Toggle Insurance Review 2024

Toggle auto insurance caters to a younger demographic who prefer to make transactions online, rather than speak on the phone in order to buy and manage their auto insurance. Additionally, with lower than average prices for full coverage, it’s best for good drivers who want full coverage car insurance and not much else.

However, if you got a loan for your car or leased it, Toggle does not offer gap insurance, so you’ll have to buy a separate standalone gap policy. It also does not offer rental car reimbursement. Plus, it’s only available in 14 states, disqualifying it for most U.S. residents.

Toggle costs an average of $1,779 per year, 8 percent lower than the national average of $1,924. However, it’s slightly higher than average when it comes to minimum coverage, with an average annual price of $678 compared to $547. But many factors impact the cost of auto insurance, so your quotes may be lower or higher based on your vehicle, driving history, mailing address, and more.

For example, when I got a quote from Toggle using an address in Bakersfield, California, my rate was $3,280 per year, much higher than the average. This may be due to the fact that Bakersfield has the highest rate of auto theft in the U.S. According to FBI data, in 2019, it had 656 motor vehicle thefts per 100,000 inhabitants, so you may find lower rates elsewhere.¹

Compare Toggle Rates

When I got my quote from Toggle, it automatically applied three discounts: superior driver, good driver, and anti-theft. I know that the anti-theft was due to my car’s anti-theft technology, but I’m not exactly sure what the difference is between a good versus a superior driver. However, I have to assume I got that discount for my clean driving record, with no at-fault accidents or tickets in the past five years (and as a result, no claims).

You can also save with Toggle by being a homeowner, owning a car with an Automatic Emergency Braking system, or bundling your auto and renters policy.

I’m from Pennsylvania, where Toggle does not sell policies, so to get a quote, I put in an address in Bakersfield, California.

This was probably the quickest quote process I’ve ever seen. Toggle automatically picked up my driving history from my name and address, and within seconds I was filling in my vehicle and getting a quote. Once I had the quote, I could adjust limits and add coverages to see how it would affect the price. With Toggle, I could also call a number, although it’s clear that the website directs most people to get quotes online. Still, that’s an option if you don’t want to go through the computer.

However, if you prefer talking to an actual human in person, I would check out Farmers, Toggle’s more traditional parent company, which has local offices throughout the country.

Toggle offers the standard car insurance coverages: bodily injury and property damage liability, uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage, collision insurance, and comprehensive coverage. It also includes roadside assistance with each policy, but aside from that, there were no coverages, save for additional equipment coverage, which comes with collision and comprehensive coverages.

So what’s missing? Well, gap insurance, for one, a requirement of most lessors and lenders. This means that if you purchased your car with an auto loan or you leased your car, you’ll have to buy a separate gap insurance policy. It’s also missing rental car reimbursement, so you’re on your own for transportation costs if your car is in the shop under a covered claim. Due to these lack of coverages, Toggle is a good choice if you want just the minimum insurance required. For example, where I got my quote from in California, the minimum coverage is just liability coverage:

• Bodily injury/death per person: $15,000
• Bodily injury/death per accident: $30,000
• Property damage per accident: $5,000²

Additionally, Toggle does not offer accident forgiveness, so rates will probably go up if you have an accident.

Note that Toggle is only available in 14 states, as of writing. These are:

• Arizona
• California
• Colorado
• Georgia
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Missouri
• Ohio
• Oregon
• South Carolina
• Tennessee
• Texas
• Virginia
• Wisconsin

Toggle also offers renters insurance, and I could have gotten a discount for bundling renters and auto. Some landlords require basic renters insurance, but there are also two higher tiers for more coverage, like an expensive laptop or piece of jewelry. There is also an add-on for pets, because who knows when your dog will damage the carpet.

Renters insurance is much cheaper than auto insurance; I got quoted for as little as $5 a month.

Let’s take the lowest-tier plan, which includes a deductible of up to $500 and a liability limit of $100,000. I could have customized my policy, adding coverage for:

• Up to $10,000 for technology, jewelry and fashion, cameras, art supplies, and other creative tools, active gear and equipment, and collectibles
• Up to $20,000 for furniture and appliances

In general, I think it makes sense to increase your coverage above the minimum. It usually doesn’t add too much to your premiums, and in the event of a worst case scenario, like a fire, the expense of replacing your belongings adds up quickly.

