AAA vs. Geico: Auto Insurance Comparison
AAA's cheap auto insurance rates and quality customer service make it better than Geico for most drivers. But both companies have competitive rates.
Best for | AAA | Geico |
|---|---|---|
| Price | ||
| Coverages and discounts | ||
| Shopping experience | ||
| Claims processing | ||
| Overall customer satisfaction | ||
| AAA review | Geico review |
AAA vs. Geico: Which has cheaper car insurance?
Car insurance is cheaper with AAA than with Geico, based on rates for California, Arizona and Nevada drivers.
A 30-year-old man living in California, for example, could save $217 per year on premiums for a full coverage policy with AAA auto insurance instead of Geico.
AAA's car insurance rates were also 25% cheaper for an 18-year-old driver in California for a minimum coverage policy. That driver would spend only $1,827 per year for AAA but $2,451 a year for Geico.
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AAA vs. Geico auto insurance rates
Rates represent the average annual cost of an auto insurance policy for California, Nevada, and Arizona drivers by age.
Age | AAA | Geico |
|---|---|---|
| 18 | $2,202 | $2,778 |
| 30 | $4,324 | $4,888 |
| 60 | $4,060 | $4,698 |
AAA's premiums are cheaper than Geico's for drivers with an at-fault accident on their driving record. For drivers with a bad driving record, AAA's insurance premiums were only 46% more expensive, on average, than their rates for drivers with clean records. That difference increases to 51% for drivers with Geico insurance.
AAA vs. Geico: Discounts
Both AAA and Geico offer a number of the standard discounts given by many companies. But Geico also has discounts for military members, such as a 15% cut in premiums and reduced rates for deployed military members. This makes Geico the better choice for drivers in the military.
Discount | AAA | Geico |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-policy | ||
| Multi-vehicle | ||
| Good driver | ||
| Good student | ||
| Affinity (for members of certain groups or clubs) | ||
| Military member | ||
| Emergency deployment |
In addition to insurance premium discounts, AAA members — even without auto insurance through AAA — have access to excellent benefits and discounts, such asspecial pricing at retail stores, restaurants and hotels. AAA estimates that their members save $1 billion per year with membership discounts. Geico cannot come close to matching these benefits.
AAA vs. Geico: Customer service, claim satisfaction and reviews
Drivers should expect to get better customer service from Geico than AAA. Both current customers and professional rating agencies have given Geico solid reviews for their claims processing and customer service. In comparison AAA's marks were generally positive, but less so than AAA's.
Geico has better customer service than AAA
Geico earned more top ranks for its customer service than AAA. Only about one in every three AAA customers say they receive excellent customer service compared to 42% of Geico customers. Additionally, more respondents reported fair or negative service with AAA than Geico — 12% compared to 3%.
Besides cheap rates, customer service is the most important factor for consumers when choosing their insurer according to our survey of customers. One-third of customers cited customer service as the reason they chose their current insurer.
Insurer satisfaction rating | AAA | Geico |
|---|---|---|
| Excellent | 32% | 42% |
| Great | 40% | 29% |
| Good | 16% | 26% |
| Fair | 10% | 3% |
| Poor | 2% | 0% |
Source: ValuePenguin's survey of current customers.
Geico's customers are more satisfied with their claims than AAA's
When asked how satisfied current customers were with their most recent claim, 64% of Geico's customers reported being extremely satisfied, which is 20 percentage points more than AAA's. Furthermore only 2% report having a negative experience with their most recent Geico claim.
If you are in a car accident, you will likely end up having to file a claim against your auto insurance company to receive compensation for damage to your vehicle. Having an insurer that you feel is working with you to get you back on the road after an accident is one of the most important aspects of choosing an insurer.
Claim satisfaction rating | AAA | Geico |
|---|---|---|
| Extremely satisfied | 44% | 64% |
| Somewhat satisfied | 32% | 30% |
| Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied | 20% | 4% |
| Somewhat dissatisfied | 4% | 2% |
| Extremely dissatisfied | 0% | 0% |
Geico has a slightly higher rate of complaints than AAA
Relative to its size, AAA receives fewer complaints than Geico. In 2018, the most recent year data is available, the two companies received identical complaint ratios — which is the number of complaints an insurer receives relative to its size. However, when you consider the three-year average of each company, AAA's complaint index of 0.74 is lower than Geico's score of 0.87.
Complaint Ratio | AAA | Geico |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 0.55 | 0.65 |
| 2017 | 0.75 | 1.05 |
| 2018 | 0.92 | 0.92 |
AAA vs. Geico: Insurance coverage comparison
Both AAA and Geico will be able to offer you the expected auto insurance coverages.
Bodily injury and property damage liability | AAA | Geico |
|---|---|---|
| Personal injury protection (in states where it is offered) | ||
| Medical payments | ||
| Uninsured and underinsured motorist liability | ||
| Comprehensive and collision coverage |
Quote methodology
ValuePenguin's analysis used insurance rate data from Quadrant Information Services. These rates were publicly sourced from insurer filings and should be used for comparative purposes only — your own quotes may be different.
Editorial Note: The content of this article is based on the author's opinions and recommendations alone. It has not been previewed, commissioned or otherwise endorsed by any of our network partners.
