Esurance Review: Insurance for Everything from Segways to Snowmobiles

Esurance is one of the most recognized names in insurance these days.

We’ve done the research and compiled some useful information regarding Esurance and their suite of insurance offerings.

Perhaps most interesting, they provide insurance for Segways and snowmobiles.

What is Esurance Insurance?

The “truth” is Esurance is a lot of different things, depending on what type of insurance you’re trying to purchase from them. Just like Progressive and Geico, they are an actual auto insurance company, headquartered in San Francisco, that also acts as a broker in some cases.

Insurance is a “marketing” business. The insurance products and services available to the public are, for the most part, all relatively the same. The company that issues the most policies (their own product) or “brokers” (selling you another insurer’s product) wins.

This is often the company that best appeals to a particular emotional buying impulse of ours. Have you noticed State Farm’s recent “push” into the market of the young and cool urban dweller? Clearly they see an opportunity in a market they don’t already “own” and are looking for market share among youngsters.

Insurance advertising giants would be insane to not “cross sell” everyone they attract. Maybe they only offer auto insurance.

But if they’ve got you on the phone, why not offer home, boat, life or health insurance from a “partner” company? They may not get your premium dollars, but they can still earn a commission along the way.

Compare Quotes From Top Companies and Save

Auto Home Health Life Business Motorcycle Pet Travel Medicare Rental

 Secured with SHA-256 Encryption

What auto insurance discounts are available from Esurance?

Like most other car insurers out there, Esurance offers a ton of different discounts, including the typical ones and some more unique ones like a 5% internet discount. Just make sure the pricing and coverage are solid after all the discounts are factored in.

Active military discount – if you or your spouse or any dependents are Active Military Personnel, you may get a discount.

Claim-free discount – you can save up to 20% if you haven’t been in an accident or filed an insurance claim in the past five (5) years.

Defensive Driver discount 55+ – if you’re age 55 or above and have successfully completed the National Safety Counsel’s Defensive Driving Course, or a similar accident prevention course, you may be eligible for a discount.

Fast 5® discount – if you initiate your Esurance policy purchase via their website, you may qualify for a 5% internet discount, which applies to your first policy term.

Full-Pay discount – get a discount for paying your insurance premium in full (and avoid the monthly installment service fee).

Good driver discount – get a discount if you have a clean driving record and no “significant” insurance claims. This is their most common discount.

Glass VIN Etching discount – get a discount on your comprehensive coverage if your vehicle’s VIN number is etched into each window.

Good student discount – if you’re under 25, a full-time student, and maintain a 3.0 GPA, you may be eligible for a discount.

Homeowners discount – get a discount just for being a homeowner.

Multi-car/multi-driver discount – get a discount when you insure two or more vehicles with Esurance on the same policy.

Occupational discount – you may be eligible for a discount if you (or your spouse who’s listed on the same policy) is a certified educator, engineer, or scientist.

Switch & SaveSM discount – if you already have car insurance but switch to Esurance, you could get a 5% discount.

Theft prevention discount – you may be eligible for a discount if you have or install a theft prevention device in your vehicle.

Vehicle safety features discount – get a discount for having safety equipment installed, including automatic seat belts and possibly anti-lock brakes.

There’s also a “Mobile Homeowners” discount for Washington state residents, a discount for New York state residents with daytime running lights, and a “Verified Mileage” discount for Virginia residents.

Various discounts are also available for senior drivers at certain age thresholds, assuming they complete driving courses or keep mileage to a minimum.

Not every discount is available in each state and individual discount percentages may vary by the state in which you reside. But if you are eligible for several of the items on the above list of discounts, it could mean a significant reduction in your monthly payment.

Also know that insurance companies are constantly tweaking their rates based on their results, so these discounts could be changing as we speak.

Be sure to check out the Allstate auto insurance discounts and Mercury car insurance discounts as well!

Update: There is a new discount associated with the Esurance DriveSense device of 5-10% based on the state you live in.

What is Esurance auto insurance?

Spoiler alert! Esurance is actually a car insurance company. They are owned by Allstate – a VERY large insurer.

***Allstate just announced (5/18/11) that it will buy Esurance for roughly $1 billion***

We are talking billions of dollars in assets here folks. They also hold a coveted “Excellent” rating by AM BEST (insurance company ratings).

So if you buy an auto policy from Esurance, they will collect your insurance premium and write the check if a covered insurance claim occurs. You’re actually insured by Esurance.

They offer everything from liability only to full coverage auto ( liability and physical damage), so you’re able to obtain any coverage you may be looking for from Esurance. Nothing groundbreaking here.

