Amica Auto & Home Insurance Review
Amica Auto & Home Insurance Review
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Amica is an outstanding insurance company that excels by offering a great customer service experience and low rates. Amica doesn’t offer the most unique discounts, but it offers a high number of common discounts for customers, particularly for car insurance. Amica provides enough features to offset any negatives even in areas where it falters.
Amica: An Excellent Choice for Auto and Home Insurance
Very few insurers — if any — are able to match the low rates offered by Amica and the top-notch ratings it receives from its customers. In fact, only price oriented companies — such as GEICO — are able to offer rates that are competitive with Amica’s auto insurance rates. Even without applying discounts, Amica is a low cost company for auto and home insurance. If you’re able to take advantage of its discounts — like the multi-line discount — you’ll achieve savings on already affordable rates.
Experts and customers rank Amica as an outstanding insurance company. Amica’s customers praise it for having agents who are quick to process claims while maintaining a professional demeanor.
Amica’s agents are described as knowledgeable and friendly by current policyholders. The negative reviews cite issues with the company’s car insurance rates rather than its agents or service. Below, we discuss industry experts findings on Amica’s claims satisfaction. Overall, Amica has some of the best ratings we’ve seen for an insurance company.
Auto Insurance Take-Away: If you want the lowest rates possible, we recommend comparing auto insurance rates from Amica and GEICO. Both of these insurers offer some of the most competitive rates and are similarly priced in our quotes comparison. Amica doesn’t have the best discounts available, but it still outranks other insurance companies in other categories.
Home Insurance Take-Away: Amica offers low rates across several policy limits, meaning that it’s an affordable insurance company for most people. If something goes wrong, policyholders will have the support of Amica’s award winning customer service team. Unless you’re looking for a long list of endorsements, Amica is a great choice for you.
Amica Auto Insurance
Whether you’re a young driver looking for the best rates or want outstanding coverage options, Amica’s prices and service are hard to beat. Below, we outline the company’s auto coverage options, discounts, and how it compares to competitors in terms of pricing.
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Amica Auto Insurance Coverage Options
Along with standard coverage options, Amica allows customers to supplement their coverage with add-ons—additional services and protections — under their Platinum Choice Auto program.
The add-ons are individually priced, but there are discounts available depending on different combinations. Prices vary based on your driver profile and state of residence. We list the coverage options available for the Platinum Choice Auto program below:
Good Driving Rewards: Consider Good Driving Rewards if you’re interested in saving money through a points based system or looking for an accident forgiveness program. Amica Advantage points can be used to pay down a deductible or for an auto accident surcharge — the additional cost you’ll have to pay on your insurance policy if you’re involved in an accident. The points you earn never expire and you can use them whenever you’d like to. Amica Advantage points are earned by:
- Your tenure as an Amica policyholder
- Adding any other Amica insurance policies
- Renewing your Amica policy
- Driving well for a year
- Referring other people to Amica
Identity Fraud Monitoring: Consider adding Amica’s Identity Fraud Monitoring to your auto policy if you’re concerned about identity theft. The service monitors the three major credit bureaus for your credit and personal information. If there’s any suspicious activity, you’ll be alerted within 24 hours. Additionally, you’ll be provided with a toll-free number to contact an expert for advice on how to proceed if you’re identity is compromised.
Full Glass Coverage: If you’re constantly needing repairs of the windows or windshield of your car, then you’ll want to add Full Glass Coverage to your policy. With this coverage option, car windows and windshields are repaired or replaced at no additional cost. This add-on could save you anywhere from $100 to $1,000 on a windshield repair or replacement, depending on what kind of vehicle you drive.
Prestige Rental Coverage: This coverage awards up to $5,000 towards the rental of a comparable vehicle should your car be involved in a covered accident. There's no daily limit on how much of the $5,000 you can use. If your vehicle was involved in a covered accident, the $5,000 in rental car coverage continues until it’s depleted, you purchase a replacement vehicle, or your vehicle is successfully repaired.
Other Coverage Considerations: Amica Dividend Policies
Amica is a mutual insurance company, which means it’s owned by its policyholders. Amica isn’t publicly listed on an exchange, nor does it have any outside investors — meaning that Amica is able to offer dividends to policyholders rather than to shareholders. The company states that a typical dividend payment can range from 5% to 20% of the annual rate.
