get a discount.

Auto Safety Equipment Discount: Vehicles equipped with factory-installed airbags could receive a discount.

Defensive Driver Discounts: Drivers over 55 in certain states could receive a defensive driver discount for completing an approved defensive driving course.

Good Driving: If you have had no accidents, violations, or claims in the last one to five years, then you could qualify for reduced premiums.

KnowYourDrive: AmFam offers a drive tracking program called KnowYourDrive. You share your driving behavior with AmFam, and AmFam uses that behavior to calculate customized rates. Safe drivers can save up to 20% with KnowYourDrive.

Low Mileage: If you drive fewer than 7,500 miles per year, then you could qualify for additional savings. In comparison, the average American drives around 14,000 miles per year.

Good Student: High school and college students with good grades could receive a discount on insurance premiums.

TeenSafeDriver: AmFam’s TeenSafeDriver program lets your teen make better choices behind the wheel, and it’s free to auto insurance policyholders with a teenage driver. You can get a discount just for enrolling in the program.

Away at School: If you or your child is a student under 25 living more than 100 miles from home while attending college, and their car is parked at home, then you could qualify for AmFam’s away at school discount.

Young Volunteer: AmFam is one of the few insurance companies to offer a young volunteer discount. If you’re under 25 and complete 40 hours of volunteer work per year for a non-profit, then AmFam could lower your premiums.

Generational Loyalty: If a parent is an American Family customer, then you could save via AmFam’s generational loyalty discount.

AutoPay: Sign up for automatic payments with American Family to save time, stamps, checks, and money. The company offers a discount for customers who enroll in automatic funds transfer (AFT) or electronic recurring payments.

Customer Full Pay: The American Family full pay discount saves you time when you pay your policy in full at the time of purchase.

Paperless: AmFam provides discounts to customers who sign up for paperless billing, which includes electronic delivery of policy documents.

Pros and Cons of American Family

American Family tends to have good ratings from industry analysts and policyholders alike. Here are some of the pros and cons of buying auto insurance from American Family:

Pros

• Strong claims satisfaction scores
• Top rankings from J.D. Power, including the #1 rating in the Southwest subregion for the second consecutive year
• Fewer customer complaints than similarly-sized competitors
• Extensive selection of discounts
• Wide range of coverage options

Cons

• Not available in all states
• Not the cheapest option in all states, especially for drivers with at-fault incidents or DUIs

American Family Reviews: What Do Customers Have to Say?

American Family has average to good reviews from major industry media websites and review aggregator sites. The company has a 2.6-star rating on WalletHub with 1,370+ reviews, for example, along with a 4.0 rating on Consumer Affairs with 600+ reviews.

Industry analysts give similar marks to American Family. ValuePenguin gave American Family a rating of 3.5 stars out of 5, for example, while US News awarded the company 4.0 stars out of 5. NerdWallet gave American Family a perfect score of 5.0 stars out of 5 for auto insurance, with the only drawback being that American Family is not available in all states.

Forbes also rated American Family as one of America’s best insurance companies of 2022.

Overall, reviewers are happy with American Family auto insurance and how it works, and the company has average to good reviews for claims satisfaction, pricing, and customer service.

A.M. Best awarded American Family an A (Excellent) rating, which is the third-highest possible rating. A.M. Best affirmed that rating in 2022 for the 20th consecutive year. An A (Excellent) is a good rating, although many of American Family’s larger competitors have stronger ratings, including A+ (Superior).

J.D. Power polls policyholders from the largest insurance companies in each region of the United States, then compiles rankings based on the results. Although American Family was not ranked in all subregions, the company scored high marks from J.D. Power.

American Family was ranked third in the Southwest subregion with a rating of 833 points out of 1,000. American Family also scored above-average scores in California and the North Central region, with average scores in the Central and Northwest regions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Final Word on American Family

American Family provides strong-rated car insurance products in 19 states. The company scores top marks from J.D. Power and other industry organizations for its claims satisfaction, pricing, and services. Backed by nearly a century of experience, American Family continues to offer strong car insurance products to drivers across its 19 covered states.

For more information, please contact American Family today.

American Family Contact Information
Company Address	6000 American Parkway Madison, WI 53783
Customer Service Phone Number	1-800-692-6326
Website URL	https://www.amfam.com/
Online Contact URL	https://consumer-affairs.amfam.com/
States Available	Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin