The 8 Best & Worst Places to Compare Car Insurance Quotes

Let’s be honest, no one likes shopping for car insurance. But that doesn’t mean insurance shopping can’t be easier and relatively stress-free.

It used to be that in order to shop around for auto insurance, you’d have to call or visit each insurance company one by one, spending hours or even days comparing individual quotes from each carrier. Luckily, these days car insurance comparison sites take what used to be an hours-long process and turn it into one that takes just minutes.

If you’re still not convinced, keep reading and learn why you should use comparison sites and find out which one is the best option.

Comparison Sites Take the Stress Out of Shopping for Car Insurance

Most people see shopping for car insurance as a hassle, but luckily there are tools out there that can save you both time and money.

Online price comparison platforms allow you to research and compare quotes from several car insurance companies all in one place. These tools work with multiple insurance companies at once to offer you the best price on your next car insurance policy, all without the hassle of having to call or visit websites for each company one by one.

Comparison websites all require some information from you to begin the process. They may ask for information about you, your driving history, insurance history, address, and other factors that might affect your rates. Then, they use this information to search for insurance companies that best fit your needs.

Once you finish entering your data, all of these sites provide you with a list of insurance companies ready to offer quotes. Some may provide real, actual quotes on the site itself. Others require you go to the insurance carrier’s website to complete the process, losing all the data you initially entered. The site you choose can mean the difference between simple, pain-free car insurance shopping and a stressful experience that leaves you feeling like you wasted your time.

But which car insurance comparison site is the best?

Purchasing car insurance can feel like a more difficult decision than purchasing your car. Trying to determine who will give you the best rate for your situation can be a weeklong search if you are visiting individual companies one by one. Insurance comparison websites can help provide you the top quotes for your car insurance in one easy location, not only putting money back in your pockets each month, but saving you time and stress while doing it.

But that doesn’t mean all comparison sites are the same. Each has its own set of pros and cons, but some are easier to use and provide more accurate and cheaper quotes than others.

So, which one is best? Read on to find our rankings of the 8 best comparison tools.

10. Insurance.com

Insurance.com is an insurance comparison company located in Foster City, California. They define themselves as a company where customers can compare, shop, and buy car insurance in one central location. 

When you start your search, you’re asked to enter information like your name, location, car make and model, and driving history. Before loading your results, they ask for your phone number and email address. 

However, this is where things get a bit confusing. Instead of quotes from major carriers, you’re given links to three other comparison sites. When you click the link to see those quotes, you’re asked to input all your information again. It felt like a waste of time and effort to complete these forms again just to see a quote. 

There isn’t much information about customer experiences from Insurance.com, but there were some reviews about its parent company, Quinstreet, Inc. Most users complained about the repetitive nature of the search and that they received constant calls from Quinstreet after inputting their phone number. 

If you want to find insurance quotes quickly, then Insurance.com isn’t the comparison tool for you. We had to answer several questions in hopes of seeing an accurate quote, only to find that we needed to start the process from the beginning. In addition, Insurance.com does not have a mobile app for users to search for quotes. For these reasons, we’ve placed it as #10 on this list. 

Year Founded: 1999 (Quin Street, Inc)

Current CEO: Doug Valenti 

Stock Abbreviation: QNST

2020 Revenue: $490.3 million 

9. ValuePenguin

ValuePenguin could very well be the most recognizable name on this list, but it doesn’t mean it’s the best option to compare car insurance.

The company claims to offer an easy and reliable way to compare car insurance quotes in your area, but it ended up being the lowest ranked site on our list.

Founded in 2013, it ranks well in the Google search engine and is typically one of the first options available to anyone searching for insurance quotes online.

When we used ValuePenguin, we received only one quote from Progressive Insurance. And it didn’t even have a price next to it.

If the disappointment of only having a single option was not bad enough, when we clicked the link to see our quote, we were redirected to Progressive’s website, where we needed to enter information all over again just to obtain a quote.

While ValuePenguin rated very high with employees, it rated the middle of the road with users. Many users reported disappointment with the insurance choices and the redirection and redundancy in getting a quote. They also would prefer a mobile app to make using the website more user-friendly.

