Amica Auto Insurance Review

Introduction

Amica, which stands for the Automobile Mutual Insurance Company of America, was founded in 1907 in Rhode Island. It grew slowly, and by 1956 it also started offering homeowners insurance policies, along with marine and personal liability coverage.

Today, it’s one of the most well-known insurance providers in the U.S.

But, with so many car insurance providers in the country, it can be difficult to determine whether you should select Amica Auto Insurance as your preferred car insurance provider.  

In this article, we review Amica and compare them to other auto insurance providers to help you gain some perspective. This will assist you in deciding whether Amica is the right provider for you and whether it offers the best protection for your vehicle. 

Benefits and Limitations

Before we start with our more detailed review, let’s have a quick look at the overall pros and cons of Amica insurance: 

Benefits of Amica car insurance

• Save 25% if you have another insurance product through Amica.

• Submit and track claims online.

• Identity fraud monitoring is available as an add-on.

• Incredible ratings for customer service and claims satisfaction. 

Limitations of Amica car insurance

• Expensive compared to other car insurance providers.

• Amica is not available in Hawaii. 

Source: Pexels

Amica Car Insurance Coverage and Additional Coverage

If you’d like to drive a car in the U.S., you will have to take out basic car insurance before you get behind the wheel. This applies to the majority of states—with Mississippi, New Hampshire, and Virginia having slightly different rules.

Amica Auto Insurance offers two main insurance options, as well as a list of add-ons. This is what they have to offer: 

1. Liability coverage

Liability coverage includes the bare minimum insurance and it’s a legal requirement if you want to drive on U.S. soil. It’s also known as third-party cover because it will cover someone else’s costs that you’re responsible for. Through Amica Auto Insurance, liability coverage may include the following:

• Bodily injury liability: This covers the medical costs of a third party if you’re responsible for an accident. However, this doesn’t include your passengers. For example, imagine you skip a red light, then crash into another car, and both the other driver and your passenger have head injuries. This cover will step in and pay for the other driver–but not your passenger.

• Property damage: If you damage anyone’s property with your car, then this cover will settle the bill. For example, if you drive into someone’s yard and damage their fence, your liability insurance will pay for repairing it. However, it won’t pay for the damage to your headlights and bumper. This will have to be settled by you out of pocket.

Source: Pexels

2. Additional coverage

Besides being covered for liability, you can also sign up for Amica’s full coverage. This is not a legal requirement for you to drive on our roads. However, it may still be a prerequisite on your credit agreement if you have vehicle finance. Full cover may include any of the following:

• Collision coverage: If you’re involved in an accident, such as hitting a stationary object, driving into another car, or if another car drives into you, this will cover the cost of your repairs. It’s estimated that 73% of drivers include this in their auto coverage.

• Comprehensive coverage: This will cover the cost of unfortunate circumstances, such as theft, fire, and vandalism, that cause damage to your car. This also protects your vehicle during floods, animal accidents, falling rocks, and debris that may chip your windshield. To give you an idea of its popularity, this option is selected by around 78% of drivers in the U.S.

• Uninsured or underinsured motorist bodily injury: If you’re not responsible for an accident, but the other driver’s insurance isn’t sufficient, then this insurance will step in and help you pay your medical bills.

• Uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage: If your car was damaged by a driver who doesn’t have insurance, or isn’t thoroughly insured, then this will protect you from carrying the cost yourself. For example, if an uninsured driver bumps your car from behind because they’re looking at their cell phone, you will be able to cover yourself. But they will remain solely responsible for the $50 or $100 fine for their transgression. 

• Personal injury protection: Besides covering the costs of third parties, this will make sure that you and your passengers are also taken care of. It will cover the necessary medical bills, lost wages from being unable to work, and funeral expenses. 

• Roadside assistance: It’s frustrating when your car breaks down next to the highway or gets stuck in the snow when you’re already late for work. This will help you get back on the road by offering a range of services, such as delivering gas or towing your car to a convenient spot.

• Auto or loan lease coverage: If you’re still paying off your car and it gets totaled, then this cover will pay the difference that you still owe. For example, imagine you bought a car for $10,000 on credit and you still have $4,000 to pay off before it’s officially yours. However, before you get there, your car is totaled. Luckily, Amica Auto Insurance will pay the remaining $4,000.

