Geico vs. Progressive: Cost & Coverage Comparison (2024) (2024)

Key Takeaways:

• Geico is best for you if you’re simply looking for the cheapest option, as the provider has a cheaper average rate estimate in 82% of states across the U.S.
• Progressive is best for you if you’re looking for more coverage options, add-ons and customizations.
• Both companies offer a variety of discounts and coverages, telematics programs, and Mechanical Breakdown Insurance (MBI).

Our team wanted to see how these two insurers stacked up against each other. So we conducted an in-depth, head-to-head study of Geico vs. Progressive. While Geico tends to have better rates for most people, Progressive is likely a better option for drivers in several categories. These aren’t the only distinctions between the companies, either. Below you’ll find what else we learned.

Learn more about our methodology and editorial guidelines.

Geico vs. Progressive: Review Summary

As you can see, Geico and Progressive finished neck and neck in our latest auto insurance study, earning similar scores in most categories. Geico has the edge over Progressive in the cost category, but Progressive beats Geico when it comes to coverage.

While Geico earned a higher score overall, it only does so by the slimmest of margins. This means that it’s worth getting quotes from both providers — and ideally a few others — to compare. There just isn’t much space between the two insurers in terms of their overall quality, but you may find a significant difference in cost. You just won’t know until you get quotes and find out for yourself.

Geico or Progressive: Which Is Best For Me?

Both Geico and Progressive are strong providers that would likely make at least a suitable option for just about anyone. However, both providers have individual strengths and weaknesses that could make one a better choice for you over the other. In this section, we’ll explore possible factors in detail.

Geico Pros and Cons

Progressive Pros and Cons

Who Geico Tends To Be Best For

Because of the combination of cost estimates, coverage options and more, Geico is often better than Progressive for:

• Federal employees and military members
• Budget-conscious drivers with clean records and few risk factors
• Drivers who want to buy MBI coverage from their insurer instead of an extended car warranty plan

Who Progressive Tends To Be Best For

Based on its prices, coverage choices and other factors, Progressive can be a better option for:

• Drivers looking for usage-based coverage(programs that monitor driving habits and reward safe and low-mileage drivers(programs that monitor driving habits and reward safe and low-mileage drivers
• People who prioritize the value of the online customer experience
• Drivers who fall into high-risk categories, such as those with multiple accidents, speeding violations or a DUI

Geico vs. Progressive: Cost

Geico is cheaper than Progressive for many drivers — but that’s the case with Geico and most other providers too. The company consistently offers among the lowest rate estimates around the country for drivers in most categories.

To give a real life example, one of our team members, Claudia Phillips, is switching from Geico to Progressive because she found a lower price with the company.

Progressive may not be the cheapest for most drivers, like Geico, but Phillips found better rates with the company, which shows shopping around is important and what’s best for your neighbor may not be best for you.

Progressive has also carved a niche in covering drivers who fall into the “high-risk” category. As a result, the company often has cheaper rates than Geico and most other providers for drivers with imperfect records.

By State: Geico is Cheaper in 82% of States

While Geico is the more affordable option for our standard driver profile in almost every single state, it lacks the same affordability in about nine out of 50 states. This means about 82% of the country enjoys cheap rates from Geico compared to Progressive, according to data from Quadrant Information Services. The map below shows which provider is cheaper on average in each state, along with average full and minimum coverage rate estimates.

By Age: Geico is Cheaper for Younger Drivers

Based on our data, Geico offers more affordable rates than Progressive does for every age driver in our study. However, there’s a big caveat here in that these estimates are based on the profile of a driver with a clean record and a good credit score — which isn’t the case for all drivers.

By Credit Score: Geico Is Cheaper for Good and Poor Credit

Click through the table below to see how rates between Geico and Progressive differ, depending on the type of credit you have. It’s important to note that we consider good credit to be 670 or more and poor credit to be below 600.

By Accident: Geico Is Cheaper for Minimum and Progressive for Full Coverage

If you have an accident on your record, data shows that Geico is cheaper for minimum-coverage policies and Progressive is just slightly cheaper for a full-coverage insurance policy. Check out the table below.

Geico vs. Progressive: Discounts

Discounts can play a big role in which company you end up choosing and Geico and Progressive have a range of them. After comparing the two companies, however, we found that Geico offers more with a greater amount of savings and transparency than Progressive. Below you can see the details:

Below is a list of discounts that both Progressive and Geico offer:

• Multi policy discount: Varies
• Multi-vehicle discount: up to 12% in savings with Progressive and 25% with Geico
• Good student discount: up to 10% in savings with Progressive and 15% with Geico
• Good driver discount: up to $231 in savings with Progressive through Snapshot OR 34% by maintaining no tickets or accidents for three or more years and up to 22% in savings with Geico if you are accident free for five years or more

Geico vs. Progressive: Usage-based Programs

If you don’t drive very often or travel long distances, and are careful with following the rules of the road — you might be a great candidate for savings through a telematics program. While Geico’s DriveEasy program can save you up to 25%, Progressive’s Snapshot® claims to save drivers an average of between $94 and $231 per year for maintaining good driving behavior.

Two of our team members, Stephanie (who wishes to stay anonymous) and Phillips (mentioned above), tried Geico’s DriveEasy program and provided some behind-the-scenes info about their experience.

According to Stephanie, who holds a 98 rating out of a possible 100 in the program, “[DriveEasy] tracks how many times you use your phone while you’re driving, so I turned off access when I was on a road trip and wanted to call a couple of people. I lost points the other day for phone usage, which didn’t seem entirely fair as I only used my phone while I was stopped at traffic lights.”

