Travelers Review: Is It the Best Choice for Car Insurance in 2023?

Travelers Auto Insurance: At a Glance

Travelers — officially The Travelers Companies, Inc. — offers a wide range of property and casualty insurance products and financial services. The company boasts a longstanding reputation with a solid financial strength rating and fewer complaints than average. However, it’s struggled with customer service satisfaction.

But don’t count Travelers out. Many customers have positive things to say about the company. Still, we recommend reading reviews and policy information carefully. For example, sometimes Travelers acts as an agent but not the underwriter, confusing some customers. Working with a local agent for those who want more personalized service also makes sense.

Is Travelers a Good Choice for Car Insurance?

For the right driver, Travelers can be a great choice for car insurance. Prices tend to be low, even for robust coverage, and the company offers quite a few discounts to help you lower your car insurance premium.

Getting a quote and customizing it is easy, but you’ll have to call in to finalize your policy purchase. Ultimately, whether Travelers is the best option for you depends on how well it fits your needs, preferences, and budget.

Where Travelers stands out

Travelers offers a broader range of coverage options compared to insurers of similar size, like accident and minor violation forgiveness. You’ll also find no shortage of insurance products and bundling discount options.

Where Travelers falls short

Even with generally low rates, several competitors usually beat Travelers’ prices. Additionally, its premiums are higher than average for teen drivers and drivers with a speeding ticket.

Travelers Customer Reviews

As with most insurance companies, customer reviews are mixed. I noticed a few trends. Let’s go over the negatives first.

The reviewer below had an issue with the quoting and buying process that was pretty common among listed reviews. After completing the quote process, they received an error message, which led them to call the company to finalize their quote. The reviewer felt the customer service team was “rude” and deceptive.

Several other customers said they were quoted one price but got a much higher final quote later. I also found additional negative reviews discussing price and billing errors after purchasing their policy.

The reviewer below had to make multiple phone calls to resolve billing issues. Not only were these issues never fixed, but, after canceling the policy, they still continued to receive a bill — (something noted in several reviews).

Notably, I found several positive reviews from customers who’ve either been with the company for a long time or experienced a few claims with the company. Consider these two glowing reviews where customers felt the company handled their claims well and always came through for them.

Travelers National Average Rates

We’ve looked at what customers have to say, but how much is the average Travelers policy? Here are the national average rates for Travelers’ liability-only and full-coverage policies.

Overall, Travelers’ rates are below the national average. Its liability policies are $46 less monthly, and full coverage is $100 less.

But national averages don’t account for the many factors influencing car insurance rates. We’ll look at how those factors affect Travelers rates a little later. First, let’s look at what you get with a Travelers policy — and how to get one at a discount.

Travelers Rates Compared to Top Competitors

Travelers has pretty competitive rates when compared to the national averages, but let’s take a look at how Travelers compares to its top competitors.

Travelers is in the middle of the pack for both liability and full-coverage policies when compared to its closest competitors. On average, GEICO, Progressive, and State Farm offer cheaper coverage.

But remember that these are averages and may not reflect the rates offered to you — especially when you factor in your insurance discounts. Additionally, Travelers typically offers more coverage options than GEICO and State Farm, including gap coverage.

What Types of Coverage Does Travelers Offer?

Travelers offers the following coverage types to policyholders.

• Accident forgiveness: Forgives one accident within a specified time frame and prevents your premium from increasing.
• Bodily injury liability: Covers the medical expenses and other related costs of others in accidents you cause.
• Collision coverage: Pays for your car’s damage after a collision with another car, object, or rollover accident.
• Comprehensive coverage: Covers non-collision damage to your vehicle, like theft or vandalism.
• Decreasing deductible: Lowers your deductible by $50 or $100 — up to $500 — for every six or 12 months all policy drivers go without filing a claim.
• Loan/lease gap insurance: Covers the gap between the car’s value and what you owe if your car is totaled.
• Medical payments coverage (MedPay): Pays medical expenses for you and passengers after an accident, regardless of who’s at fault.
• Minor violation forgiveness: Forgives one minor violation within a specified time frame.
• Named non-owner: Liability coverage for drivers who don’t own a vehicle but frequently drive.
• New-car replacement: Replaces your new car if it’s totaled in your first five years of ownership.
• Personal injury protection (PIP): Covers your medical costs and more, regardless of fault.
• Property damage liability: Pays for damage you cause to others’ property in an at-fault accident.
• Rental coverage: Pays for rental cars during repairs.
• Rideshare coverage: Covers drivers who drive for ride-sharing services.
• Roadside assistance: Provides help when your vehicle breaks down and for other car-trouble emergencies.
• Total loss deductible waiver: Waives your deductible if your car gets totaled in an accident.
• Umbrella coverage: Provides extra liability protection beyond standard limits and may pay legal costs during a lawsuit.
• Uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage: Protects you if the at-fault driver has no insurance or insufficient coverage.