Recently, they launched their so-called “CoverageMyWay” feature that kind of guides you through coverage options you might need.

Once you plug in all your info, it spits out a quote with pre-populated options that are customized to you, not all drivers. That’s the whole point of it.

So presumably based on your vehicle information and your driver profile, it will suggest that you get X coverage, but not Y.  And so on. But you can add and subtract whatever you want.

I guess they don’t want you to pay for coverage you don’t need. But they probably also want to highlight stuff you might need too.

There are additional tabs you can select for:

– Less coverage
– Standard coverage
– More coverage

While it might sound kind of cool, especially since they pitched it in a Super Bowl ad with Lindsay Lohan, most other carriers seem to offer a similar online quoting experience nowadays.

For the record, the idea behind the commercial is that you’re probably not a terrible driver like Lohan, and thus shouldn’t receive the same expensive coverage.

I played around with it and found that the customized quote did change considerably when I swapped the vehicle make and model. So it might be helpful for those who are a bit clueless about what they do and do not need. It could potentially be a money-saver.

Along with the standard coverages mentioned above, Esurance additional coverage options include personal injury protection and medical payments coverage, as well as rental car coverage, GAP insurance, and roadside assistance.

The company’s emergency roadside assistance plan features everything you would expect: towing, fuel delivery, jumpstarts, flat tire replacement, and lockout services, but coverage is capped at $75 per incident, which is a little low.

The company also recently released its DriveSense device, which uses telematics to gauge your driving habits and price your policy accordingly, similar to Progressive Snapshot.

What is Esurance home and renters insurance?

This is where it may get a little murky. You can call Esurance and purchase a homeowners insurance or renters insurance policy as well, but it may actually be offered by a different insurance company altogether.

I recently entered my zip code for an Esurance renters insurance quote and was directed to Homesite, which actually underwrites the policy. Other renters insurance companies listed on the Esurance website include Safeco, Security First, and Assurant.

However, Esurance does appear to underwrite their own renters insurance as well, though it may be limited to certain states.

Note: Claims processing is done by the underwriting company, which may not always be Esurance. In other words, if something happened you’d contact Homesite instead of Esurance.

In terms of pricing, Esurance says its renters insurance can be just $14 a month on average, and if you add a renters insurance policy, you can qualify for the Renters Plus discount.

It provides a discount of 30% of the renters premium deducted from the auto premium automatically. Unfortunately, 30% off a tiny premium may only equate to a few bucks.

For example, $14 per month annualized is $168, and 30% of that is $50.40. It’s not incidental, but it might be less than expected in the way of a discount.

Esurance Home Insurance is also provided by third-party companies in states where it’s not available. Partners include Answer Financial, Inc. (also owned by Allstate) or Security First Insurance Company for Florida residents.

You can receive a Multi-Policy discount if you bundle home and auto, though the combo is only available in select states.

Compare Quotes From Top Companies and Save

Auto Home Health Life Business Motorcycle Pet Travel Medicare Rental

 Secured with SHA-256 Encryption

What is Esurance motorcycle insurance?

Esurance offers motorcycle insurance, but not in every state. You can get Esurance motorcycle coverage in the following states: Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin.

You will find the same basic auto insurance coverages that Esurance offers are also available for your motorcycle policy.

What is Esurance life and health insurance?

The life & health insurance offerings from Esurance have even less to do with Esurance. All coverage for these two lines of insurance is offered solely through unaffiliated partners of Esurance.

This means Esurance does not underwrite, provide customer service, pay claims, or have anything to do with claims when it comes to life & health…but they still utilize their marketing to make a buck on the transaction.

What’s the bottom line?

Esurance may be a useful tool for obtaining premium quotes and purchasing auto insurance if you’re comfortable going it alone.

But if you want a local agent you can bother in the event you’re unhappy with anything, the company may not be for you.

When it comes to property insurance (home and renters) or life & health, you may want to go the route of a local independent insurance agent to ensure you get the coverage you need at the price you want.

Let’s face it; you’ll already be using an agent/broker if you purchase anything other than auto from Esurance, so you might as well use a local agent who can shop around more and provide that personal touch.

Update: We wrote and posted this article on 5/17/11, only to find out that Allstate agreed to buy Esurance a day later.  Esurance will remain its own brand, but will act as a new channel (probably youth oriented) for Allstate.

(photo: Wade Rockett)

Compare Quotes From Top Companies and Save

Auto Home Health Life Business Motorcycle Pet Travel Medicare Rental

 Secured with SHA-256 Encryption