You can use dividend payments as you wish — meaning you don’t have to apply the dividend to your auto insurance bill, but could if you wanted to. While dividends aren’t always paid, Amica has a long track record of paying them out to policyholders. When you sign up for Amica, you’ll have the option of a dividend policy or a standard policy. While the dividend policies cost more, they could also provide an annual pay out. Other mutual insurance companies offer dividend policies, but Amica is one of the better known companies to do so.
Auto Insurance Discounts Offered by Amica
You won’t find many unique discounts offered by Amica that aren't available with another insurer. However, Amica offers nearly all of what are considered standard discounts.
| Type | Discount | How Do You Receive It? |
|---|---|---|
| Policy Discount | ||
| Multi-line | Bundle your auto insurance with another insurance policy offered by Amica. | |
| Claim-free | Go three years without recording a claim (excludes glass and towing). | |
| Multiple Auto | Bundle multiple autos on one insurance policy. | |
| Loyalty | Be insured with Amica for two years. | |
| Paid in full | Pay the premium of your entire policy before your first bill is due. | |
| Auto Pay | Set up your account to bill you automatically. | |
| E-discount | Sign-up to receive bills and information online rather than through the mail. | |
| Vehicle Discounts | ||
| Anti-theft | Install an approved anti-theft device in your car. | |
| Electronic Stability | Save if your car has an electronic stability control feature. | |
| Passive Restraint | Receive a discount if your car is equipped with airbags. | |
| Forward-Collision Warning | Save when your car has a feature that helps you avoid collisions. | |
| Adaptive Headlight | Have headlights that adapt to driving in different conditions. | |
| Driver Discounts | ||
| Defensive Driver Training | Complete an approved driving course. | |
| Driver Training | Complete a driver training course (exclusive to drivers under 21-years-old). | |
| Good Student | Maintain a B-average in either high school or college if you’re a student or have a student on your policy. | |
| Student Away at School | Save if you have a child on your policy who is at school and away from home without a vehicle. |
Highlight Discount: Legacy (Family)
Amica’s Legacy discount allows drivers under the age of 30, who have their own auto policy, vehicle, and whose parents have had an auto policy with Amica for at least five years to save money. The Legacy discount adds to the long list of benefits young drivers have available to them when insured with Amica.
Amica Auto Insurance Quotes Comparison
Across all of the driver profiles we studied, Amica offered affordable auto insurance rates. Based on our sample driver profiles, GEICO is the only insurer that offers rates that are competitive with the quotes offered by Amica. Even for traditionally risky driver profiles, Amica offered particularly competitive rates. For instance, Amica quoted an annual rate that was 15% lower than the average of its competitors for a 25-year-old woman. A 22-year-old single man received an annual rate 28% lower than the average of Amica's competitors. Unless you’re considering becoming a GEICO policyholder, it’s unlikely that you’ll receive better rates for young drivers with another insurer.
Amica Home Insurance
A home is often an individual’s largest purchase, so policyholders want a home insurance company with affordable rates and great coverage. Below, we discuss Amica’s coverage options, discounts, and compare its rates against a few of its competitors.
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Amica Home Insurance Coverage Options and Discounts
Amica’s endorsement options are fairly standard, meaning you are able to find them offered through most other insurance companies. The endorsements are considered add-ons to your home insurance policy, meaning that they’re not included with the standard policy.
Amica’s most unique feature is that it offers customers coverage for a stolen credit card under its standard home insurance policy.
The coverage is not something we’ve seen offered through many home insurance companies.
Automatic Dwelling Coverage Increase: Automatic dwelling coverage protects you in the case that the cost to rebuild or replace your home exceeds your coverage limits. The endorsement provides up to a 30% increase to your dwelling coverage, which is in line with what other competitors offer.
Personal Property Replacement: This endorsement provides policyholders with the full repair or replacement value of personal property up to the policy limit. For instance, if your TV was damaged resulting due to a covered loss, you’d be recouped for the cost of a new, but comparable version of your TV. Without the endorsement, you would receive the depreciated value of your personal property—meaning that the compensation you’d receive from your insurance company would be less than what you paid for an item. In our example, you’d receive the cost of your TV minus estimated wear and tear.
