Best Car Insurance Companies

Auto Club of Southern California (AAA) auto insurance review and ratings

Auto Club of Southern California (AAA) ranks among Insure.com’s 2024 Best Car Insurance Companies list with a rating of 3.30 stars out of 5 stars. Customers give it high marks for policy offerings and discounts.

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Our take

The Auto Club of Southern California, an AAA affiliate, received 3.30 out of 5 overall stars for its high percentage of customers that recommend its offerings, renew their policies and participate in its extensive discount program. 

The Auto Club of Southern California received an A- credit rating for financial stability from AM Best.

Below is Insure.com’s review of the company. It’s based on third-party metrics and an in-depth survey of insurance customers. Find the full methodology here, including an explanation of our survey scores.

Auto Club of Southern California
Auto Club of Southern California Ratings
Overall Rating: 3.3
Average Premium: 2.1
NAIC: 2.21
Customer Satisfaction: 4.2
AM Best Rating: A-

Pros and Cons

Pros:
  • High score for policy offerings
  • 95% of customers say they will renew their services 
  • Top-ranked insurer for discounts
Cons:
  • Fifth-most expensive premiums out of the companies surveyed
  • Only available to AAA members

How much the Auto Club of Southern California costs

The Auto Club of Southern California has an average monthly rate of $192. While this premium isn’t as high as CSAA Insurance Group’s average of $217, it’s $69 higher than Erie’s $123. Auto Club of Southern California is also $57 more expensive than its AAA counterpart, the Auto Club Group.

CompanyMonthly Premium
Erie$123
Auto-Owners$129
Nationwide$129
Travelers$132
Auto Club Group (ACG) – AAA$135
American Family$142
Geico$147
State Farm$165
Progressive$166
Amica$185
Auto Club of Southern California – AAA$192
Mercury$193
Farmers$199
Allstate$209
CSAA Insurance Group$217

How the Auto Club of Southern California scores for customer satisfaction

When it comes to customer satisfaction, 80% of Auto Club of Southern California customers said they were satisfied with its customer service. It ranks higher than The Auto Club Group and nine other large insurers, including Nationwide, Allstate, Geico and Progressive.

Company Customer satisfaction
Auto Club of Southern California 80%
CSAA Insurance Group 75%
Auto Club Group  59%

How the Auto Club of Southern California scores on ease of service

The Auto Club of Southern California ranked near the top among its competitors on ease of service in Insure.com’s ranking. Eighty-five percent of customers experience ease and convenience when accessing policy documents and services.

Comparatively, Auto Club of Southern California ranked higher than nine other insurers in the survey, including Allstate, Geico, Progressive and Nationwide.

Company Customers satisfied with ease of service
Auto Club of Southern California 85%
CSAA Insurance Group 75%
Auto Club Group 72%

How the Auto Club of Southern California scores on policy offerings

When it comes to policy offerings, 85% of The Auto Club of Southern California respondents said they’re satisfied with the companies’ policy offerings, such as insurance for homeowners/condo/renters, pets, flood and more. The company placed third in this category, led by Erie – 88% of Erie’s customers gave it high marks in this area.

Company Customers satisfied with policy offerings
Auto Club of Southern California  85%
CSAA Insurance Group 65%
Auto Club Group 63%

Would current customers recommend the Auto Club of Southern California – AAA – to others?

Nine out of 10 Auto Club of Southern California’s customers would recommend it to others. Other top-ranking insurers in the survey include Erie – which led the category – State Farm and Progressive.

Company Customers who would recommend the company
Auto Club of Southern California 90%
Auto Club Group 91%
CSAA Insurance Group 85%

How trustworthy is the Auto Club of Southern California?

Seventy-five percent of Auto Club Group customers graded it well for trustworthiness. The highest-ranked insurance company for trustworthiness was Erie at 86%, followed by State Farm at 82%.

Company Trustworthiness
Auto Club of Southern California 75%
CSAA Insurance Group 70%
e Auto Club Group 69%

Do the Auto Club of Southern California customers plan to renew?

The Auto Club of Southern California is one of the top-ranking insurers for customer renewals, tied with Mercury Insurance for second place. However, they both fall slightly behind Erie’s 100% rating.

Company Customers who plan to renew 
Auto Club of Southern California 95%
Auto Club Group 88%
CSAA Insurance Group 85%

How The Auto Club of Southern California handles claims

Sixty-seven percent of customers were satisfied with how the Auto Club of Southern California handled claims after an accident or vehicle incident.

Allstate topped the ranking with 86% of its customers saying they were satisfied with how well the company handled claims.

Company Claims handling
Auto Club of Southern California 67%
Auto Club Group 77%
CSAA Insurance Group 73%

How The Auto Club of Southern California scores for digital experience

The Auto Club of Southern California didn’t do particularly well in this category, but none of the companies we ranked did. Forty percent of Auto Club of Southern California’s customers rated it well for its digital experience. Customers rated insurers based on the ease and convenience of locating necessary information, phone numbers and policy details online.

The highest metric for this rating was Geico at 64%, followed by CSAA Insurance Group and Progressive at 60% each.

Company Digital/online experience
Auto Club of Southern California 40%
CSAA Insurance Group, Progressive 60%
Auto Club Group 50%

How The Auto Club of Southern California scores on discounts

The Auto Club of Southern California topped this category. The company offers hundreds of discounts outside of auto-related ones and 70% of its customers say they are satisfied with them. In addition to discounts for being a good driver and student and low mileage usage, the Auto Club of Southern California offers rate reductions for automatic payment, loyalty, insuring more than one vehicle and more.

