Travelers Auto Insurance Review

Last Updated on October 15, 2023

Travelers, also known as The Travelers Companies, Inc., is an insurance company headquartered in New York City. Founded all the way back in 1853 in St. Paul, Minnesota, Travelers continues to have a significant presence across the United States and around the world. In fact, Travelers is the ninth-largest car insurance company in the United States and the second-largest commercial property casualty insurance company in the country. Travelers employs over 30,000 people around the world.

Types of Auto Insurance Coverage Offered by Travelers

Travelers offers an extensive selection of commercial and personal auto insurance products, including full coverage options and minimum liability plans. Here are the types of auto insurance coverage offered by Travelers:

Liability Coverage: Travelers offers liability coverage, which includes both bodily injury and property damage liability coverage. It’s required in virtually every state. Travelers’ liability coverage covers damage you cause to other people and property in an at-fault collision.

Roadside Assistance: You can add roadside assistance to your Travelers auto insurance policy for a few extra dollars per month. If you find yourself stranded due to unexpected car trouble, like a dead car battery, then you can request service through Travelers’ roadside assistance network.

Loan and Lease Gap Insurance: Travelers offers gap insurance, also known as loan and lease insurance, to help protect you when financing or leasing your vehicle. If your vehicle is totaled (declared a total loss), then Travelers will cover the gap between the actual cash value of your vehicle and the amount remaining on your loan or lease.

Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Coverage: Travelers offers uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage to protect you against drivers with no insurance and too little insurance. These coverages also apply to hit-and-run incidents. And, if you are hit by an uninsured driver as a pedestrian, you can make a claim.

Comprehensive Coverage: Optional in all states, comprehensive coverage covers damage to your vehicle that occurs outside of collisions, including theft, vandalism, collisions with animals, storm damage, and certain natural disasters.

Collision Coverage: Also optional in all states, collision coverage covers damage to your vehicle from another car or object, including collisions, vehicle rollovers, and other damages. Although this coverage is optional, most lenders and dealerships require you to carry collision coverage on your vehicle.

Medical Payments Coverage: Also known as MedPay, medical payments coverage protects you and any passengers in your vehicle who may be injured in an accident, regardless of fault. It also protects you as a pedestrian, covering certain medical bills, lost income costs, and other expenses after an accident.

Personal Injury Protection (PIP): Required in a small number of states, personal injury protection covers certain medical expenses after an accident, regardless of fault. It’s also known as no-fault insurance.

Rental Coverage: Travelers provides rental coverage, also known as rental reimbursement or extended transportation expense coverage, for an added fee. If you have this coverage, Travelers covers the cost of renting a car if your car is damaged in a covered accident and cannot be driven for more than 24 hours.

New Car Replacement: Travelers is one of the few major insurance companies offering new car replacement, which gives you extra compensation in a total loss accident. If you total your new car in the first five years, then Travelers pays to replace your vehicle with a brand new car of the same make and model.

Rideshare Coverage: Travelers offers rideshare coverage in Colorado and Illinois. It protects drivers who drive for transportation network companies (TNCs) like Uber and Lyft. Travelers’ rideshare coverage fills in the gaps left by Uber and Lyft’s insurance, helping you stay protected at all times.

Named Non-Owner Insurance: If you need to buy liability coverage but do not own a vehicle, then you can buy named non-owner insurance through Travelers. This coverage is ideal for those who frequently rent vehicles, drive company cars and use those cars for personal purposes, borrow vehicles from other people, or use car-sharing services.

Full Glass Coverage: If you have full glass coverage through Travelers, you will be covered if your windshield needs replacing or repairing.

What Makes Travelers’ Auto Insurance Unique?

Travelers has several features, add-ons, options, and coverages that distinguish it from other providers, including:

IntelliDrive Program: IntelliDrive is a 90-day program that uses a smartphone app to track your driving habits. The app assigns a score based on how safely you drive. The safer you drive, the more you’ll save on car insurance.

