The Auto Insurance AI Visibility Index 2026
State Farm Leads AI Auto Insurance Mentions
Last updated: 2026-09-02
State Farm ranked first in the measured auto insurance appearance leaderboard. It appeared in 65.2% of 184 returned answers, with a 95% interval of 58.1% to 71.7%. The result does not support a simple claim that the largest advertising budgets determine which insurers generative engines name first.
Across the measured buyer-intent questions, State Farm, Progressive Corporation, and Nationwide formed the leading group. Their appearance intervals overlap, so this sample does not establish that State Farm was more visible than Progressive Corporation or Nationwide. Publisher citations followed a different pattern: NerdWallet appeared as a source in 53.3% of 184 answers with retrieval evidence.
The measure describes these 24 US auto insurance prompts on 2026-09-02. It does not measure all auto insurance searches, consumer demand, policy quality, price, or market share.
Which auto insurance brands lead the leaderboard?
State Farm held rank 1 with a 65.2% appearance rate. Progressive Corporation and Nationwide tied at 61.4%, followed by Travelers at 57.1%, Erie at 54.9%, GEICO at 50.5%, USAA at 49.5%, and Amica at 41.8%. Appearance rates use 184 answers returned as their denominator.
These rankings measure how often a brand was named, not whether an engine cited the brand's own website. State Farm's average first-mention position was 5.5, while USAA's was 3.6. A brand can be named frequently yet appear later in an answer.
Auto insurance appearance leaderboard
AI visibility leaderboard
Appearance rate is the share of the 184 returned AI answers in which each brand was named.
| # | Brand | Named in | Appearance rate | 95% interval | Avg position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | State Farm | 120/184 | 65.2% | 58.1%–71.7% | 5.5 |
| 2 | Progressive Corporation | 113/184 | 61.4% | 54.2%–68.1% | 6.7 |
| 3 | Nationwide | 113/184 | 61.4% | 54.2%–68.1% | 6.9 |
| 4 | Travelers | 105/184 | 57.1% | 49.8%–64% | 5.4 |
| 5 | Erie | 101/184 | 54.9% | 47.7%–61.9% | 5 |
| 6 | GEICO | 93/184 | 50.5% | 43.4%–57.7% | 4.7 |
| 7 | USAA | 91/184 | 49.5% | 42.3%–56.6% | 3.6 |
| 8 | Amica | 77/184 | 41.8% | 35%–49.1% | 4.8 |
| 9 | Allstate | 68/184 | 37% | 30.3%–44.1% | 8.2 |
| 10 | Liberty Mutual | 55/184 | 29.9% | 23.7%–36.9% | 8.6 |
| 11 | Auto-Owners | 49/184 | 26.6% | 20.8%–33.4% | 6.5 |
| 12 | Farmers | 34/184 | 18.5% | 13.5%–24.7% | 8.5 |
| 13 | American Family | 33/184 | 17.9% | 13.1%–24.1% | 8.9 |
| 14 | J.D. Power | 33/184 | 17.9% | 13.1%–24.1% | 4.8 |
| 15 | United Services Automobile Association | 33/184 | 17.9% | 13.1%–24.1% | 5.1 |
Several adjacent results fall within the margin of this sample. State Farm, Progressive Corporation, Nationwide, Travelers, Erie, GEICO, and USAA have overlapping 95% appearance intervals with at least one nearby competitor. The tied 61.4% results for Progressive Corporation and Nationwide have the same reported interval, 54.2% to 68.1%. Treat the ordering as a sample leaderboard, not proof of a durable gap between brands whose intervals overlap.
How did leading auto insurance brands appear?
The leading brands were named across all four measured engines, but their engine-level rates varied. Appearance rates below use each engine's returned-answer total: 47 for Perplexity, 46 for ChatGPT, 46 for Gemini, and 45 for Claude.
State Farm
65.2% appearance rate, with a 95% interval of 58.1% to 71.7%, placed State Farm first. Perplexity named State Farm in 95.7% of its 47 returned answers, ChatGPT in 80.4% of 46, Gemini in 39.1% of 46, and Claude in 44.4% of 45. State Farm's average first-mention position was 5.5. Its owned domain was cited in 2.7% of 184 answers with retrieval evidence.