Keep in mind that coverage options may vary by state. It’s also important to note that some of these options are only available with Travelers’ Responsible Driver Plan or Premier Responsible Driver Plan, so check with your local agent.

Travelers Car Insurance Discounts

Travelers has more than a dozen discount opportunities for policyholders. It’s important to note that discount benefits vary by state.

Here are the discounts below, including the possible savings and how to get them.

• Multi-policy: Purchase more than one insurance product with Travelers — combine car insurance with your renters insurance, for example — and save up to 10% off your car insurance premiums.
• Multi-car: Insure multiple vehicles with Travelers on the same policy to receive a discount.
• Homeownership: You must own a home to qualify for this discount.
• Safe driver: Qualify for this discount by maintaining a clean driving record with no accidents or violations for a specified period.
• Continuous insurance: Maintain continuous auto insurance coverage to qualify for this discount.
• Hybrid/electric car: Get this discount when you add an electric or hybrid car to your policy.
• New car: Add a new car to your policy to qualify.
• EFT/auto pay: Save by enrolling in automatic payment to receive a discount.
• Pay in full: Save when you pay your insurance premium in full for the policy term up front.
• Good payer: Maintain a consistent payment history with Travelers to earn this discount.
• Early quote: Get an insurance quote before your policy expires to receive this discount.
• Good student: Discount for getting good grades (a B average or better) in high school or college.
• Student away at school: Save money if you have a student under age 25 away at school who drives your insured vehicle occasionally.
• Driver training: Complete an approved driver training or defensive driving course to lower your premiums.
• Affinity programs: Members of a participating affinity program are eligible.
• IntelliDrive: Save up to 30% when you allow Travelers to monitor your driving habits with a telematics device or mobile app. Participate in this usage-based insurance program and practice safe driving to get the discount.

Discount availability varies by state. Drivers in California aren’t eligible for the early quote, auto pay, multi-car, good payer, paid in full, homeownership, IntelliDrive, continuous coverage, safe driver, or new-car discounts.

Travelers Car Insurance Rates by Age Group

Age has a significant influence on your car insurance rates. Below are Travelers’ average liability and full-coverage rates based on driver age.

When you’re a teen, you face higher rates because your lack of driving experience leads to a higher likelihood of being involved in a collision. As long as you maintain a clean driving record, your rates should decrease dramatically by age 25. Afterward, your rates will continue to decline but at a slower pace.

Once you reach middle age, costs will plateau and remain low into retirement age. Sometime in your early 70s, rates will typically start to tick up again.

Travelers rates for teens and young drivers

Travelers’ rates for teen drivers are higher than average for liability-only and full-coverage policies — $59 and $128 higher per month than the national averages, respectively, according to Compare.com data.

If you’re a teen, consider staying on your parents’ or guardian’s policy and asking your insurer about a good student discount.

Teen and young adult drivers can take advantage of Travelers’ telematics program and defensive driving discount to save even more. You might also look into its Responsible Driver Plan, which can give you access to accident forgiveness and other perks.

Travelers rates for seniors and retirees

Rates for seniors and retirement-age drivers are just below the national average at Travelers — they save around $5 per month on liability and $4 per month full coverage. Interestingly, seniors pay $1 more per month on liability insurance than 40-year-old drivers but several dollars less for full coverage, according to Compare.com data.

While Travelers doesn’t offer tailor-made discounts to retirement-age drivers, they can take advantage of the homeownership, affinity program, and continuous coverage discounts. Additionally, they should consider Travelers’ Responsible Driver and Premier Responsible Driver plans for added perks like accident forgiveness and decreasing deductibles.

Travelers Car Insurance Rates by Driving Record

Your driving record is another important consideration when it comes to the cost of your car insurance premium. Here are the average rates from Travelers based on driving record.

Drivers with a clean record pay the cheapest auto insurance rates. At Travelers, they pay less than the national average of $131 per month for liability and $271 for full coverage, according to Compare.com data.

Prices tend to be highest for drivers with a serious traffic violation, like a DUI — which is typical. Although rates are closer to national averages, at-fault accidents and speeding tickets also create a significant price increase compared to clean driving rates.

Travelers rates after an accident

Typically, an at-fault accident raises rates by 42% to 45% for several years (with rates decreasing slightly as time progresses). Liability rates at Travelers are the same as the national average, but its full-coverage policies are slightly cheaper than the average.

Travelers offers a great accident forgiveness program. But if you didn’t purchase that perk, consider using telematics and defensive driving discounts. Don’t be afraid to chat with your agent about more ways to find more affordable car insurance, too.

Travelers rates after a speeding ticket

Though a minor violation, a speeding ticket can raise rates by 37% for most drivers, according to our analysis. Rates remain elevated for three to five years, depending on your state and insurance company.