Stephanie has only been using the program for a little over a month. When she signed up, Geico automatically applied the discount pending a 30-day observation period where by the end they’d determine whether she could keep the discount.

According to Phillips, she saved about $15 per month, or 18%, on her premium with a score of 70 out of 100. This comes out to $180 of savings per year — which is also right around Progressive’s promised average savings for the program. In her experience, this price only fluctuated by a few cents every couple of months.

The app bases your score off the following: distraction, braking and acceleration, smoothness, cornering, time of day, distance driven and route regularity.

Although Phillips is switching to Progressive from Geico she said she would not be trying out their Snapshot program. It’s also important to note that state availability may be limited, we’ll cover that below.

Geico vs. Progressive: Coverage

When it comes to coverage, typically Geico’s Mechanical Breakdown Insurance (MBI) takes the spotlight. In this situation, however, Progressive offers its own MBI. Between the two companies, Progressive contributes some unique options that Geico does not. A few of these coverages include:

• Vision insurance
• Home security insurance
• Home warranty insurance
• Workers’ compensation insurance

Beyond these options, Geico and Progressive have very similar offerings. So, unless you’re looking for a specific insurance, coverage may not matter much when deciding between the two companies.

Auto Insurance Coverage

Geico and Progressive both offer the industry standard coverage options for minimum- and full-coverage auto insurance policies. Below you’ll find each component that a full-coverage policy consists of:

Basic Car Insurance Coverage

If all you need is a basic car insurance policy, we recommend first checking what your state’s minimum insurance requirements are. For example, in North Carolina the minimum bodily injury liability is $30,000 per person and $60,000 per accident and the minimum property damage liability is $25,000 per accident. You can expect to find this written with slashes like 30/60/25.

Additional Coverage Options

Along with standard auto insurance policies, both Geico and Progressive offer additional coverage add-ons that help cover other costs related to auto insurance losses and claims. In the table below, you can see which of the two providers offer which popular additional coverage options.

Geico vs. Progressive: Bundling Coverage

Geico and Progressive offer savings for bundling auto and home or renters insurance on the same plan. The two companies also offer multi-vehicle bundling options to those who, for example, purchase car and motorcycle insurance.

Geico vs. Progressive: Other Types of Insurance

In addition to passenger auto insurance, both companies offer many other types of insurance products — either directly or through trusted third-party partners. The types of insurance you can get from these providers includes:

• Homeowners insurance
• Motorcycle insurance
• Renters insurance
• Travel insurance
• Pet insurance
• Boat insurance
• Home appliance Insurance
• Dental insurance

Geico vs. Progressive: Ratings Report

According to a 1,000-person survey of policyholders like you that we conducted in 2024, cost and coverage are the two most important considerations for insurance shoppers. However, they aren’t the only considerations.

You told us that in addition to cost and coverage, you also value a company’s standing within the insurance industry and the experiences of other customers. Availability of a company’s services are another point to consider, as Geico may offer coverages and discounts in one area that Progressive doesn’t, and vice versa.

We used all of these ratings categories to make up our 2024 auto insurance review standards, which dictates the scores we issue to providers. In the following sections, we go over how Geico and Progressive fared in comparison to each other.

Industry Standing

A major component of how we rate companies is how those companies are seen by professional organizations within their industry. This is how Geico and Progressive compare in terms of key industry ratings.

Customer Experience

When comparing Geico vs. Progressive in terms of customer experience reviews, Geico generally performs better. For example, the J.D. Power 2024 U.S. Auto Insurance Study^SM polled thousands of customers in 11 different regions on their experiences with auto insurance providers. Geico ranked ahead of Progressive in eight of these regions, while Progressive scored higher than Geico in three. Overall, Geico had above-average rankings in four regions of the study.

Both auto insurers are similarly scored by customers on the BBB and have ratings of about 1.1 stars. We reached out to both companies for comment on their scores and neither responded. Geico has about 2,300 customer complaints filed with the BBB in the last three years, and Progressive has nearly 5,100. This number of complaints may seem high, but it represents a small fraction of customers when you take into account the fact that Progressive is the second-largest car insurance provider in the U.S. and Geico is the third-largest, according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC).

Mobile Apps

In 2024, mobile apps from auto insurers have become an increasingly important part of the customer experience. These apps typically allow you to do things such as view your insurance card, see the details of your policy and make a claim.

Both Geico and Progressive have notably high ratings for their apps — among the highest of all providers in our study. At the time of writing, the insurers had identical customer review scores for their mobile apps on both the iOS App Store and Google Play store.

Availability

Geico and Progressive offer car insurance coverage in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. That means that eligible drivers everywhere in the U.S. have both insurers as potential options.

Keep in mind that the types of coverage, cost of that coverage and discounts vary by location. Some options like usage-based insurance are only available in select states. Make sure the coverage you want is actually available in your area before committing to a provider.

Geico vs. Progressive: The Bottom Line

Generally speaking, drivers in most categories are likely to find lower rates from Geico. The main exception to that is drivers in high-risk categories, such as those with one or more recent at-fault accidents or violations like speeding citations or a DUI, who Progressive specializes in covering.

However, we can’t emphasize enough the fact that car insurance rates are tailored to every individual driver. For that reason, you won’t know whether Geico or Progressive offers lower premiums for you until you get quotes from both.

You can get multiple quotes at once to compare your options through the quote tool below.

Progressive vs. Geico Insurance: FAQ