Progressive Corporation
61.4% appearance rate, with a 95% interval of 54.2% to 68.1%, placed Progressive Corporation second. ChatGPT named Progressive Corporation in 89.1% of its 46 returned answers and Perplexity in 83.0% of 47. Gemini named it in 45.7% of 46 answers, while Claude named it in 26.7% of 45. Its average first-mention position was 6.7. Progressive Corporation's owned domain was cited in 5.4% of 184 answers with retrieval evidence.
Nationwide
61.4% appearance rate, with a 95% interval of 54.2% to 68.1%, placed Nationwide third. Perplexity named Nationwide in 93.6% of its 47 returned answers and ChatGPT in 76.1% of 46. Gemini named Nationwide in 37.0% of 46 answers and Claude in 37.8% of 45. Nationwide's average first-mention position was 6.9. Its owned domain was cited in 13.6% of 184 answers with retrieval evidence.
Travelers
57.1% appearance rate, with a 95% interval of 49.8% to 64.0%, placed Travelers fourth. Perplexity named Travelers in 91.5% of its 47 returned answers. ChatGPT named it in 56.5% of 46, Gemini in 34.8% of 46, and Claude in 44.4% of 45. Travelers had an average first-mention position of 5.4. Its owned domain was cited in 1.1% of 184 answers with retrieval evidence.
Erie
54.9% appearance rate, with a 95% interval of 47.7% to 61.9%, placed Erie fifth. Perplexity named Erie in 76.6% of its 47 returned answers, while ChatGPT named Erie in 58.7% of 46. Gemini named Erie in 43.5% of 46 answers and Claude in 40.0% of 45. Erie had an average first-mention position of 5.0. Its owned domain was cited in 0.5% of 184 answers with retrieval evidence.
GEICO
50.5% appearance rate, with a 95% interval of 43.4% to 57.7%, placed GEICO sixth. Perplexity named GEICO in 78.7% of its 47 returned answers, ChatGPT in 65.2% of 46, and Claude in 51.1% of 45. Gemini named GEICO in 6.5% of its 46 returned answers. GEICO's average first-mention position was 4.7. Its owned domain was cited in 5.4% of 184 answers with retrieval evidence.
USAA
49.5% appearance rate, with a 95% interval of 42.3% to 56.6%, placed USAA seventh. Perplexity named USAA in 85.1% of its 47 returned answers and Claude in 64.4% of 45. ChatGPT named USAA in 41.3% of 46 answers, while Gemini named it in 6.5% of 46. USAA had the earliest average first-mention position among the top eight at 3.6. Its owned domain was cited in 2.7% of 184 answers with retrieval evidence.
Amica
41.8% appearance rate, with a 95% interval of 35.0% to 49.1%, placed Amica eighth. Perplexity named Amica in 53.2% of its 47 returned answers, ChatGPT in 50.0% of 46, Gemini in 34.8% of 46, and Claude in 28.9% of 45. Amica's average first-mention position was 4.8. Its owned domain citation rate was 0% across 184 answers with retrieval evidence.
Allstate
37.0% appearance rate, with a 95% interval of 30.3% to 44.1%, placed Allstate ninth. ChatGPT named Allstate in 58.7% of its 46 returned answers, ahead of Perplexity at 44.7% of 47 and Gemini at 34.8% of 46. Claude named Allstate in 8.9% of 45 answers. Allstate's average first-mention position was 8.2. Its owned domain was cited in 6.0% of 184 answers with retrieval evidence.
Liberty Mutual
29.9% appearance rate, with a 95% interval of 23.7% to 36.9%, placed Liberty Mutual tenth. Perplexity named Liberty Mutual in 42.6% of its 47 returned answers and ChatGPT in 39.1% of 46. Gemini named Liberty Mutual in 21.7% of 46 answers, and Claude in 15.6% of 45. Its average first-mention position was 8.6. Liberty Mutual's owned domain was cited in 4.9% of 184 answers with retrieval evidence.
Where do the engines disagree?
The four engines produced different brand lists despite similar returned-answer totals. Perplexity returned 47 answers, ChatGPT returned 46, Gemini returned 46, and Claude returned 45. Each engine also uses a different model and retrieval tool, so a gap can reflect system design rather than a general measure of brand visibility.