3. Platinum Choice auto add-ons

Amica insurance also offers extra cover. This isn’t necessary, but it can be extremely useful if you’ve been in an accident or damaged your windscreen. The following options can be selected as a whole or as individual add-ons to your base car insurance:

• New car replacement coverage: If your car is irreparably damaged, this additional cover will ensure that you receive a brand-new car. However, this only applies if your car is less than a year old and it’s done less than 15,000 miles.

• Rental car coverage: If your car needs to be repaired after an incident that your base insurance agreed to cover, you will be able to rent a similar vehicle until the repairs are complete. You have a maximum of $5,000 to spend on a rental car.

• Glass repair or replacement: If one of your windows is smashed by an opportunistic criminal, you will be able to have it fixed with this add-on—glass coverage. But, unlike your base insurance, you won’t have to pay a deductible for this.

• Identity fraud monitoring: This will help you keep your personal information safe and protect you from identity theft. This is done by monitoring your credit files; you will have access to a fraud specialist if you’re found to be at risk.  

Source: Pexels

Amica Auto Insurance Rates

There are many factors that influence car insurance rates. This may include your age, gender, and driving history. Insurance companies have found that certain groups are statistically high- or low-risk.

It’s been found that, on average, men pay 1% more for their auto insurance, because they are considered a slightly higher risk than women. If you look at the table below, you can see that the 30-year-old male pays slightly more in each instance.

The table compares Amica rates with two competitors, and it outlines an average rate based on seven of the most popular insurance providers in the U.S.  

Reference: https://www.autoinsurance.org/companies/amica-car-insurance/

UPDATED: Oct 28, 2022

Amica Auto Insurance is the most expensive option in the majority of categories. However, there are some noteworthy outliers.

For example, if a 30-year-old man takes out full coverage with Amica, he will pay 21% more for full coverage compared to the average rates. He will also pay just under 1% more for minimum coverage. Similar percentages can be calculated for women.

Amica offers special rates for drivers who have had incidents on the road. The below table outlines how these rates compare to the national average.

Note that a different individual was assessed for the second table. It aims to demonstrate the degree to which Amica rates are different from the national average, rather than be compared to the previous table.

Reference:https://insurify.com/car-insurance/companies/amica/

UPDATED: Aug 2, 2022

Overall, however, Amica continues to be more expensive than the national average–even when considering drivers who have had run-ins with the law. 

Auto Insurance Discounts through Amica

If you’d like to benefit from discounts on your car insurance, then Amica has a range of options that you might qualify for. They are as follows: 

1. Discounts for bundling

Amica will offer you a discount if you bundle your insurance products, insure a number of vehicles, or have years of loyalty. They will also offer you a smaller premium if you are a homeowner. 

If you combine your car insurance with another product from Amica, such as life insurance, you may be able to save up to 30%. Similarly, if you own more than one vehicle, you could save up to 25%. 

2. Discounts for family

Amica will offer you and your loved ones discounted insurance if you’re willing to take extra driver training, maintain good grades, and be an “insurance legacy”.

To put this into practice—imagine you’re a 20-year-old student who maintains a B average, your parents have been with Amica for five consecutive years, and you’ve just completed an accredited driver training course—if you get your own policy from Amica, you may qualify for all of the above discounts. 

Source: Pexels

3. Discounts for how you drive

If you make it your mission to obey the rules of the road and it’s paid off, then you may be accident-free—and therefore claim-free—for over three years. If so, you will qualify for a discount to reward you for your good behavior. Note that you need at least 39 months of overall driving experience to qualify for this.

Besides this, you will also be able to save on your premium if you dedicate some time to taking a defensive driving course. This is an online course that you can complete at a discounted rate through SafetyServe.com (it usually costs $24.94). Once you’ve completed it, they will send your results to Amica. 

4. Discounts for what you drive

If you take action to make your car safer and reduce your risk of accidents, then Amica will reward you with discounts.

