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If you work from home, you know it has a lot of pros and cons. One of those pros is that you don’t have to drive to and from work, which means less time on the road. As far as your insurance company is concerned, that means less risk of an accident. That usually translates to lower auto insurance rates, but not all companies treat telecommuters the same way.

The best insurance providers for telecommuters are those that offer lower rates to people that drive fewer miles each year. They also offer low mileage discounts and usage-based car insurance programs that allow you to save even more based on your actual driving habits.

Whether you’re a long-time telecommuter or found yourself working at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there are companies that can offer you lower rates for your reduced time on the road. Read on to find out which companies have the best deals for work-from-home drivers.

The Top Insurance Companies for People Who Work From Home

When you transition to working at home, your car insurance is probably not the first thing on your mind. Contacting your insurance company, however, is one of the quickest and easiest ways to save money, since they likely had your car rated for commuting.

Just the change to a non-commuting policy, usually called “pleasure use” by insurance companies, can result in an instant rate drop.

There’s more to getting the best insurance for telecommuting, though, and not every insurance company is the same. Shopping around can mean a huge difference in what you pay for car insurance, since every insurer puts a different weight on mileage, and every insurer has different discounts.

Of course, personal factors have a lot to do with your auto insurance rates as well, which means the best company for one person isn’t always the best choice for another person. You need to shop around and compare to see which company offers the best rates for you.

Our list of the top insurance companies for telecommuters is a great place to start.

The 10 Best Auto Insurance Providers for Remote Employees

There are a lot of insurance companies out there, but we ranked the biggest companies and listed the top 10 for telecommuters here. It’s worth noting that not all of the programs listed are offered in all states, so double-check the options in your state.

#10 – Liberty Mutual

Monthly Rate (6k annual miles): $513
Low-Mileage Discount Offered: Yes
Usage-Based Options: RightTrack & ByMile
Customer Rating: 3.97

Liberty Mutual‘s average rates are high but can vary a lot from state to state, so much so that it’s actually the cheapest option in some places. It offers a low-mileage discount, which is just one of many discounts available.

Liberty Mutual has two options for usage-based discounts. First, RightTrack allows drivers to earn a discount for displaying safe driving habits. The second, ByMile, is a true pay-per-mile program that can save drivers a lot of money over Liberty Mutual’s average rates. With that sort of program, you only pay for the miles you actually drive.

#9 – Allstate

Monthly Rate (6k annual miles): $411
Low-Mileage Discount Offered: Yes
Usage-Based Options: DriveWise & MileWise
Customer Rating: 4

Allstate, like Liberty Mutual, is pricey on the surface. A $411/month average rate for 6,000 miles a year is not the cheapest option by a wide margin. That said, it earns a place on this list for the many ways telecommuters can pay a lot less than that average.

Allstate offers a low-mileage discount to customers without enrolling in any programs, but there are two programs to save you even more. DriveWise, the usage-based program, tracks driving habits over a period of time for a discount. MileWise is the second option, and like ByMile, it’s a true pay-per-mile.

Allstate rates well for customer service and performed particularly in J.D. Power‘s regional auto insurance study for Florida, a tough and expensive car insurance market.

#8 – Travelers

Monthly Rate (6k annual miles): $372
Low-Mileage Discount Offered: Yes
Usage-Based Option: Intellidrive
Customer Rating: 4.08

Travelers only has one usage-based insurance option, which is the Intellidrive program. Like most others, it earns you a discount for displaying good driving habits that are monitored for a specific time period. They don’t offer a pay-per-mile program, but they do have a low-mileage discount.

Travelers also has a lower monthly rate to begin with than some other companies and is known for low home insurance rates as well. That makes it a good pick for bundling your home and auto insurance to save more on both policies. It also has a higher customer rating than the first two companies on our list.

#7 – Farmers

Monthly Rate (6k annual miles): $351
Low-Mileage Discount Offered: Yes
Usage-Based Option: Signal
Customer Rating: 3.99

Farmers‘ average rate for a driver with 6,000 annual miles is lower than some of the other big names on this list, although rates can still be a little pricey in some areas.

Farmers offers a lot of bundling discounts, including home, auto, and life, making it a good pick for one-stop-shopping.

The Farmers Signal program is a usage-based program that monitors driving habits to earn a discount for good drivers. The company doesn’t have a pay-per-mile program but does offer a low mileage discount and lower rates to drivers who don’t commute.

#6 – Progressive

Monthly Rate (6k annual miles): $337
Low-Mileage Discount Offered: Yes
Usage-Based Option: Snapshot
Customer Rating: 4.06

Progressive’s Snapshot program is a pioneer in the usage-based program; it was the first such program to go into widespread use and earns doctors a discount for safe driving. Progressive doesn’t offer a pay-per-mile program, but the company is well known for working with customers to help reduce rates.

Progressive offers a low-mileage discount and lower rates for drivers that are on the road less often. It’s also highly rated and is the third-largest insurance company in the nation.

#5 – American Family

Monthly Rate (6k annual miles): $290
Low-Mileage Discount Offered: Yes
Usage-Based Option: KnowYourDrive
Customer Rating: 4.04

American Family has only one usage-based program, the KnowYourDrive program, which, like all similar programs, monitors driving habits. There’s no pay-per-mile option, but this company’s rates for a lower-mileage driver come in under $300/month. Most telecommuters can expect to pay even lower rates thanks to low mileage and other discounts.