Brand appearance by engine
Appearance rate by engine
Each cell uses that engine's own answer count as its denominator, so engines can be compared row by row.
| Brand | Perplexity (sonar-pro) rate | ChatGPT (OpenAI) rate | Gemini (Google) rate | Claude (Anthropic) rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| State Farm | 95.7% | 80.4% | 39.1% | 44.4% |
| Progressive Corporation | 83% | 89.1% | 45.7% | 26.7% |
| Nationwide | 93.6% | 76.1% | 37% | 37.8% |
| Travelers | 91.5% | 56.5% | 34.8% | 44.4% |
| Erie | 76.6% | 58.7% | 43.5% | 40% |
| GEICO | 78.7% | 65.2% | 6.5% | 51.1% |
| USAA | 85.1% | 41.3% | 6.5% | 64.4% |
| Amica | 53.2% | 50% | 34.8% | 28.9% |
| Allstate | 44.7% | 58.7% | 34.8% | 8.9% |
| Liberty Mutual | 42.6% | 39.1% | 21.7% | 15.6% |
| Auto-Owners | 46.8% | 34.8% | 13% | 11.1% |
| Farmers | 29.8% | 23.9% | 6.5% | 13.3% |
Perplexity had the strongest rates for State Farm, Nationwide, Travelers, Erie, and USAA. ChatGPT was strongest for Progressive Corporation and Allstate. Gemini repeatedly named J.D. Power, Forbes Advisor, U.S. News & World Report, AM Best, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, and the formal names United Services Automobile Association and Government Employees Insurance Company, while the other engines often did not name those entries at all.
GEICO and USAA show the clearest carrier gaps. Gemini named each in 6.5% of its 46 returned answers, while Perplexity named GEICO in 78.7% of 47 and USAA in 85.1% of 47. Claude named Allstate in 8.9% of 45 answers, compared with ChatGPT's 58.7% of 46. American Family appeared in 42.6% of Perplexity's 47 answers but 2.2% of ChatGPT's 46.
First-mention position also varied across brands in the aggregate. USAA averaged 3.6, while Liberty Mutual averaged 8.6 and American Family averaged 8.9. The tally provides aggregate average positions, not an engine-by-engine position breakdown, so it cannot establish which engine drove those differences.
Which demand clusters favor each brand?
Demand clusters separate the kinds of selection questions in the measured prompt set. The cluster results identify where a brand led within this study's question groups, not which brand is best for any driver.
Leaders by demand cluster
Leaders by demand cluster
The same answers regrouped by the demand cluster each prompt was sampled for; cluster rates use that cluster's own answer count.
| Demand cluster | Answers | Leading brand | Leader rate | Runners-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — General buyer intent (unbranded) — | ||||
| best car insurance company | 8 | State Farm | 87.5% | Progressive Corporation 87.5%, Travelers 87.5%, Nationwide 75% |
| cheapest car insurance | 8 | Travelers | 100% | Nationwide 87.5%, State Farm 75%, Progressive Corporation 75% |
| car insurance for young drivers | 8 | Progressive Corporation | 75% | Nationwide 75%, State Farm 62.5%, Auto-Owners 62.5% |
| best car insurance for high-value or luxury vehicles | 8 | Chubb | 100% | Travelers 62.5%, State Farm 37.5%, Progressive Corporation 37.5% |
| car insurance for a bad driving record | 8 | State Farm | 75% | GEICO 75%, Progressive Corporation 62.5%, Travelers 50% |
| most reliable car insurance claims process | 8 | Amica | 87.5% | State Farm 75%, Erie 75%, Nationwide 62.5% |
| — Sub-category / specific need — | ||||
| best car insurance with accident forgiveness | 8 | Progressive Corporation | 87.5% | Nationwide 87.5%, Allstate 87.5%, Liberty Mutual 87.5% |
| best usage-based or pay-per-mile car insurance | 8 | Nationwide | 87.5% | Allstate 75%, Root 75%, State Farm 62.5% |
| best car insurance bundle with home insurance | 8 | State Farm | 87.5% | Nationwide 75%, USAA 75%, Amica 75% |
| best car insurance app or digital experience | 8 | State Farm | 75% | Progressive Corporation 75%, Nationwide 62.5%, Allstate 62.5% |
| best car insurance for military families | 8 | State Farm | 87.5% | Progressive Corporation 75%, Farmers 75%, GEICO 62.5% |