Our overall experience using ValuePenguin was worse than expected. We were hoping to be able to choose from at least a couple insurance quotes. Instead, we only had one, and it didn’t even have a price. If we ended our search here, we would believe that only one company would agree to insure us. This is NOT the case with other auto insurance comparison websites, and that’s why ValuePenguin came in last in our list.

Year Founded: 2013

Current CEO: Jonathan Wu

Stock Abbreviation: TREE (Lending Tree)

2020 Revenue: $19.8 million

8. EverQuote

EverQuote was founded in 2011 with its headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The company claims to provide insurance quotes in one spot for many of the major insurance providers.

The site requires you to answer the basic questions regarding your driving record, age, and location. Once you load your results, EverQuote provides your quotes for coverage. In our experience, EverQuote only provided two options for auto insurance coverage. Not a single price was offered, only ads for other companies. Even then, one company wanted to redirect us to its website to obtain coverage, where we’d have to re-enter all of our information.

The other company wanted us to call their agents to get a quote. This process required us to complete the quote during normal business hours and took quite a bit of time to complete before we were offered an actual quote.

The reviews for EverQuote were mixed across the board. Some users rated their experience well. Customers like the mobile app. They also liked how easy the website is to use. Others didn’t like the lack of actual quotes available on the site.

Employees were overall happy with their experience working for EverQuote. Most claimed a positive and energetic working environment. Of course, one or two employees complained about their experience, but the complaints were limited.

Reviews aside, EverQuote offered very little in the way of insurance quotes. It offered two options for insurance coverage, which required a redirect to the insurance company’s website or a phone call. The mobile app makes it easy to use the site. However, the site does not offer much benefit for someone looking for insurance options. For that reason, it comes it at 7^th on our list of top car insurance comparison sites.

Year Founded: 2011

Current CEO: Seth Birnbaum 

Stock Abbreviation:  EVER

2020 Revenue: $97.3 million

7. SmartFinancial

SmartFinancial, much like EverQuote, is a lead generation company. This means that their sole purpose is to feed your information to other insurance companies, so don’t expect to get any actual quotes by using SmartFinancial.

Much like the others, the site requires basic information to provide insurance quotes. However, once we entered our information, we received only three options for coverage. Two options required us to get a quote from their website. On each carrier website, we re-entered our information and answered some additional questions before obtaining quotes.

The final option required us to request a call from an agent through SmartFinancial’s affiliated insurance companies. Much like the others we mentioned, it’s not the most efficient process possible.

SmartFinancial has little online presence. However, its sister company, Contactability, had a presence found on Google My Business and other websites. Both companies maintained strong reviews from users and employees. The reviews from employees were all high, boasting a fun and energetic work environment. Customers mostly claimed the lead generation and insurance quotes were helpful.

At the end of the day, reviews aside, SmartFinancial operates as more of a lead generation website than a comparison quote website. The website continues to direct you towards providing a phone number to receive an agent call several times via distracting pop-ups. It only offered two insurance quote options, which are from well-known providers. Neither of those two options provided prices. Both were just ads for other comparison sites.

For these reasons, we’d recommend you look elsewhere if you want to find cheap quotes on car insurance. SmartFinancial comes it at #6 on our list.

Year founded: 2012

Current CEO: Lev Barinskiy

Stock Abbreviation:  SMBK

2020 Revenue: $119.3 million

6. NerdWallet

NerdWallet, formed in 2009, is likely one of the most well-known insurance comparison websites available. It’s mobile-friendly, offering an easy to use mobile app. The combination of a great mobile app and known advertising makes it easy to rank well within Google, so it will likely be one of the first sites you see if you’re Googling insurance rates.

But that doesn’t mean it’s your best choice for cheap quotes. NerdWallet is not highly rated by consumers or employees. Some employees thought it was a wonderful place to work. Others complain it’s not so great, and that they were not valued by management.

Meanwhile, customers say the advertising and website are misleading. They claim the site does not provide any actual quotes as promised, which goes along with our own findings.

When we entered our data, we received only three potential quotes. Even then, the website did not provide any prices. Instead, we were redirected to the insurance providers’ websites through ads disguised as quotes. We needed to re-enter our information on each website to get any quote.