For example, imagine your car has an anti-theft device, such as a GPS tracking system, along with passive restraints such as airbags. On top of this, you also have adaptive headlights for low-light conditions, a forward collision warning that lets you know when you’re close to causing an accident, and electronic stability control, which helps you keep your balance on rocky terrain.

The combination of the above will give you several discounts if you have a policy with Amica. However, the installation and maintenance of these devices will fall on you. You should, therefore, compare the cost of this with how much you will ultimately save. 

Source: Pexels

5. Discounts for how you pay

If you can make Amica feel confident that you will cover your premiums, then they will offer you a discount. You can do this by settling your yearly insurance costs at once or signing up for AutoPay, which is essentially a debit order.

Amica is always conscious of the environment, so they will give you a discount for agreeing to receive your policy documents and bills electronically. However, to qualify for this, make sure you agree to receive both your bill and policy electronically. 

Amica Auto Insurance vs. Competitors

There are several organizations, such as J.D. Power and AM Best, that assess insurance providers so that customers can make an informed decision when they select a provider. The following table compares Amica’s results with its main competitors: 

Is Amica a Good Auto Insurer?

When it comes to assessing whether an auto insurance provider does a good job, it’s important to look at how they treat their customers. There are two main areas to consider: 

1. Customer service

If customers rarely complain about a car insurance provider, then their customer service is usually performing well. This is exactly the case with Amica. According to the National Complaint Index Report for 2021, Amica scored 0.92 compared to the national average of 1.

Therefore, Amica receives fewer customer complaints than the average auto insurance provider in the U.S. They aim to provide a combination of personal service and technology-driven assistance, and their customer service manages to satisfy their customers. 

2. Claims handling

Amica car insurance has one of the best reputations for claims handling. The table in the previous section shows that Amica received a score of 903 out of 1,000 in the J.D. Power study ranking (2021/22). This was 30 points above the average score. On top of this, they ranked as the best provider in theJ.D. Power 2022 U.S. Auto Claims Satisfaction Study.

This means that they are a top-rated insurance company when it comes to claims satisfaction. If you have a car insurance policy through them, then you can feel confident that your claim will be handled promptly and thoroughly. 

Key Takeaways

The most notable feature of Amica is its outstanding performance when it comes to customer service and claims satisfaction. Over the years, they have repeatedly performed well in both these categories and the majority of their customers have remained pleased with their service.

On the other hand, Amica has higher-than-average prices compared to other auto insurance companies. This is especially true if you’re considering more than just liability coverage.

However, Amica offers a range of discount opportunities, which may allow you to reduce your monthly premiums. If your circumstances match the available discount options, then this may be an affordable auto insurance company for you. 

Source: Pexels 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about Amica

Which insurance company is better, Geico or Amica?

Geico car insurance is often compared to Amica because they both perform well when it comes to customer service. Amica is, nonetheless, considered the leader in this category.

However, Geico offers lower insurance premiums compared to Amica. The national average annual rate for Geico is $1,047, while Amica costs $1,262. It’s, therefore, just over 17% more expensive to insure your car through Amica. 

Does Amica offer good rates?

Amica does not offer good rates compared to other auto car insurance companies. They have notoriously high premiums for the majority of categories. Amica is one of the top car insurance providers when it comes to customer service, but you’re unlikely to receive lower premiums with them. 

Is Amica a good auto insurance provider?

Amica is one of the best insurance providers for claims satisfaction. Even though you might pay more toward your monthly premium, you are likely to receive good service when you submit a claim. They do this by offering digital platforms that help you submit and track your claims, as well as personal assistance if you need any further help. Visit the Amica Auto Insurance website for more information.

Does Amica have a cancellation fee?

You can cancel your car insurance from Amica at any point. However, you will be charged a cancellation fee that can range between $25 and $30. You can cancel your insurance by calling Amica and letting them know of your intention.

Before you cancel your insurance, it's important to make sure that you have already reached out to a new car insurance provider. You will want to avoid gaps in your coverage, since this may lead to higher insurance premiums or unnecessary waiting periods at your new provider.

Source: Pexels

You can reach us at 1-888-912-2132 or send an email to Help@PolicyScout.com to get assistance from one of our trained consultants about your options