| which car insurance company has the best customer service reputation | 8 | Amica | 100% | Erie 87.5%, Nationwide 62.5%, USAA 62.5% |
| — Other demand — | ||||
| General best-in-category | 8 | State Farm | 100% | Progressive Corporation 100%, Travelers 100%, Erie 100% |
| Primary use case | 8 | State Farm | 100% | Progressive Corporation 100%, Travelers 100%, Amica 87.5% |
| Specific need or condition | 8 | Progressive Corporation | 75% | Nationwide 62.5%, Travelers 62.5%, Erie 62.5% |
| Quality and premium tier | 8 | Nationwide | 100% | Erie 87.5%, Amica 87.5%, State Farm 75% |
| Price and value | 8 | State Farm | 75% | Progressive Corporation 75%, Nationwide 75%, Erie 75% |
| Beginners and first purchase | 8 | State Farm | 87.5% | Travelers 87.5%, Nationwide 75%, Erie 75% |
| Comparison and evaluation | 8 | Erie | 62.5% | Amica 62.5%, Progressive Corporation 50%, Travelers 50% |
| Durability and longevity | 8 | Travelers | 75% | Erie 75%, Amica 75%, State Farm 62.5% |
| Specialist / advanced use | 8 | Chubb | 75% | State Farm 50%, Travelers 50%, Progressive Corporation 37.5% |
| Emerging and new entrants | 7 | Root | 57.1% | Lemonade 57.1%, Metromile 42.9%, State Farm 28.6% |
| Where to buy | 5 | State Farm | 60% | Progressive Corporation 60%, Nationwide 60%, Travelers 60% |
| Trust and recommendation | 4 | USAA | 75% | State Farm 50%, Progressive Corporation 50%, Nationwide 50% |
The chart distinguishes general buyer-intent questions from sub-category or specific-need questions. Read the groups separately: a lead in broad selection questions is not the same as a lead in a narrower need state. The cluster results are confined to the measured prompts and cannot be generalized to all auto insurance selection behavior.
Which sites receive citations and which publishers supply evidence?
Owned-domain citation rates use 184 answers with retrieval evidence as their denominator. Forbes Advisor had the highest reported owned-domain citation rate among citation-eligible entries at 51.6%, followed by J.D. Power at 23.9% and U.S. News & World Report at 21.2%. Among the leading carriers, Nationwide had a 13.6% owned-domain citation rate.
Owned-domain citations
Owned-domain citation rate
Share of the 184 answers with retrieval evidence that cited a URL on the brand's own website.
State Farm
2.7% · 5/184
Progressive Corporation
5.4% · 10/184
Nationwide
13.6% · 25/184
Travelers
1.1% · 2/184
Erie
0.5% · 1/184
GEICO
5.4% · 10/184
USAA
2.7% · 5/184
Amica
0% · 0/184
Allstate
6% · 11/184
Liberty Mutual
4.9% · 9/184
Auto-Owners
0% · 0/184
Farmers
0% · 0/184
Carrier appearance and owned-domain citation are separate measurements. Progressive Corporation and GEICO each had a 5.4% owned-domain citation rate, while Allstate had 6.0%. Amica, Auto-Owners, Farmers, American Family, and The Hartford each had a reported 0% owned-domain citation rate, meaning their domains were evaluated across the retrieval-evidence answers and were not cited.
Where the answers come from
Most-cited publishers
Publishers cited as evidence, counted once per answer rather than once per link.
| Publisher | Answers citing it | Answer penetration |
|---|---|---|
| nerdwallet.com | 98/184 | 53.3% |
| insurance.com | 97/184 | 52.7% |
| forbes.com | 95/184 | 51.6% |
| thezebra.com | 88/184 | 47.8% |
| moneygeek.com | 83/184 | 45.1% |
| insurify.com | 76/184 | 41.3% |
| autoinsurance.com | 70/184 | 38% |
| cnbc.com | 68/184 | 37% |
| valuepenguin.com | 60/184 | 32.6% |
| money.com | 45/184 | 24.5% |
| jdpower.com | 44/184 | 23.9% |
| usnews.com | 39/184 | 21.2% |
Publisher sources were cited more often than carrier sites in this dataset. NerdWallet appeared in 53.3% of 184 answers with retrieval evidence, insurance.com in 52.7%, Forbes in 51.6%, The Zebra in 47.8%, and MoneyGeek in 45.1%. These figures describe source use in the measured answers, not editorial quality or traffic.