Company Discount
Auto Club of Southern California 70%
The Auto Club Group 69%
CSAA Insurance Group 50%

How Auto Club of Southern California scores for bundling home and auto policies

When customers bundle their auto, home and life policies, they often save on their overall premium. The Auto Club of Southern California comes in seventh in Insure.com’s ranking with 55% of its customers satisfied with its bundling.

Company Bundling
Auto Club of Southern California 55%
Auto Club Group 47%
CSAA Insurance Group 35%

The Auto Club of Southern California car insurance options

  • Antique car
  • Motorcycle 
  • Personal auto

The Auto Club Group of Southern California coverage types

As a AAA affiliate, the Auto Club Group offers a variety of coverage types. Note: Some of these may not be available in your state.

  • Accidental death benefits
  • Car rental reimbursement
  • Liability
  • Collision
  • Comprehensive 
  • Extra Equipment coverage
  • Gap insurance
  • Medical Payments
  • New car added protection
  • Personal Injury Protection (PIP) 
  • Roadside assistance
  • Uninsured/Underinsured motorist

Other policies offered

  • Boat/personal watercraft
  • Business 
  • Condo
  • Earthquake 
  • Flood 
  • Homeowners
  • Life
  • Mobile Home 
  • Pet
  • Renters and rental dwelling
  • Small business
  • Umbrella

The Auto Club of Southern California car insurance discounts

The Auto Club of Southern California offers hundreds of discounts through AAA. These often include entertainment, shopping and hospitality discounts, as well as auto, finance and home and business. Some of the top auto discounts include:

  • Accident forgiveness
  • Automatic payments
  • Auto repair, parts and services
  • Distant student 
  • Driver training/Defensive driving
  • Good driver
  • Good student
  • Insurance loyalty 
  • Multi-policy
  • Multi-vehicle
  • Pet injury coverage
  • Safety devices
  • Teen safety 
  • Usage-based/Telematics

States where Auto Club of Southern California offers coverage

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Table
States where Auto Club of Southern California offers coverage
Alabama
Arkansas
California
Hawaii
Illinois
Indiana
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Mississippi
Missouri
New Hampshire
New Mexico
Ohio
Pennsylvania
Texas
Vermont
Virginia
West Virginia
AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DC DE FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY
Available
Not available

Company background

Auto Club of Southern California

The Automobile Club of Southern California (Auto Club) was founded in 1900 as a motor club. As an AAA-affiliated provider and a membership insurer, it provides hundreds of discounts including rate reductions, road service, and shopping, travel and hospitality packages to its more than 63 million members in the U.S. and Canada.

The Auto Club is the parent company of affiliated motor clubs that offer insurance to members through affiliated insurance companies (ACE insurers). One of them, the Interinsurance Exchange of the Automobile Club, is one of California’s largest auto insurers.

Resources & Methodology

Sources:

AAA—California. “AAA discounts.” Accessed January 2024.

Methodology

Insure.com in the fall of 2023 surveyed more than 1,750 insurance consumers (1,459 people with auto insurance). Online market research company Slice MR conducted the survey. Respondents were asked to name their auto insurer and then grade it in the following categories – customer satisfaction, ease of service and policy offerings. The percentage of respondents who said they were satisfied or very satisfied with their insurer is presented in the results.

Respondents were then asked to pick their insurer’s top three attributes out of more than a dozen presented – trustworthiness, claims satisfaction, digital experience, discounts and best for auto/home bundling. The responses for each attribute were totaled and then divided by the number of each company’s customers who responded to that survey question to create a percentage. 

Respondents were then asked if they would recommend their auto insurer to someone else and whether they would renew with their company. The percentage who said yes is presented in the results.

Finally, respondents were given the statement “I trust my insurance company” and asked if they strongly agreed, agreed, disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement. The percentage of those who said they agreed or strongly agreed is presented in the results.

The editors compiled the survey results and then selected – based on the number of survey responses – the top companies for further evaluation. 

They then collected AM Best data, which measures financial strength, and National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ complaint data, which ranks a company by the number of customer complaints it receives. The Insure.com team identified the NAIC company code or codes that were the primary underwriting companies for each carrier and line of business using total annual premiums. The associated NAIC complaint index score was used in the calculations. If more than one underwriting company was identified for a line, the editors used a weighted average of the NAIC complaint index scores.

In addition, we also created star rankings for each company. Respondents were asked to pick their insurer’s top three attributes out of the more than the dozen presented, again including customer satisfaction and policy offerings. The number of responses for each attribute was totaled and then divided by the number of each company’s customers who responded to that survey question to create the star ranking. 

The editors also collected insurance rate data from Quadrant Information Services.

With the help of Prof. David Marlett, Ph.D., Managing Director of the Brantley Risk and Insurance Center at Appalachian State University, the editors created a rating system to determine which insurance companies were best in each sector. For auto insurers, we took the following and gave each a weight.

  • Survey: 40% of the total score (10% customer satisfaction, 10% recommended, 10% renewal rate and 10% claims handling)
  • Annual premium: 20% of the total score
  • AM Best: 25% of the total score
  • NAIC: 15% of the total score

Each insurer was awarded from half a star to 5 stars. No insurer in our star ranking received less than half a star and 5 stars was the most any insurer could receive.

author image
Katrina Raenell
Contributing Researcher

 
  

Katrina Raenell is a writer, editor and educator with 20 years of experience in content and communications for international organizations, nonprofits and start-ups. In her previous roles, she was a communications manager for study abroad, content project manager for higher education and finance websites, reported on arts and culture, and was a managing editor for an online health and wellness publication.

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