Scheduled Personal Property: While a regular home insurance policy provides limited coverage for valuables—such as jewelry or art — the scheduled personal property endorsement allows you attain broader protection for incidental damage. For example, if you drop a valuable watch and break it, you’d be covered with the endorsement, but not with your standard home insurance coverage. If you own any valuable items over $1,000, or several expensive items, you’ll want to add this endorsement to your policy.
Catastrophic Coverage: Amica offers policyholders access to earthquake and flood insurance. Depending on where you live, flood insurance may be required by your lender or the government.
Amica Home Insurance Coverage
- Protection for loss or damage due to fire, smoke, theft, vandalism and other perils
- Coverage for structures other than your home, such as garages or sheds
- Coverage for increased living expenses if you’re living away from home due to a covered loss — includes theft of personal property in your temporary residence
- Coverage for unauthorized use of a stolen credit card, up to the limit of your policy
- Liability protection from covered claims made against you or a family member who resides with you for bodily injury or property damage
Amica Home Insurance Discounts
Unfortunately, Amica doesn’t offer a long list of home insurance discounts. However, its policyholders have access to basic discounts, which are fairly consistent among insurance companies.
| Type | Discount | How Do You Receive It? |
|---|---|---|
| Policy Discount | ||
| Loyalty | Have a policy with Amica for two or more years. The longer you have a policy with Amica, the more you save. | |
| Multi-line | Bundle your home insurance policy with another Amica insurance policy. | |
| Claim-Free | Receive a discount after going claim-free for three years. | |
| Auto Pay | Set up automatic payments. | |
| E-discount | Sign-up to receive policy updates and bills over email. | |
| Safety Discounts | ||
| Alarm System | Install a sprinkler system, fire alarm, or a burglar alarm. | |
| New or Remodeled Home Credit | Receive a discount when you insure a new or recently remodeled home. | |
| Automatic Detection Devices | Insure a home that has a temperature monitoring system, a gas leak or water leak detection system. |
Amica Home Insurance Quotes Comparison
Amica offers its policyholders some of the best rates for home insurance across a wide set of coverage limits. When compared to low cost insurance companies, Amica performs considerably better.
Based on our study, Amica performs better by an average margin of $335 when compared to the next most affordable insurance company, which is GEICO. Amica's rates outperformed Allstate's — the most expensive insurance company in our study — by an average margin of $635.
Beyond coverage limits, the biggest determining factor of a home’s insurance rate is the home’s location. You should compare insurance quotes in your area since home insurance costs can vary significantly across states.
Amica's Insurer Ratings
|
Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| AM Best Financial Rating | A++ |
| NAIC Complaint Index | 0.36 |
| J.D. Power’s 2017 U.S. Auto Claims Satisfaction Study | 1st |
Amica Insurance Reviews and Ratings
Amica’s customer reviews are overwhelmingly positive. Customers cite friendly agents who go out of their way to make themselves available to policyholders. The company is strongly favored by customers for both auto and home insurance. In fact, Amica ranked first in J.D. Power’s 2017 U.S. Auto Claims Satisfaction Study and in its Home Insurance Study as well. Amica received a five out of five rating for both auto and home insurance overall satisfaction, beating out national insurance companies, such as State Farm, Allstate and Nationwide.
Amica policyholders can expect a smooth claims process for auto and home insurance. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners reports that Amica has a complaint rating of 0.36, which is substantially lower than the national median of 1.00. This means that Amica receives considerably less complaints than the typical insurance company. If you need to file a claim, you can call 1-800-242-6422. Alternatively, Amica allows its customers to file claims through the Amica app and through its online portal. If you’re seeking roadside assistance, call 1-866-286-9968.
While Amica isn’t as large as some national insurance companies, Amica has an exceptional ability to pay out customer insurance claims. Amica was assigned a rating of A+ by A.M. Best Rating Services, which awards letter grades based on a company’s ability to meet their financial obligations. The A+ signifies that Amica has excellent financial health and is the second highest rating available.
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