At the end of the day, NerdWallet did not live up to its reputation. We received very little as far as options for quotes. And we needed to go to redirected websites to get actual prices for quotes.

Overall, we were expecting NerdWallet to be among the best, but were left wanting for more. They may be good for financial advice, but you should look elsewhere for car insurance quotes.

NerdWallet ranks as our fifth-best option.

Year founded: 2009

Current CEO: Tim Chen

Stock Abbreviation:  NRDS

2020 Revenue: $245.3 million

5. Gabi

Gabi has been comparing auto insurance rates since 2016. Its website claims to provide quotes in minutes while helping you save thousands in car insurance.

The popular comparison site requires you to enter the standard information about yourself and your driving record. It also asks you to pick one of three levels of coverage: good, better, and best. Once you enter your information and select your coverage level, Gabi provides numerous companies willing to offer you coverage.

However, each quote provides a range rather than a specific dollar amount. To verify your range, you must provide your license plate number. Once provided, you receive more accurate quotes allowing you to proceed with your insurance quote process. It’s a little more time consuming, but at least you end up with real quotes and not just ads.

Outside reviews for Gabi are mixed. Customer opinions appear to be extreme on both ends of the spectrum. They either adore using Gabi or absolutely hate it. Only two employees rated their experience with Gabi. As with the customer reviews, one absolutely loved it. The other completely hated it.

Gabi appears to live up to its promise of providing ranges on the website. To get more accurate data, it asks for your vehicle information and license plate before verifying a quote. Gabi appears to care about its overall reputation, even though employees and customers shared mixed reviews of the company.

All in all, it’s not a bad option, but there are still a few we’d choose first. Gabi comes in at #4 on our list.

Year Founded: 2016

Current CEO: Hanno Fichtner

Stock Abbreviation:  N/A

2020 Revenue: N/A

4. Jerry Insurance

Jerry Insurance (sometimes referred to as “GetJerry”) is one of the newest faces in the insurance comparison industry. First launched in 2019, it offers AI and machine learning-based car insurance comparison. 

The Jerry Insurance website is user-friendly, and you start your search for quotes by filling out information about your current coverage and insurance history. After verifying your phone number, you’re prompted to share your car and annual mileage information. Then you select any discounts you believe apply to you; you’ll need to download their app to see quotes.

It’s only after you’ve downloaded the app, created an account with your phone number and entered your driver’s license information that you can finally view and compare quotes. We never had to speak to a representative or call a company to see quotes during the entire process. Everything was handled through Jerry. 

Reviews for Jerry are mixed. Some customers praise the simple and automated process, while others hate they can’t get in touch with a representative for questions. Many people reported that their initial quote was not honored, and they were later contacted with hirer quotes from Get Jerry. 

On Glassdoor, employees enjoy working for this start-up, although some report that they tend to work overtime due to heavy workloads.

Overall, we enjoyed our experience with Jerry. The straightforward nature of the quote comparison was nice, and the app was easy to use. Jerry comes in as #4 on our list.

Year Founded: 2019

Current CEO: Art Agrawal

Stock Abbreviation: N/A

2020 Revenue: N/A

3. Insurify

Insurify provides insurance quotes in one place, claiming a “quick, easy, and free” process.

When using Insurify, you must enter your name and address, as well as driving history and other standard information. You are also asked to choose the coverage options you wish to buy. The website provides several quotes for numerous companies to fit your needs.

However, when you click on any of the links, you must agree to receive a phone call from the provider to confirm the insurance premium, adding an extra step that you won’t find with the top two sites on our list.

It’s not a bad option, and the reviews support that. Insurify’s employees seem very happy with their jobs. The overall customer reviews are mixed. Some call the site a large waste of time. Others say it was a wonderful experience and helped in the process of finding insurance coverage. You be the judge (but also remember there are better options).

Insurify appeared to provide more accurate quotes. However, we had to agree to speak with an insurance agent for any quote that seemed promising. In the end, the process became more time consuming than expected. It seemed tedious and required more from us than we wanted to give to get a quote.

We also ended up receiving some junk mail from Insurify a couple months after submitting our quote, which will surely be annoying for most customers.