At Travelers, liability-only rates for drivers with speeding tickets cost $29 more per month than the national average of $110. Its full-coverage rate is $42 more per month than the $348 national average. But that doesn’t mean rates will be higher for you, especially if you can get a few discounts.

Travelers rates after a DUI

Rates can almost double with a DUI on your record, and the same is true at Travelers. But rates are lower than the national average —  $10 less per month for liability and $30 for full coverage. So you may find a good deal here.

You can also leverage Travelers’ discounts to lower your rate, especially if you sign up for IntelliDrive and complete an approved defensive driving course. If you’re still struggling to afford your policy, consider downsizing to a less expensive car to insure.

Travelers Car Insurance Rates by Credit-Based Insurance Score

In most states, your credit has a big affect on car insurance costs. Rates are cheapest for drivers with excellent credit and rise as scores go down. However, insurance companies don’t look directly at your FICO or credit score. They use your overall credit history to create a “credit-based insurance score,” which they use to formulate your rates (in most states).

Below are the average rates from Travelers based on a policyholder’s credit score.

At Travelers, drivers with excellent, good, and average credit scores get monthly rates that are pretty close to the national averages for each tier of liability coverage — with rates between $1 and $4 less.

On the other hand, drivers with poor credit scores get an average monthly liability-only rate that’s $23 cheaper than the national average, according to our analysis.

In a few states — including California, Massachusetts, and Hawaii — car insurance companies can’t use your credit score to determine rates. Other states, like Michigan, limit how much your credit can change rates. But, even there, improving your credit can affect many aspects of your financial life.

How to Purchase a Car Insurance Policy from Travelers

To purchase your Travelers policy, you start by getting your quote online. The quoting process is quick and easy. You enter your essential information including your driving history, and you can get your quote in less than five minutes.

When you get to your quote page, you’ll likely be offered a few options for comparing your quote to competitors. You can also customize your quote, including levels of coverage, deductibles, and more.

Once you decide on your options, you must contact the company directly to purchase your policy. Travelers makes it easy to find the phone number you need to call (and the quote number you’ll provide) to finalize your quote and purchase your policy.

Although I did reach someone in less than two minutes, I found this step of the process to be a bit cumbersome.

Let’s walk through it.

Getting a quote from Travelers

To start my quote, I went to the Travelers car insurance home page and selected “Auto” from the products list.

That brought me to a page to confirm whether or not I was already a Travelers customer. I’m not.

Next, I filled out my contact information, gender, and date of birth. I also noticed an information disclosure about what information the company might gather about me to create a quote.

I also needed to add my email address and, if I wanted, my phone number.

Next up: my vehicle information. I don’t have custom equipment, but most insurers don’t ask for this. The fact that Travelers asks tells me that the quote process strives for accuracy (which I think is a good thing).

The next page asked more questions about my driving history. Below is what it defaults to. I entered information about a previous speeding ticket.

I also noticed that when I selected “Rent,” a small window appeared beneath it, with an advertisement for renters insurance.

The next page showed who was on the policy (just me), plus an overview of the IntelliDrive telematics program. I’m interested in a telematics program but prefer to see my quotes without it, so I didn’t sign up for it.

The last questions were about my insurance history and whether I was a veteran. I believe this was to gauge whether I was eligible for additional discounts.

The next page gave me my quote plus three options for comparing it with other companies and agents. I suppose this isn’t a bad feature, but it did make the final result a little confusing (where were the details of my quote, for example). I hit continue.

Thankfully, this brought me to a page that included my coverage options (though I still had to collapse the “Compare quotes with other carriers” section). I liked that each coverage option was itemized with its cost and had a drop-down menu for easy customization.

There was also a discount section I could expand to see which discounts lowered my costs.

The drop-down menus made it easy to customize my options and compare the cost of various coverage levels.

If I clicked on the name of each option, a pop-up appeared explaining what it covered. The design of the page didn’t make this super clear, so I wouldn’t be surprised if people missed this part. But it’s there.

When I updated my quote with larger coverage limits, I could see that it only increased the rate modestly (with discounts factored in).

The biggest downside was that I had to call to finalize my quote. I prefer to purchase entirely online — especially because I dread getting a “sales-y” agent on the phone. But it was easy to get someone on the phone, and the person I spoke with was knowledgeable and not pushy.

Travelers Customer Service

J.D. Power, a market research and consumer insights company, ranks Travelers under the industry average in every region the company scored — everywhere but the New York market. When I called customer service, I got in touch with an agent quickly, and the agent I spoke with was kind and knowledgeable.

But that’s not everyone’s experience. I found several reviews explaining that they felt condescended to for asking questions about billing or their policy.