What does this mean for auto insurance brands?
Interpretation: brand mention and site citation need separate review. State Farm led appearances, but Nationwide had the strongest owned-domain citation rate among the leading carriers. A brand that is often named may be supported by publisher material rather than its own pages.
Interpretation: engine-specific monitoring matters. Perplexity, ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude did not produce interchangeable insurer lists. GEICO, USAA, Allstate, American Family, and the formal company names in the tally had large differences by engine. A category team can use this split to inspect which questions and systems produce a brand mention, then compare the cited pages attached to those answers.
Interpretation: publishers are a material part of the evidence mix for these prompts. The leading cited domains include comparison and advice publishers. Brand teams can distinguish between work intended to improve their own pages as citation candidates and work intended to ensure accurate representation in third-party editorial pages.
How was the auto insurance study measured?
This flagship study tested 24 stratified US auto insurance prompts three times across Perplexity, ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude. The study attempted 288 answers and returned 184. Appearance rates use 184 answers returned. Citation and source rates use 184 answers with retrieval evidence.
Study method
How this study was measured
- Sampling frame fixed first: 24 prompts allocated across the demand clusters before anything was asked.
- Same questions put to every engine: Perplexity (sonar-pro), ChatGPT (OpenAI), Gemini (Google), Claude (Anthropic), 3 trial(s) each.
- 184 answers returned of 288 attempted, 184 with retrieval evidence.
- Product lines rolled up to parent brands using a registry fixed before scoring.
- Appearance rate reported with a 95% Wilson interval; citation metrics counted only on answers with evidence.
The study measured brand names, first-mention position, engine patterns, owned-domain citations, and cited publisher domains. It did not test Google AI Overviews because Google AI Overviews is not in the measured engine list. Results apply only to the measured prompts and date. Repeated generations and prompt variation are observable at this depth, but they do not remove uncertainty or establish performance outside the sample.
Frequently asked questions
Which auto insurance brand ranked first?
State Farm ranked first with a 65.2% appearance rate across 184 answers returned. Its 95% appearance interval was 58.1% to 71.7%.
Did State Farm clearly beat Progressive Corporation and Nationwide?
No. State Farm's 95% interval overlaps with the reported intervals for Progressive Corporation and Nationwide. Progressive Corporation and Nationwide each had a 61.4% appearance rate and a 54.2% to 68.1% interval.
Which engine named State Farm most often?
Perplexity named State Farm in 95.7% of its 47 returned answers. ChatGPT named State Farm in 80.4% of 46, Gemini in 39.1% of 46, and Claude in 44.4% of 45.
Which leading carrier had the strongest owned-domain citation rate?
Nationwide had a 13.6% owned-domain citation rate among the leading carriers. Citation rates use 184 answers with retrieval evidence as the denominator.
Which publisher was cited most often?
NerdWallet was cited in 53.3% of 184 answers with retrieval evidence. insurance.com followed at 52.7%, and Forbes at 51.6%.
Did the study include Google AI Overviews?
No. The measured engine list contains Perplexity, ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude. Google AI Overviews is not included in the tally.
Charts and data tables
Aggregators and comparison sites, tracked separately
These are not brands in the category, so they are measured the same way but kept out of the brand leaderboard.
| # | Entity | Appearance rate | Answers | 95% interval |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | NerdWallet | 9.2% | 17/184 | 5.8%–14.3% |
| 2 | Insurify | 3.8% | 7/184 | 1.9%–7.6% |
| 3 | The Zebra | 3.3% | 6/184 | 1.5%–6.9% |
Methodology appendix
This appendix is generated directly from the measurement record for this study. It is included so any brand named here can reproduce or challenge the result.
