State Farm vs. Geico: Which is better? (2024)

Pros and cons: State Farm

✓ Slightly cheaper than GEICO

✓ Great discounts for young drivers

✓ Excellent customer experience score

✕ Not available in Massachusetts, Rhode Island

Read our full State Farm insurance review

Pros and cons: GEICO

✓ Cheap rates for most drivers

✓ Plenty of discounts

✓ Available in all 50 states

✕ Lower rated customer experience than State Farm

Read our full GEICO insurance review

State Farm vs. GEICO: Which is better?

We give a slight edge to State Farm for its highly customer experience ratings, but both State Farm and GEICO have cheap rates and great financial strength ratings. GEICO is also available in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, where State Farm doesn’t currently offer coverage.

Neither State Farm or GEICO offer very many auto insurance endorsements, so you may want to look for another company if you want add-ons like new car replacement, or gap insurance coverage.

No matter what, you should compare quotes from both State Farm and GEICO. There’s a chance one might be significantly better for you than the other depending on where you live and your driving record.

State Farm vs. GEICO: at a glance

Why you can trust our insurance company comparisons

We calculated our expert ratings by considering cost, availability, customer experience and satisfaction, and coverage options. Our own policycentral agents — who have years of experience working with real car insurance shoppers — also weighed in.

To come up with our company ratings, we accumulated company data for price, financial strength, customer experience, and coverage options. We assigned a weight to each category based on research and insight from our own licensed insurance editors and operations specialists. Here’s how our ratings categories break down:

• Price (35%): We gave each company a score based on its average rate and available discounts.

• Financial strength (25%): We gave point values based on each company’s A.M. Best Financial Strength Rating, S&P credit rating, and Moody’s credit rating.

• Customer experience (20%): We scored companies based on how they performed on the most recent J.D. Power Auto Claims Satisfaction and Digital Experience surveys. This category also considers a company's complaint index, which is provided by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

• Coverage options (20%): We scored companies for the number of coverage types offered and the quality of these options. Less common endorsements earned higher scores compared to add-ons that most companies offer.

Next, we converted each company’s raw values to the same standardized “z-score” and “t-score.” Finally, using a weighted average formula, we combined each category rating and converted it to a 5-point scale to calculate each company's overall policycentral rating.

How we calculated coverage cost:

We determined the average costs for full-coverage car insurance from each company using rate data provided by Quadrant Information Services.

These rates were from every ZIP code across every state, along with the District of Columbia. Rates were for a 30-year-old male driver with a 2017 Toyota Camry. Our sample full-coverage policy included the following limits:

• Bodily injury liability: $50,000 per person, $100,000 per accident

• Property damage liability: $50,000 per accident

• Uninsured/underinsured motorist: $50,000 per person, $100,000 per accident

• Comprehensive: $500 deductible

• Collision: $500 deductible

Some carriers may be represented by affiliates or subsidiaries. Rates provided are a sample of costs. Your actual quotes may differ.

Is State Farm or GEICO cheaper?

State Farm is cheaper than GEICO for drivers with a clean driving record. On average, car insurance from State Farm costs $1,141 per year, which is $51 cheaper than GEICO for the same driver. Both are much cheaper than the national average ($1,638 per year).

State Farm has lower average rates than GEICO, but GEICO can be cheaper than State Farm at the local level. But as long as you don’t have any past violations on your record, there’s a good chance that State Farm and GEICO will be the two cheapest big companies in your area.

State Farm is cheaper for high-risk drivers

State Farm is cheaper than GEICO for most high-risk drivers. In fact, State Farm tends to have some of the best rates for high-risk drivers overall.

But, while high-risk insurance is usually cheaper at State Farm, GEICO has better rates for drivers with poor credit. For drivers with credit scores lower than 524, GEICO costs $1,314 less per year than State Farm.