At the end of the day, Insurify is better than many of the other options on this list, but there a couple other tools that will provide users with a faster and more accuate experience while they shop for their next car insurance policy, which is why it comes in at #3.

Year Founded: 2013

Current CEO: Snejina Zacharia

Stock Abbreviation: N/A

2020 Revenue: $15.5 million

2. The Zebra

The Zebra claims to give you a cut and dry overview of car insurance. Their tagline is “Insurance in black & white.” They also claim to provide insurance quotes in one place for your comparison.

When we entered our information, we found this fact to be half true. Our search surfaced 13 available insurance companies, but only a few companies provided quotes on the webpage, with several options showing ads that just said “get quote” and redirected us to other sites.

We chose to review one company that provided the quote on the site, and one that did not. The companies were Clearcover and Allstate. Clearcover provided a quoted price on The Zebra. When we clicked on the quote, it redirected us to the Clearcover website. There, most items were pre-filled. However, we needed to provide additional information.

The good news? Once we completed the process, we received a quote from Clearcover.

The bad: The quote was more than double the price of what was given to us on The Zebra. This was shocking and left us feeling like we’ve been ripped off.

Allstate did not provide a quote. We clicked on “get a quote” and were redirected to Allstate’s site. We filled in all information as nothing transferred. Allstate finally offered a quote once we refilled everything.

Overall, outside customer reviews echoed our own findings.

Employees enjoyed working for The Zebra. As for customer reviews, many were disappointed with the inaccurate quotes or lack of quotes completely.

Our experience with The Zebra started out promising. However, once we got the actual quote from the insurance provider, we were left a little underwhelmed. The Zebra completely missed the mark of the actual cost of insurance coverage and proved untrustworthy.

Even though it had a quick process that provided us with some actual quotes, these reasons cause The Zebra to come in as runner-up in our review.

Year founded: 2012

Current CEO: Keith Melnick

Stock Abbreviation:  ZBRA

2020 Revenue: $79 million

1. Compare.com

Compare.com started as a way to fill the need of people looking for valid insurance quote comparison companies. It’s all about saving people money.

The company specializes in car insurance only, offering the best and most accurate personalized quotes on car insurance in your area.

Just like all of the other sites on this list, Compare.com requests the normal personal and vehicle information when starting the process. However, they also request information regarding your education and employment history, past military status, how you use your vehicle, and how much coverage you currently hold. This dramatically helps to prove the shopper with an ultra-accurate auto insurance quote best suited for you, your vehicle and, most importantly, your budget.

Once you enter your information, which takes only between 5 and 10 minutes, you could receive over a dozen choices with real, accurate quotes from the top insurance companies in the business. Most provide the quote on Compare.com’s website. However, a few ask you to go to the provider’s site to finish the quote or call an agent. But even when you have to visit another site, all of your information is pre-filled, making the entire process the least stressful of any on this list.

Either way, Compare.com offers the quickest, easiest and most accurate quote process of any of the sites on this list.

But don’t just take our word for it. Customers and employees rate Compare.com higher than any other company on this list. Employees rate the company and CEO at 100%. Customers on Google rate the site 4.8 out of 5 stars.

Compare.com promises rates quickly and easily on their website. They deliver on their promise. The company clearly states when a company requires you to complete the quote on their site or call for more information. The site provides full transparency to its customers.

They say seeing is believing, but at Compare.com, seeing is saving. That’s why it comes in at #1 on this list – the best website for comparing quotes on car insurance and receiving real, accurate and personalized quotes that best suit you and your individual needs.

Year founded: 2013

Current CEO: Allie Feakins 

Stock Abbreviation: N/A 

2020 Revenue: N/A

Don’t believe us? Find out for yourself and get a quote in minutes — just enter your ZIP code below to get started!

How Do They Stack Up?

When you stack up each of the eight sites side-by-side, it’s easy to choose a winner. Compare.com is the highest rated by both customers and employees and it produces the quickest quote process, most accurate quotes and, all in all, takes all of the stress out of shopping for car insurance.

While all of the companies on this list help customers compare car insurance quotes from many of the industry’s top carriers, there’s only one that gives the most accurate quotes all in one place. And that’s Compare.com