New Car Replacement Insurance: Not all major car insurance companies offer new car replacement insurance. If your new car is involved in a total loss claim within the first few years of ownership, then Travelers will replace it with a brand new car of the same make and model.

Rideshare Insurance: Travelers offers rideshare insurance, although it’s only available in Illinois and Colorado.

Extensive Coverages, Customization Options, and Discounts: Like other large insurance companies, Travelers offers an extensive range of discounts, coverage options, and customizations. You can mix and match policies to meet your unique needs. Travelers also offers coverages we don’t see with all other providers, including non-owner insurance and gap insurance.

170+ Years of Experience: Travelers is one of the oldest major insurance companies in the United States. The company was founded in Saint Paul, Minnesota in 1853, giving them 170+ years of experience providing multiple types of insurance products. The company was originally known as St. Paul Fire & Marine, and has been known as The Travelers Companies since 2004.

How Much Are Travelers’ Auto Insurance Rates?

Travelers tends to charge higher prices than its competitors for car insurance. Travelers is not known as an affordable car insurance provider, and many Travelers policyholders pay higher rates than they would with competing companies.

According to our research, the average Travelers policyholder in the United States pays around $1,532 per year for full coverage car insurance, which is higher than the United States average of $1,450 per year.

However, Travelers’ premiums vary widely based on driving history, state insurance laws, ZIP code, and discounts. Some drivers pay significantly less than this average amount, while others pay significantly more.

Travelers’ Auto Insurance Discounts

Travelers offers a range of auto insurance discounts to help you save hundreds per year on premiums. Available auto insurance discounts from Travelers include:

IntelliDrive: IntelliDrive is a driver tracking program from Travelers to help you save money on car insurance. You download the IntelliDrive app, and the app tracks your driving habits for 90 days. Safe drivers with low-risk habits will save money, while high-risk drivers could face higher premiums.

Affinity Discounts: Travelers offers savings and benefits through its Travelers Affinity Auto & Home program. If you’re a member of a participating business, association, or credit union, then you could save money.

Good Student: Travelers offers good student discounts to policyholders or their dependents who are enrolled in high school or college and have a “B” average or better.

Student Away at School Discount: If you or one of your dependents goes to school at least 100 miles away from home and will not be driving a covered car, then you could qualify for a distant student discount.

Driver Training Discount: Travelers rewards young drivers for sharpening their driving skills by offering a driver training discount. If you have successfully completed an approved driver’s education course, then you could save money.

Early Quote Discount: If you’re new to Travelers and get an auto insurance quote before your current policy expires, then you could save money.

EFT, Pay in Full, and Good Payer Discounts: You could save money based on how you pay. Travelers offers discounts when paying premiums in full, paying with electronic funds transfer (EFT), and consistently paying your premiums on time.

New Car Discount: If you purchase a new car or own a car that is fewer than three years old, then you could qualify for a new car discount.

Safe Driver Discount: Travelers offers safe driving discounts to drivers with no accidents, violations, or major comprehensive claims over the past three to five years. If you have a clean driving record over the past three to five years, then you could save hundreds on car insurance.

Continuous Insurance Discount: If you have maintained car insurance continuously with no gaps, then you could save.

Hybrid and Electric Car Insurance Discount: Travelers offers hybrid and electric car insurance discounts as a reward for being an environmentally friendly driver.

Home Ownership Discount: You may receive a discount on car insurance just for owning a home or condo, even if you don’t insure it with Travelers.

Multi-Car Discount: Insuring multiple cars with Travelers can lead to a discount across all vehicles.

Multi-Policy Discount: Travelers let you save up to 13% by bundling home and auto insurance together under one account.

Pros and Cons of Travelers

Travelers offers several advantages and disadvantages over competitors, including:

Pros

  • Unique insurance products and services, including gap coverage and non-owner insurance
  • Accident forgiveness and minor violation forgiveness
  • Usage-based insurance programs like IntelliDrive to reward you for safe driving behavior
  • Competitive prices on some insurance products and services
  • Average ratings for claims satisfaction in many subregions and states

Cons

  • Higher prices than competing providers
  • Rideshare insurance only available in Colorado and Illinois
  • Smaller bundling discounts than competing providers (8% to 13% for bundling multiple policies together)
  • Below average ratings for claims satisfaction in some subregions and states

Travelers Reviews: What Do Customers Have to Say?