Once I chose the limits I wanted for each category, I had a few add-ons to choose from:

• Identity theft: While not technically renters insurance, identity theft monitoring will let you know if your personal data was leaked.
• Pets: If you have a pet, this coverage would go to any damages they make to your rental home.
• Replacement: Some people may prefer to replace rather than repair items.
• Side hustle: Didn’t think Toggle was targeted at millennials before? You will now. If you’re part of the majority of the country that has a side hustle, you can get insurance for your business expenses like a camera or other equipment.
• Significant other: Add your spouse or partner to your renters insurance, whether you’re married or just live in the same house, for free.
• Temporary living: If you need to stay somewhere else while you’re experiencing a covered loss, this coverage will contribute to your hotel bill.

Since Farmers owns Toggle, for the majority of third-party ratings I had to rely on data for Farmers, not Toggle specifically. Regardless, for the most part Toggle/Farmers did not do great when it came to customer satisfaction. It has a low Better Business Bureau (BBB) score, both from customers and the BBB itself, a high rate of complaints with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), and a below average score on J.D. Power’s customer satisfaction survey. However, it did perform well when it came to its financial outlook, meaning that the company is creditworthy and should be able to reliably pay out claims.

Poor customer service may be a natural result of a company that operates online primarily, with some over-the-phone service and no local offices. Beyond that, Toggle has a pretty minimal customer support center, and aside from calling the quotes line, the only way to contact the company is through an online form or a live chat. I could see this resulting in less-than-stellar customer service, so if that’s a priority of yours, Toggle is probably not for you.

With Toggle, I could file a claim on the website. However, if I couldn’t figure that out, I could also use the chatbot or contact the company through an email form. There is no app, so that’s not an option. Toggle’s lack of a claims phone number gives me pause, as filing over the phone often provides valuable guidance from a representative, which you can’t really replicate online.

Toggle is too new to be included in the 2024 CRASH Network report, but Farmers got a C- rating, ranking 70 out of 88 overall and number five of the top 10 largest insurers.⁹ That being said, Farmers performed above average in J.D. Power’s 2023 Claims Satisfaction Study, with an 878 out of 1,000 points. That puts it above competitors like The Hartford, Nationwide, and GEICO.

So just how long does a claim take with Toggle? The answer depends on its severity. For example, an accident with injuries will take longer to settle than an accident with property damage-only. Additionally, it depends on the cooperation of all the involved parties. Once you submit a claim, a claims representative will reach out to you as soon as they can, either by phone or email—your preference. It could take as little as a few days, in the least severe scenarios.

Considering it operates mostly online, strangely Toggle does not have a mobile application. Rather, I handled everything about my policy online, from getting a quote and onwards. The website, while well-designed with a quick quotes process, is lacking any solid information about coverages or discounts, beyond the bare minimum. To find out my options, I actually had to get a quote, a smart business move on Toggle’s part, if not a bit frustrating for the customer.

These are the factors we take into consideration when reviewing insurance companies.

• Coverages and pricing: The company should offer the standard coverages plus add-ons like roadside assistance, gap insurance, and rental car coverage. We compare pricing with other providers, finding an average for full and minimum coverage.
• Customer satisfaction: We analyze ratings from J.D. Power, the Better Business Bureau, and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners to see which companies customers liked the most.
• Claims: Ideally, a company should allow claims submission through its website, app, and phone service, and customers should hear back within a few days. We also take into account the CRASH Network’s Insurer Report Card as well as J.D. Power’s Claims Satisfaction Study.
• Financial strength ratings: Given that creditworthiness affects your claims, we make sure that companies have high ratings with financial rating organizations like Moody’s, Standard and Poor’s, and AM Best.
• Digital tools: Finally, we make sure that a company’s website and mobile application is easy to use and helpful for submitting claims, showing your insurance ID card, changing your coverages, and other factors. Ideally, the app should have ratings of at least three stars in all the major app stores.