Review of GoAuto Insurance

Overview

Nearly ten years ago Greg Tramontin became founder and CEO of GoAuto Insurance. This small, low cost auto insurance carrier is based in Louisiana. GoAuto has 30 agency locations throughout Louisiana and 8 agency locations around Nevada.

GoAuto Insurance deals with customers mainly through the corporate website or face-to-face in one of their agency locations. Their commercials and website all stress GoAuto’s practice of not selling pricey add-on insurance (i.e. roadside assistance) and not using commissioned insurance agents. The belief is by eliminating these two factors premiums can remain low.

We wanted to gather other information about GoAuto Insurance such as their product offerings and rates. Unfortunately, this is an impossible challenge. There is very little information available about this small auto insurer. There isn’t even a Wikipedia or Instagram page to check-out which is very unusual. In fact, throughout our review you’ll see the lack of available information is one of our criticisms.

Financial Health

We were displeased to find no information about GoAuto’s financial strength. Being able to look-up grades given to a carrier by financial grading organizations is so beneficial. Without a published industry rating for GoAuto, it is hard for consumers to know the truth.

You may not be aware of it, but groups such as A.M. Best, Moody’s, Fitch, and S&P do an in-depth review of insurance carriers – from top to bottom. The ratings organizations will look to see if the insurance company has enough money in reserves to pay claims and cover operational expenses. They want to see how strong the insurance company’s leadership is and the direction they are leading.

These independent ratings associations do a great service to the public. They provide valuable information that the general public would not be able to obtain. So reviewing an auto insurance company’s financial security is a significant aspect of shopping for coverage.

It’s unfortunate that we have no GoAuto Insurance ratings information to share with you.

Pricing

The American public is always looking for a deal. We want value but we also want it at a low price point. The same is true of auto insurance.

GoAuto advertises low cost auto insurance. It’s unfortunate we are not able to confirm this fact because their quoting is so secretive.

They claim not selling expensive add-on insurance and not paying agent commissions is what keeps premiums down. To be honest, GoAuto’s marketing leaves the impression they are geared towards the non-standard or high risk driver. This usually means low premiums but poor customer satisfaction, claims processing, and financial health.

Keep in mind, low priced auto insurance sometimes means low quality too. You have to determine for yourself how much you really need to save and if buying GoAuto is worth the short-term savings.

Customer Satisfaction

GoAuto Insurance touts its high level of customer service. In fact, in a video posted to their website, the CEO states the majority of their Customer Service Representatives have more than 10 years of industry experience. However, the customer feedback we discovered online tells a different story.

PissedConsumer was our first stop online. There we found GoAuto earned a customer satisfaction rating of 1.8 (out of a possible 10).

The majority (or 46%) of all GoAuto customer complaints were about payment and billing issues. In fact, numerous customers claim their billing and payments were handled incorrectly. Many experienced cancelled auto policies as a result of the billing and payment problems.

To make matters worse, complaint after complaint states the customer wasn’t able to reach a live person (on the phone or at the agency) that could help explain and/or resolve the problem. That is not a great sign!

We wanted to go the extra mile and find out if any customer complaints reached the Department of Insurance. The answer was a resounding “yes”!

GoAuto Insurance is domiciled in the state of Louisiana. Their Department of Insurance (DOI) defines a complaint index of 1.0 as average and anything above 1.0 is excessive. For 2017, GoAuto Insurance earned a 2.35 complaint index.

The news didn’t get much better when we looked back at previous years. The DOI reports a 2016 complaint index of 2.51 and a 2015 complaint index of 1.38. If history is any indication, then GoAuto could very well be headed for continually higher complaint indexes.

Our final stop was a visit to the Better Business Bureau (BBB). This was the first positive review we found. BBB gave GoAuto Insurance an A+ rating, even though the carrier is not accredited.

Customer service feedback on small companies such as GoAuto is typically difficult to come by. The concern we have with GoAuto is the customer satisfaction that has been reported is very negative.

Claims Processing

GoAuto’s claims process is a bit of a mystery. We know their website prompts you to complete a simple, unprofessional looking online claim form. It is assumed the claim form will prompt a claims adjuster or customer service representative to contact the customer once notified.

Most auto carriers provide a dedicated 24 hour claims phone number. However, we were not able to find such a number on the website. Perhaps it is included on their policy paperwork or ID card. Or maybe GoAuto includes a special email or link in the customer’s online portal.

The customer service phone numbers that are listed have limited hours of service. Generally auto carriers include 24 hour assistance because accidents happen day and night.

Coverage Options

GoAuto is a small insurance company offering auto coverage in Nevada and Louisiana only. They do not sell any other products besides auto insurance. So you will not be able to bundle your auto coverage with another policy like renters or motorcycle. This means no multi-policy discounts are available.

We wanted to provide you with more details about GoAuto’s auto program. For example, what are the maximum policy limits and what types of discounts are available. Unfortunately we keep running into the same issue with GoAuto – no information is available to review.

Conclusion

GoAuto Insurance claims to offer low cost auto insurance in Nevada and Louisiana, but lacks proven financial stability and has poor customer satisfaction.

Low-cost auto insurance is always an inviting option. Buyer be warned: you are saving on premium and, therefore, the carrier may be skimping on service. We assume this may be the situation with GoAuto Insurance.

It is a plus that GoAuto Insurance has walk-in agency locations throughout their sales territory. Plus, they do offer an online insured portal to manage policyholder needs. The downside is the service provided by these two options has received very poor customer feedback.

We wanted to provide you with a robust review of GoAuto Insurance. This was a daunting task considering how difficult it was to find basic information. Hopefully the details we did provide will be useful while you shop for auto insurance—with another, more established carrier.