Of particular note, I found quite a few negative reviews related to Travelers’ roadside assistance service, as with the below reviewer who was allegedly left stranded on the highway.

But the most common problem I saw was with agents dropping the ball on cancellations. As in the review below, it appears that some agents don’t always correctly process cancellations. And then policies are automatically canceled for non-payment — which can affect the policyholder’s rates in the future.

Or, like the below reviewer, you may be obliged to pay for part of your policy even when you’ve previously requested a cancellation after shopping around for a better rate.

Even so, plenty of customers were happy with the service they received. A common advantage I saw customers citing was the customer service department’s willingness to find discounts or recheck their rates, as they do for the following reviewer.

And, despite the reviews I found complaining about roadside assistance, the below customer had no problem using the service.

Filing a Claim with Travelers

It appears that a lot of the customer experience depends on the quality of your agent when filing a car insurance claim with Travelers. There were plenty of reviews, especially from longtime customers, where the reviewer felt the claims agent was helpful and walked them carefully through the process from start to finish, as in the following review.

And, even when the claim involves animals (usually covered by comprehensive insurance), the  customer below had a great experience in getting their claims covered.

But there were a few reviews where the claims agent tried to deny the claim on technicalities (a common practice in the industry, to be sure). The reviewer below details several alleged mistakes from their claims agent plus an unpaid rental reimbursement.

I also found quite a few complaints about the lack of communication a customer received after a claim. The reviewer below spent about a month waiting for assistance on their claim without receiving any information about the next steps.

What Other Types of Insurance Does Travelers Offer?

Travelers offers a wide selection of insurance products you can expect from a large, national insurer. In short, Travelers should provide virtually anyone with all the insurance products they need to insure everything important to them.

Here’s a complete list of what coverages you can find at Travelers:

• Home
• Condo
• Renters
• Boat and yacht
• Umbrella
• Valuable items
• Landlord
• Wedding and event
• Travel
• Pet
• Motorcycle
• Flood
• Commercial auto and trucking
• Management and professional liability
• Surety bonds
• Cyber
• Commercial property
• Workers compensation
• General liability
• Small-business owner’s policy

Keep in mind that options vary by state. You can always work with your agent to decide which policies and coverage options work best for you.

Bottom Line: Is Travelers Car Insurance Right for You?

With low rates and robust coverage types, Travelers is a great option for a wide variety of drivers. Still, there are some issues with customer service, and the company isn’t available everywhere.

We recommend comparing quotes from Travelers and several competitors when choosing your policy.

Consider working with a local agent as well (and don’t forget to look at reviews of their service). With a little due diligence, you can tell if Travelers is the best option to meet your car insurance needs.

Travelers Auto Insurance FAQs

Below are the answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about Travelers Insurance.

Is Travelers a good company?

Yes. Travelers is a reputable insurance company with a strong track record of financial stability and a 24/7 customer service line. As always, though, experiences may vary by person.

Does Travelers have the cheapest car insurance?

Travelers’ rates aren’t always the most affordable, but it offers competitive pricing with various discounts. Additionally, though not the cheapest on average, the company might be your cheapest option.

Does Travelers offer auto and home insurance bundling?

Yes. Travelers provides discounts for bundling auto and homeowners insurance. You can also bundle renters, condos, and other insurance products for a discount.

Can you purchase a policy from Travelers 100% online?

No. While you can get a quote and customize it to your needs entirely online, you must speak with a Travelers agent over the phone to purchase your policy.

Is Travelers good at paying claims?

Travelers generally has a good reputation for claim payment, but experiences vary depending on the specific circumstances and policy details.

Methodology

Data scientists at Compare.com analyzed more than 50 million real-time auto insurance rates from more than 75 partner insurance providers in order to compile the quotes and statistics seen in this article. Compare.com’s auto insurance data includes coverage analysis and details on drivers’ vehicles, driving records, insurance histories, and demographic information. All quotes listed in this article have been gathered from a combination of real Compare.com quotes and external insurance rate data gathered in collaboration with Quadrant Information Services. Compare.com uses these observations to provide drivers with insight into how auto insurance companies determine their premiums.

Sources

1. J.D. Power, “2023 U.S. Auto Insurance Study,” Accessed September 24, 2023
2. AAA Foundation, “Rates of Motor Vehicle Crashes, Injuries and Deaths in Relation to Driver Age, United States, 2014-2015,” Accessed September 24, 2023
3. National Association of Insurance Commissioners, “Travelers Cas & Surety Co National Complaint Index Report,”  Accessed September 24, 2023
4. ConsumerAffairs, “Travelers Auto Insurance Reviews,”  Accessed September 24, 2023
5. Trustpilot, “Travelers,”  Accessed September 24, 2023
6. Better Business Bureau, “Travelers Companies, Inc.,”  Accessed September 24, 2023