State Farm is cheaper across different ages

State Farm is cheaper for drivers in four of the five age groups that we checked. GEICO is cheaper for the youngest drivers, however. Adding a 16-year-old to a policy was $723 cheaper per year with GEICO than with State Farm.

While State Farm has lower average rates than GEICO for other age groups, the cost difference is small. On average, GEICO was just $70 more expensive per year than State Farm for drivers ages 25 to 65.

Does State Farm or GEICO have better discounts?

GEICO has slightly more auto insurance discounts than State Farm. Notably, GEICO has discounts for federal employees and members of the military that State Farm doesn’t.

Discount	State Farm	GEICO
Accident-free discount	Yes	No
Affinity discount	No	Yes
Bundling discount	Yes	Yes
Defensive driving class discount	Yes	Yes
Distant student discount	Yes	No
Emergency deployment discount	No	Yes
Federal employee discount	No	Yes
Good student discount	Yes	Yes
Military discount	No	Yes
Multi-car discount	Yes	Yes
New vehicle discount	No	Yes
Safe vehicle discount	Yes	Yes
Secure vehicle discount	Yes	Yes
Young driver discount	Yes	No

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Comparing usage-based insurance from State Farm and GEICO

State Farm and GEICO both offer usage-based car insurance programs, which award savings for safe driving. 

Both Drive Safe & Save (from State Farm) or DriveEasy (GEICO), use an app to keep track of when you use your phone behind the wheel, drive at high speeds, and how hard you brake and accelerate.

Despite the similarities of Drive Safe & Save and DriveEasy, we think that State Farm has the better usage-based insurance, since it won’t raise your rates even if you drive poorly.

Is State Farm or GEICO better for customer experience?

State Farm is the better insurance company for customer experience. On the J.D. Power 2022 Claims Satisfaction Study, which measures how customers feel about their company’s claims process, State Farm ranks near the top (and has in past surveys, too). GEICO ranks closer to the middle, but still above average.

According to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), State Farm also receives far fewer complaints for prices than average, the claims process, and settlements from claims. The average complaint index is 1.0, but State Farm has a complaint index of 0.67.

GEICO better financial strength than State Farm

GEICO has slightly better financial strength ratings than State Farm, but both GEICO and State Farm have great long-term stability and won’t have a problem paying future claims.

Is State Farm or GEICO better for coverage options?

Although State Farm is slightly better than GEICO for car insurance coverage options, neither is the best option for people who want to add more coverage to a basic policy. Both offer just a few common endorsements, and neither has gap insurance.

One strength of State Farm is its rideshare coverage. If you drive for Uber, Lyft, or another app-based service, you’ll need the extra coverage that rideshare insurance provides to be fully covered throughout the entire time you drive.

Are there better companies than State Farm and GEICO?

Although we think State Farm and GEICO are some of the best car insurance companies, some people may want a better alternative.

If you need to add gap insurance for a financed or leased vehicle, or new car replacement coverage for a vehicle you just bought, then Travelers, Farmers, or Erie (if you’re in the Northeast or Midwest) would be better companies.

On the other hand, it’s hard for people who just want cheap rates to find a better company than State Farm or GEICO. Smaller companies can be cheaper, but these are typically available in one or two states (like Wawanesa, in California).

Frequently asked questions

Is GEICO or State Farm bigger?

State Farm is larger than GEICO. State Farm is the biggest car insurance company by market share in the country, while GEICO is the second largest.

Are there any cheaper companies than State Farm and GEICO?

Yes, there are lots of smaller companies that have cheaper insurance than State Farm or GEICO. Carriers like Wawanesa, American National, Secura, and some Farm Bureau affiliates could have cheaper rates, but these companies also operate in only a few states.

Which is better at paying claims, State Farm or GEICO?

State Farm has a better claims satisfaction rating than GEICO, according to the 2022 J.D. Power’s Claims Satisfaction study. It also gets fewer complaints than GEICO. Both of these could mean that State Farm is better at paying claims.