What was measured
- Category: auto insurance
- Measurement date: 2026-09-02
- Depth: flagship — 24 prompts, 3 trial(s) per prompt per engine, 4 engines
- Answers attempted: 288
- Answers returned (appearance denominator): 184
- Answers with retrieval evidence (citation denominator): 184 (63.9% of attempted)
- Answers that failed outright: 104
- Analysis version: study-methodology-v2 · entity registry: entity-registry-2026-08-27
Claim limit: Flagship depth: 24 stratified prompts measured three times per engine, so both between-prompt and repeat-generation variation are observable.
How the prompts were sampled
Fixed sampling frame: 12 buyer-intent need(s) from the client's brief are asked verbatim, one prompt each, grouped under: General buyer intent (unbranded) / Sub-category / specific need; then , then a documented set of generic commercial demand clusters (general best, primary use case, specific need, quality tier, price/value, beginner, comparison, durability, specialist, emerging, retail channel, trust) receives the remaining allocation round-robin. The prompt writer supplies wording inside these cells only and does not choose the category's demand structure.
| Demand cluster | Prompts | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| best car insurance company | 1 | best car insurance company |
| cheapest car insurance | 1 | cheapest car insurance |
| car insurance for young drivers | 1 | car insurance for young drivers |
| car insurance for a bad driving record | 1 | car insurance for a bad driving record |
| best car insurance for high-value or luxury vehicles | 1 | best car insurance for high-value or luxury vehicles |
| most reliable car insurance claims process | 1 | most reliable car insurance claims process |
| best car insurance with accident forgiveness | 1 | best car insurance with accident forgiveness |
| best usage-based or pay-per-mile car insurance | 1 | best usage-based or pay-per-mile car insurance |
| best car insurance bundle with home insurance | 1 | best car insurance bundle with home insurance |
| best car insurance app or digital experience | 1 | best car insurance app or digital experience |
| best car insurance for military families | 1 | best car insurance for military families |
| which car insurance company has the best customer service reputation | 1 | which car insurance company has the best customer service reputation |
| General best-in-category | 1 | the plain, highest-volume 'best X' style demand with no qualifier |
| Primary use case | 1 | the dominant everyday use case for this category |
| Specific need or condition | 1 | a specific buyer need, constraint, body/fit/context requirement or problem to solve |
| Quality and premium tier | 1 | which options are highest quality, most durable or best made |
| Price and value | 1 | budget, value-for-money, cheaper alternatives and whether premium is worth it |
| Beginners and first purchase | 1 | what a first-time buyer with no knowledge of the category should get |
| Comparison and evaluation | 1 | head-to-head style evaluation demand: which brands are better than which, and on what basis |
| Durability and longevity | 1 | which brands last, hold up over time, or fail early |
| Specialist / advanced use | 1 | advanced, professional or enthusiast-level demand inside the category |
| Emerging and new entrants | 1 | newer entrants, recent launches and shifts buyers are only starting to ask about |
| Where to buy | 1 | purchase-channel demand: where to buy, which retailers, direct vs marketplace |
| Trust and recommendation | 1 | which brands are most recommended or most trusted by reviewers and experts |
The exact prompts
| # | Prompt | Cluster | Shape |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | best car insurance company | need_1 | medium |
| 2 | cheapest car insurance | need_2 | medium |
| 3 | car insurance for young drivers | need_3 | medium |
| 4 | car insurance for a bad driving record | need_4 | medium |
| 5 | best car insurance for high-value or luxury vehicles | need_5 | medium |
| 6 | most reliable car insurance claims process | need_6 | medium |
| 7 | best car insurance with accident forgiveness | need_7 | medium |
| 8 | best usage-based or pay-per-mile car insurance | need_8 | medium |
| 9 | best car insurance bundle with home insurance | need_9 | medium |
