Best Car Insurance Companies for Discounts
Which company has the best car insurance discounts? Find out why Farmers, GEICO, and State Farm topped our list of best companies.
- Sean Canonica
- Updated March 8, 2024
Discounts are a great way to lower your premium. Every insurer has them, but the savings or number each offers differs significantly. We ranked the major providers based on the quality of their customer reward programs. Based on our research, Farmers is the best car insurance company for discounts.
Even though Farmers is our number one pick, it may not be right for you. This article will help you compare the major companies’ discounts so you can find the lowest priced coverage. If you’d like more insight into how each provider stacks up, be sure to read our article on the top overall providers of auto insurance.
Best Car Insurance Company for Discounts: Farmers
We found that Farmers is the best car insurance company for discounts, offering a total of 23 unique rewards on its website. This is far more than any other insurer. Many are very easy to qualify for with significant savings. Here’s why we think Farmers is the best:
More Rewards Than Any Other Company
This one is simple. Farmers offers more discounts than anyone else. There are a whopping total of 23 for you to choose from. Many of them are easy to qualify for, including one for paying your premium in advance and another for passive restraints when your car has airbags.
Owning a house gives you even more potential savings. You can qualify for both the homeowner and bundling discounts. Each can help you save plenty of cash on your premium.
Keep in mind that some Farmers’ discounts aren’t available in every state. Be sure to ask your Farmers agent about availability.
Savings for Young Drivers
Farmers recognizes that new and young drivers pay more for their insurance and make less money. Young drivers can benefit from a few different discounts:
- Distant student. Students save when they live 100 or more miles away from home without their car.
- Good student. Maintaining a 3.0 or higher GPA, being on the honor roll, or scoring in the top 20% on standardized testing can get you a good student discount.
- Youthful driver. Farmers will give you a discount just for being under 25 and on a policy that’s been in force for at least 12 months.
Discounts Yield High Savings
While pretty much every company offers discounts on auto insurance, savings vary. And, let’s face it, many of them only lower rates incrementally. With Farmers, however, the savings can pile up. Bundling your home and auto with Farmers can save you, on average, 20%. This is more than some other companies.
Farmers’ telematics program, Signal, can also save you up to 15% on your auto coverage. These savings are comparable to most other insurance telematics programs.
Final Word on Farmers
Farmers is a great choice if you want to lower your premium because its auto discounts can save you big money and many are easy to qualify for. If you desire even more savings, the Signal telematics program can help you do just that.
For all of these reasons we believe Farmers insurance is the best company for discounts. The only downside is that it only operates in 41 states.
Second-Best Auto Insurer for Discounts: GEICO
GEICO takes second place for the best insurance provider for discounts, with a total of 16 on its website. Each one comes with sizable savings. GEICO gives military members and government employees an additional bonus. Here’s why we think this provider’s rewards are so much better than it’s competitors:
GEICO’s Discounts Come with Huge Savings
GEICO may just offer the best deal per discount than any other insurer. Most of them knock a large chunk off of your premium. After you qualify for a few, the savings add up quickly.
Here’s a list of GEICO’s best insurance discounts:
- Multi-vehicle – 25%
- Emergency deployment – 25%
- Anti-theft device – 23%
- Good driver – 22%
Great Savings for Military and Government Employees
Military members and government employees will find GEICO a solid choice. After all, GEICO stands for Government Employee Insurance Company. It makes sense that the company offers you benefits for serving the country. GEICO offers these affiliation awards for military members and government employees:
- Emergency deployment. If you’re in an emergency deployment to an imminent danger area, you can get your rates reduced up to 25%.
- Military discount. Being a current or former member of the military, National Guard, or Reserves can give you a military insurance discount of up to 15%.
- Membership and employee. GEICO lowers premiums for members of partner groups.
- Federal employee (eagle discount). Current and retired federal employees qualify. Savings can reach up to 12%.
Rewards for Having a Safe Vehicle
You can get discounts with GEICO if your car has certain safety features. Many of them come with large savings percentages. Here are some of the GEICO vehicle safety discounts:
- Airbags – 23%
- Anti-theft systems – 23%
- New vehicles – 15%
- Anti-lock brakes – 5%
- Daytime running lights – 3%
Final Word on GEICO
GEICO has an impressive array of car insurance discounts. Besides the large number of unique rewards, it’s also a plus that so many are easy to obtain. GEICO the perfect choice if you’re a government employee or military member because savings available specifically for these professionals. Overall, GEICO is a good auto insurance provider if you want to keep your rates low.