Travelers has strong reviews online from most industry analysts, ratings organizations, and customers. Generally, customers are satisfied with Travelers’ pricing, claims handling, and customer service. We’ll summarize some of Travelers’ reviews below.

Review aggregator websites have average to above-average scores for Travelers. US News, for example, has a 3.4 rating out of 5 for Travelers with 60+ votes, and WalletHub has a 2.5 star out of 5 rating for Travelers with 480+ votes.

Industry analysts are more favorable towards Travelers. Forbes gave Travelers a perfect 5-star rating in its 2022 review of the company, for example, while Motor1 awarded the company a rating of 4 out of 5. NerdWallet also gave Travelers a perfect score of 5 out of 5.

J.D. Power was less favorable towards Travelers. In the 2021 auto insurance rankings, J.D. Power rated Travelers below-average in most subregions. J.D. Power ranks insurance companies based on interviews with policyholders who have recently made claims. Travelers scored average, below average, or significantly below average in most subregions in the latest rankings. That indicates many customers were unsatisfied with the claims process, relative to other major insurance companies.

Travelers scored 792 out of 1,000 points in the Southwest subregion, for example, placing it 12th out of 12 major insurance companies in the region. Travelers also scored below-average in the Southeast, North Central, and New England subregions. However, Travelers scored average or just-below average ratings in other subregions.

Travelers has one of the strongest financial strength ratings in the insurance industry. A.M. Best, which assesses insurance companies based on their assets and liabilities, has awarded the company a financial strength rating (FSR) of A++ (Superior) based on its balance sheet strength, strong operating performance, favorable business profile, and appropriate risk management.

Travelers has an “A” rating from the Better Business Bureau, with an average rating of 1.11 stars out of 5 and 490 complaints in the last 3 years.

Overall, Travelers has average reviews from customers and strong reviews from industry analysts. Although some customers have had issues with claims handling, most reviewers agree Travelers offers comparable service to other large insurance companies.

Travelers Overview
A.M. Best RatingA++ (Superior)
Better Business Bureau RatingA
Consumer Reports Rating90
J.D. Power Claims Satisfaction Rating866
Moody's RatingAa2
S&P Rating‎AA
FitchAA
Market Share3.82%
Year Founded1853

Our Rating of Travelers Insurance

Founded in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in 1853, Travelers has 170 years of experience providing various types of insurance across the United States. Today, the multibillion-dollar corporation is headquartered in New York City and provides an extensive range of personal and commercial auto insurance products across the country. Travelers has competitive pricing and a diverse range of insurance products, although the company has received below-average ratings from J.D. Power in recent years.  

Quality of Coverage
Price
Claims Satisfaction
Financial Strength
Customer Reviews

Summary

Travelers is one of the strongest insurance companies in the industry based on its financial strength, although the company has average-to-below-average reviews in other areas. J.D. Power recently ranked Travelers below average in most subregions, for example, among major insurance companies. However, Travelers gets strong marks from industry review organizations and has fewer complaints than expected to the NAIC.  

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Final Word on Travelers Auto Insurance

Travelers is one of the oldest and most established insurance companies in the United States. Today, after nearly 170 years of operation, Travelers continues to offer a diverse range of insurance products across the United States. Although it has average-to-below-average reviews from J.D. Power and other rating organizations, Travelers offers reasonably-priced insurance products and services that get you on the road safely and effectively. If you are interested in insuring your vehicle with Travelers, contact them today.

Travelers Insurance Company Info
Address385 Washington Street
St. Paul, MN 55102
Customer Service Number(800) 842-5075
Claims Number(800) 252-4633
Websitehttps://www.travelers.com/