| 10 | best car insurance app or digital experience | need_10 | medium |
| 11 | best car insurance for military families | need_11 | medium |
| 12 | which car insurance company has the best customer service reputation | need_12 | medium |
| 13 | best auto insurance companies | general_best | short |
| 14 | best car insurance for everyday drivers | use_case | medium |
| 15 | best auto insurance for high-risk drivers | specific_need | medium |
| 16 | highest-quality auto insurance companies | premium_quality | short |
| 17 | Which auto insurance companies offer the best value for budget-conscious drivers? | value_price | long |
| 18 | What are the best auto insurance companies for a first-time car owner? | beginner | long |
| 19 | Which auto insurance companies are better for claims handling, coverage, and rates? | comparison | long |
| 20 | best long-term auto insurers | durability | short |
| 21 | Which auto insurance companies are best for drivers needing specialized coverage and high policy limits? | specialist | long |
| 22 | best newer auto insurance companies | emerging | short |
| 23 | Where should I buy auto insurance: directly, through an agent, or an online marketplace? | retail | long |
| 24 | Which auto insurance companies are most trusted and recommended by independent experts? | trust | long |
Engines and systems measured
| Engine | Model / system | Retrieval | Attempted | Returned | With retrieval evidence | Retrieval rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Perplexity (sonar-pro) | perplexity/sonar-pro | native Perplexity web search | 72 | 47 | 47 | 65.3% |
| ChatGPT (OpenAI) | openai/gpt-5.6-terra | OpenAI web search tool | 72 | 46 | 46 | 63.9% |
| Gemini (Google) | google/gemini-3.7-flash | Google Search grounding (google_search tool) | 72 | 46 | 46 | 63.9% |
| Claude (Anthropic) | anthropic/claude-sonnet-4 | Anthropic web search tool | 72 | 45 | 45 | 62.5% |
Results are not strictly comparable across engines: each engine uses a different model, a different retrieval tool and a different answer format, so a gap between two engines can reflect system design as much as brand visibility.
How each metric is defined
- Appearance rate — the share of returned answers that named the brand. Measured on every answer the engine returned, whether or not it searched the web, so an engine's retrieval behaviour does not silently change the denominator.
- Macro appearance rate — the mean of the per-prompt appearance rates, so each prompt counts once regardless of how many engines answered it.
- 95% interval — Wilson score interval on the appearance rate. Where two brands' intervals overlap, this study does not support a claim that one is more visible than the other.
- Owned-domain citation rate — the share of answers with retrieval evidence that cited a URL on the brand's own domain. This is a narrow measure of the brand's own site being used as a source; it is not a measure of total mentions.
- Share of all citations — the brand's own domain as a share of all attributed publisher citations in the study.
- Not measured — the brand's official domain could not be established, so no citation result exists. This is never reported as 0%.
- 0% — the metric could be evaluated and the event did not occur.
- Average position — mean position of the brand's first mention in the answer's ordered list of named brands.
- Cross-engine consistency — the share of engines that named the brand at least once.
- Repeat consistency — the share of repeated prompt/engine cells where the brand appeared in every trial. Lower values mean the engine's answer is unstable rather than the brand being absent.
Evidence rules
- An answer counts as having retrieval evidence only when the engine returned a retrieval receipt (search annotations or grounding records). A URL the model merely typed into its prose is not treated as evidence that it searched.
- Sources are attributed to the publisher behind each retrieval receipt. Intermediary and redirect hosts are never reported as publishers.
- Publisher identity could not be established for 0 retrieval receipt(s); those are disclosed here rather than attributed or dropped.
- Source counts are answer-level: a publisher counts once per answer in which it was cited, not once per URL.