Third-Best Insurance Company Discount Selection: State Farm
State Farm, the nation’s largest auto insurance provider, is third in our list of the top companies for discounts, with a total of 12 listed on its website. And, depending on your state, you could be eligible for many more. The insurer offers famously cheap rates and large savings. Here’s why we chose State Farm as number three:
Best Bundle
Bundling is one of the most common and useful discounts. Most insurers reward you for buying both your home (or any other valid type of coverage) and auto insurance from them.
State Farm is our pick for the best car and home bundle. You can save up to 20% by bundling with the insurer. In 2021, State Farm customers saved an average of $1,127 by bundling their home and auto.
Excellent Telematics Program
Most insurers offer telematics to help drivers save money. State Farm’s Drive Safe & Save involves tracking your driving habits via an app on your phone and rewarding you for being safe. This program can save good drivers up to 30% on auto insurance.
Defensive Driving Courses for Senior Drivers
If you’re an older driver looking for a way to lower your rates, State Farm offers a discount for completing a defensive driving course. The insurer rewards drivers over 55 who take remedial driver safety classes. The savings can range from 5 to 15%.
Final Word on State Farm
State Farm is an overall good choice if you’re looking for discounts. The company has the best auto and home insurance bundle. You can also find a useful telematics program that rewards you for keeping yourself and others safe. Finally, State Farm is second to none in overall customer satisfaction ratings and has some of the cheapest rates in the nation.
Honorable Mentions
Farmers, GEICO, and State Farm make up our top three for best rate reduction programs, but other insurance companies have a solid set of discounts as well. Below are four honorable mentions:
American Family
American Family (AmFam) offers 18 different rewards to attract your business and save you money. AmFam is especially great for young drivers, as there is a whole category of rewards just for them. These include:
- Good student
- TeenSafeDriver
- Away at school
- Young volunteer
- Generational
You can also expect to save quite a bit per discount with AmFam. Bundling your auto with other policies can save you up to 23%. AmFam’s telematics program can lower your premium by an additional 20%.
Travelers
Travelers offers 14 unique discounts to lower auto policyholder premiums, manty of which are the best in the industry. One of them is an insurance telematics program called IntelliDrive. But be aware that this plan can also raise your rates if you drive unsafely. Travelers also has bundling, which can save you up to 13% on your policy.
Travelers’ discounts are fairly easy to qualify for. For example, you can save money just by setting up automatic payments each month. You’ll also receive lower rates if you drive a hybrid or electric car. Students will find the student away and good student helpful as well.
Progressive
Progressive offers a total of 16 insurance discounts. However, despite the large number available, the savings aren’t as rich as those offered by our top winners. However, many of them are very easy to qualify for. In addition, you can easily stack them for maximum savings!
Progressive offers some discounts that are almost impossible not to qualify for. These include:
- Online quote. Getting an online insurance quote with Progressive can save an average of 7% off of your rates.
- Sign online. Choosing to sign your documents online can get you lower rates.
- Paperless. If you opt to receive your documents and bills electronically, you’ll get a paperless billing discount. You’ll help the environment, too!
- Multi-policy. To get this reward, all you have to do is bundle your policies with Progressive.
Progressive is also helpful if you have a young driver on your policy. You can get a discount just for having a driver under the age of 18 on your policy. There are also savings for good and distant students, which can save you additional money each month.
USAA
USAA is a great insurance provider for members of the military. Many of it’s discounts are tailored for military families and the situations they deal with. For example, you can save up to 60% if you need to garage your car at a base. This is extremely helpful during deployment.
Like many other insurers, USAA has a telematics program to help you save money. Enrolling in the SafePilot program and driving safely can get you a discount of up to 30%. USAA also has insurance bundling, which can save you up to 10% on your homeowners or renters policy.
How We Chose Our Winners
Our decision for the best insurance company for discounts is based on several factors. The first is simply how many a company provides its policyholders. The second, and possibly the most important, is how much each reward saves you. We also considered how easy it is to qualify for certain savings programs. Finally, we assessed an insurer’s overall quality and customer satisfaction ratings.