American Family is generally highly rated, and although it isn’t the cheapest option everywhere, on state-by-state comparisons, it does often come out on top for cheap rates. American Family earns the top spot from J.D. Power for the Southwest region.

#4 – Nationwide

Monthly Rate (6k annual miles): $289
Low-Mileage Discount Offered: Yes
Usage-Based Options: SmartRide & SmartMiles
Customer Rating: 4.02

Not only does Nationwide offer lower-than-average rates for drivers with an average of 6,000 miles a year on the road, but they also have both a driving habits-based program and a pay-per-mile option as well. SmartRide can earn you a discount for good driving habits, while SmartMiles allows you to pay for the actual mileage you drive. Either one of those options might provide a lower rate depending on your situation.

Nationwide is also well known as a good company for bundling since they offer so many different types of insurance, from home and life all the way to pet insurance. Bundling means more discounts, and to top that off, Nationwide is highly rated by customers.

#3 – State Farm

Monthly Rate (6k annual miles): $279
Low-Mileage Discount Offered: Yes
Usage-Based Option: Drive Safe and Save
Customer Rating: 4.1

State Farm is the largest insurance company in the nation and a popular choice for a lot of reasons. One of those is that it has lower rates than many of its competitors, which surprises many people since they’re not viewed as a discount insurance company.

State Farm hasn’t joined the pay-per-mile trend yet but does offer a usage-based program called Drive Safe and Save.

With already affordable rates, that program, along with a low mileage discount, can make your insurance cost as a telecommuter a lot lower. State Farm also has one of the best reputations in the insurance world, ranking at the top with J.D. Power in several regions, and offers the personal service of an agent.

#2 – GEICO

Monthly Rate (6k annual miles): $272
Low-Mileage Discount Offered: Yes
Usage-Based Option: DriveEasy
Customer Rating: 4.11

GEICO was the last of the major insurance companies to climb on board the usage-based wagon. DriveEasy monitors driving habits to calculate a discount based on safe driving. GEICO doesn’t have a pay-per-mile program yet, but rates are so low on average that it might still be the cheapest choice for working at home.

GEICO always ranks among the cheapest insurance companies out there, and it doesn’t skimp on customer service to accomplish that, either. It has a solid customer rating and earned top honors from J.D. Power in more than one region.

There’s a good reason GEICO has climbed into the number two spot nationwide for car insurance companies, and the same spot on our list for drivers who work from home.

#1 – USAA

Monthly Rate (6k annual miles): $216
Low-Mileage Discount Offered: Yes
Usage-Based Option: SafePilot
Customer Rating: 4.73

USAA has lower average rates for a 6,000-mile-a-year driver than any other company on our list by a wide margin. Only military members and their families qualify for coverage, but if that’s you, you’re in luck. USAA is top-rated and consistently affordable.

There’s no pay-per-mile option available, but the SafePilot usage-based program can earn you a discount on already low rates, and there’s a low mileage discount as well.

Is USAA really cheaper for working from home? If you qualify and you’re a telecommuter, USAA is pretty hard to beat.

Full Results: Insurance Companies Ranked for Telecommuters

Curious as to how your current company ranked for working from home? Wondering how other big names stack up? Take a look at the chart below for a list of rates as well as which companies offer usage-based insurance (UBI) and pay-per-mile (PPM) insurance options.

Some of the insurance companies on this list ranked lower based on the fact that average rates aren’t available. Metromile, for insurance, is a pay-per-mile company, and may well be among the cheapest. It serves a limited area, however, which means it’s not an option for the majority of people.

Like Metromile, several companies may have ranked higher with more transparency in rates and detailed information about discounts.

Frequently Asked Questions: Saving on Auto Insurance

Check below for answers to common questions about working from home and saving money on car insurance.

#1 – Will my car insurance go down if I work from home?

As a general rule, car insurance if you work from home is cheaper, because you’re on the road less. “Work from home car insurance” is usually referred to as “pleasure use” by insurance companies, because you aren’t using the car to commute. That type of policy has lower rates.

#2 – Is there an insurance discount for working from home?

While there’s no specific car insurance work-from-home discount, there are plenty of low-mileage and related discounts. Ask your insurance company if they have something that acts like a work-from-home auto insurance discount or a pay-per-mile program that can reduce your rates.

#3 – What is the best insurance company to bundle with?

Insurance companies that write both auto and home insurance usually offer bundling discounts, and some may also offer a discount for life insurance or other policies. The best company depends on your needs.

#4 – What is the best insurance company for seniors?

There are several companies that cater to seniors, including The Hartford, which partners with AARP. If your reduced time on the road is due to retirement and not telecommuting, many of the same discounts will still apply.

Methodology: Ranking Providers by Telecommuter Auto Insurance

To rank insurance companies for people who work from home, we started with the average rates from each company for a car driven, on average, 6,000 miles a year. We gathered those rates from Quadrant Data Solutions.

We also looked to the insurance company websites to determine what discounts were available, as well as to review the available UBI programs and pay-per-mile options.

In addition to these ranking factors, we looked at company ratings from Clearsurance to see how each company stacks up in terms of customer satisfaction.

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18.03.2021 /