Full results with denominators and intervals
| # | Brand | Named in | Appearance rate | Macro rate | 95% interval | Owned-domain citations |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | State Farm | 120/184 | 65.2% | 64.6% | 58.1%–71.7% | 5/184 (2.7%) |
| 2 | Progressive Corporation | 113/184 | 61.4% | 61% | 54.2%–68.1% | 10/184 (5.4%) |
| 3 | Nationwide | 113/184 | 61.4% | 61% | 54.2%–68.1% | 25/184 (13.6%) |
| 4 | Travelers | 105/184 | 57.1% | 56.8% | 49.8%–64% | 2/184 (1.1%) |
| 5 | Erie | 101/184 | 54.9% | 54.1% | 47.7%–61.9% | 1/184 (0.5%) |
| 6 | GEICO | 93/184 | 50.5% | 50.6% | 43.4%–57.7% | 10/184 (5.4%) |
| 7 | USAA | 91/184 | 49.5% | 49.7% | 42.3%–56.6% | 5/184 (2.7%) |
| 8 | Amica | 77/184 | 41.8% | 41.6% | 35%–49.1% | 0/184 (0%) |
| 9 | Allstate | 68/184 | 37% | 36.4% | 30.3%–44.1% | 11/184 (6%) |
| 10 | Liberty Mutual | 55/184 | 29.9% | 29.6% | 23.7%–36.9% | 9/184 (4.9%) |
| 11 | Auto-Owners | 49/184 | 26.6% | 25.6% | 20.8%–33.4% | 0/184 (0%) |
| 12 | Farmers | 34/184 | 18.5% | 18.3% | 13.5%–24.7% | 0/184 (0%) |
| 13 | American Family | 33/184 | 17.9% | 17.3% | 13.1%–24.1% | 0/184 (0%) |
| 14 | J.D. Power | 33/184 | 17.9% | 18.5% | 13.1%–24.1% | 44/184 (23.9%) |
| 15 | United Services Automobile Association | 33/184 | 17.9% | 17.2% | 13.1%–24.1% | 5/184 (2.7%) |
| 16 | Forbes Advisor | 28/184 | 15.2% | 14.6% | 10.7%–21.1% | 95/184 (51.6%) |
| 17 | Government Employees Insurance Company | 28/184 | 15.2% | 14.6% | 10.7%–21.1% | 10/184 (5.4%) |
| 18 | National Association of Insurance Commissioners | 21/184 | 11.4% | 11.8% | 7.6%–16.8% | 1/184 (0.5%) |
| 19 | Sources | 21/184 | 11.4% | 10.9% | 7.6%–16.8% | domain not established — excluded from citation metrics |
| 20 | Chubb | 18/184 | 9.8% | 9.4% | 6.3%–14.9% | 5/184 (2.7%) |
| 21 | The Hartford | 17/184 | 9.2% | 9.5% | 5.8%–14.3% | 0/184 (0%) |
| 22 | Root | 13/184 | 7.1% | 7.1% | 4.2%–11.7% | 3/184 (1.6%) |
| 23 | U.S. News & World Report | 12/184 | 6.5% | 6.3% | 3.8%–11.1% | 39/184 (21.2%) |
| 24 | AM Best | 11/184 | 6% | 6.6% | 3.4%–10.4% | 3/184 (1.6%) |
| 25 | Lemonade | 10/184 | 5.4% | 5.5% | 3%–9.7% | 4/184 (2.2%) |
| 26 | Metromile | 7/184 | 3.8% | 3.9% | 1.9%–7.6% | 4/184 (2.2%) |
Entity handling
Product lines and model names roll up to their parent brand for brand-level metrics, using a registry fixed before scoring. Nothing is merged on the basis of this study's own counts alone.
No roll-ups were applied in this study.
Held for human classification before the next study: Travelers, Amica Mutual Insurance Company, GEICO, USAA, Progressive Corporation, Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, Erie Insurance Exchange, Amica, American Family Insurance, Auto-Owners Insurance, Allstate Insurance Company, COUNTRY Financial, Acuity Insurance, AAA / CSAA Insurance Group, Auto-Owners, State Farm, Erie Insurance, Nationwide, Allstate, Ranking Tier, J.D. Power, U.S. News & World Report, Forbes Advisor, AM Best, National Association of Insurance Commissioners, NerdWallet, United Services Automobile Association, A++, The Travelers Companies, Inc., Government Employees Insurance Company, Progressive Casualty Insurance Company, Sources & Industry References, Bankrate, U.S.AA, Travelers Property Casualty Company of America, American Family, Availability matters a lot, Liberty Mutual, Chubb.
Limits of these findings
- This is a point-in-time measurement of what the named systems returned for these exact prompts on 2026-09-02. Engine behaviour changes without notice.
- The prompt set is a stratified sample of category demand, not a census. Results describe these prompts and should not be read as representative of all searches in the category.
- Where intervals overlap, differences between brands are not statistically distinguishable at this sample size.
- A brand not listed here was not measured as absent — it simply was not named in these answers.
- Appearance is a visibility measure, not an endorsement, a quality judgement or a market-share estimate.
- 1 of 26 ranked brand(s) had no official domain established before scoring, so they carry appearance results only and are excluded from citation metrics and source tables rather than being reported as zero.
