Clearcover is a new auto insurance company that provides impressively low rates—32% cheaper than other insurers, on average—to its customers. Right now, the company only offers insurance to California drivers and sells policies exclusively online.

Clearcover Insurance: Our Thoughts

The most compelling thing about Clearcover is its extremely affordable auto insurance quotes. It offered great prices across the board to California drivers—about a third lower than the average rates we found among competitors. And this alone makes it worth considering for most drivers who are eligible.

Beyond the very affordable prices for car insurance, we liked Clearcover's coverage options. The company doesn't offer quite as broad of a package of optional coverages as a large insurer, but it does offer a few notable ones. Our favorite is alternate transport coverage, which is offered instead of rental car coverage. If your car is being repaired, Clearcover will give you money to use as you see fit to get around. You're not limited to renting a car. There's also ample information throughout the process of getting a quote, which makes it simple for you to understand what coverage you may need.

Clearcover uses AI to make suggestions for the right level of insurance to buy. However, we recommend that drivers make their own informed decisions about how much coverage they need and not depend solely on Clearcover's recommendation.

The company provides online quotes, and it has smartphone app, both of which are easy to use. Unfortunately, the process is a little disjointed: Many important activities related to your car insurance policy can only be done on the website or the app but not both. And if you don't have a smartphone, you should not consider Clearcover at all; you won't be able to sign up for a policy without one.

As an online-only insurer, Clearcover doesn't use insurance agents. You can't meet with anyone from Clearcover in person. However, its customer service receives positive reviews. Its team is only available over the phone 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Central time, but customers can file a claim through the app 24 hours a day.

Our biggest concern with Clearcover is how new it is. The company started selling insurance in February of 2018. Insurance is a business based on dependability; you want to be able to depend on your insurance company no matter what. Clearcover does not have an established business, and so aspects of the company and its insurance offering may change significantly over time.

The good news is that Clearcover's policies are underwritten by Response Indemnity of California and Lyndon Southern. Both companies are owned by Fortegra, a longstanding company with strong financial footing. This means you don't need to worry about the company being unable to pay your claims.

Discounts

Clearcover takes an unorthodox approach to discounts compared to other insurers: It doesn't offer them explicitly. Most car insurance companies will tell you when they are giving you a discount for things like safe driving and insuring multiple cars. Clearcover still considers all the same details as a mainstream insurer when setting your rate, but you don't see the specific criteria it uses to set your rate.

Clearcover also only sells car insurance. You can't buy renters, homeowners or umbrella liability insurance from the company. If your insurer offers you a meaningful discount for bundling your policies together, you may save money elsewhere.

Bottom Line: If you live in California, Clearcover's excellent rates and innovative features make the company a good choice for auto insurance. But keep the risks of dealing with a brand-new company in mind.

Coverage Options From Clearcover

Clearcover's approach is to provide only the essentials, so it doesn't provide a ton of extras or add-ons to drivers. But it does offer a few notable perks. First is that in lieu of rental car coverage, it provides "alternate transport coverage." If your car is in the shop for repair after an accident, you receive a certain amount of money to spend on alternate transportation. This could be a rental car, but it can also be used for rides with Lyft or Uber, public transportation or however else you want to get around. This is a more flexible option than is available from most insurers, which allow you to use the money only for a rental car.

Other extra add-ons available from Clearcover include a ridesharing endorsement, meaning you can drive for Lyft, Uber or another TNC with your Clearcover policy.

Besides these, Clearcover also provides all the legally required and typical coverage you'd expect from a reputable insurance company. Standard coverage options include:

Clearcover Car Insurance Rate vs. Competitors

Clearcover's rates are extremely competitive for California drivers. The company offered the lowest auto insurance rates for each of our three sample drivers in California, beating the average cost among its competitors by 32% overall. Clearcover offered especially impressive rates to our young sample driver—she would pay $60 less per month at Clearcover than the next-closest competitor, GEICO.

We collected sample rates from Clearcover and three leading national car insurance companies: GEICO, State Farm and Progressive. For each profile, we considered an adult living in the San Francisco Bay area who has a clean driving record and owns a Hyundai Sonata (the married couple owns two Sonatas).

Customer Reviews, Ratings and Financial Stability

As Clearcover is a very new company that has been selling insurance for only a few months, it doesn't have many reviews from customers regarding claims payouts. Customer reviews that are available from sources like the Better Business Bureau and Trust Pilot tend to be positive, however.

While Clearcover is a very new company, its policies are underwritten by Lyndon Southern and Response Indemnity of California, both owned by Fortegra. Fortegra and its subsidiaries have an A- rating from A.M. Best, meaning they have an "excellent" ability to pay out claims. While we always recommend caution when dealing with a new, untested company, Clearcover's policies being underwritten by a financially stable insurer is a positive sign.