American Family vs Amica (2026)

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American Family is an auto insurance provider that writes in 19 different states. In comparison, Amica is a national provider that writes across 49 states, plus Washington, D.C., operating in every state except Hawaii. If you're looking to compare the two of these while you're on the hunt for a new provider, this head-to-head choice is only relevant if you're a driver located in any of the states American Family operates in.

If you are located in one of the states where both American Family and Amica operate, the key takeaway is that American Family is consistently the cheaper choice in terms of their published rates. In contrast, Amica is the standout choice when it comes to customer satisfaction, financial strength, and dividend policies.

Auto, Home, or Both?

This comparison covers auto insurance — rates, ratings, and coverage details for drivers cross-shopping American Family and Amica. If you're actually comparing these two for homeowners insurance, the short version is that Amica is generally the stronger pick there as well: it ranked first in J.D. Power's 2025 U.S. Homeowners Insurance Study, and tied for the highest score in the 2022 U.S. Property Claims Satisfaction Study at 886, against an industry average of 871.

One wrinkle worth flagging before you shop: outside American Family's 19 auto states, an American Family–branded home-and-auto bundle isn't available at all, so if bundling is part of your decision, your options narrow along with the footprint.

Where Each One Sells

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When choosing between these two great providers, first and foremost, it comes down to where you live, as both providers are not available in all the same states.

• American Family operates in 19 different states. These include: Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin.

• Amica operates in 49 of the 50 states, plus Washington, D.C. The only state where they don't operate is Hawaii. It must be noted, though, that Amica is licensed in more places than it has physical offices. Some sources online state that it is licensed in all 50 states, and others say that it is available in just 49. Both of these statements are true, as they're measuring different things; while Amica is licensed in Hawaii, this doesn't mean they're currently operational there.

We personally checked this availability as of August 18th, 2026, to help ensure we're providing the most up-to-date, accurate information possible. We checked these numbers against carrier and industry sources, and compared the actual state lists when published counts didn't match up.

If you're currently hunting down the best car insurance, and you're choosing between Amica and American Family, location is the first important thing to check. If you're located outside of the 19 states in which American Family operates, there's really no decision to make. Instead, you can compare Amica with other national insurers to ensure you find the best deal available to you.

Does American Family Go By Other Names in Some States?

You may run into other sources listing American Family in states outside its usual 19 — that's usually the American Family Insurance Group, not the American Family–branded auto policy this page compares.

The Group writes nationwide through several underwriting companies, including Homesite, American Family Connect (formerly Ameriprise), Main Street America, and Midvale Indemnity, the last of which holds certificates of authority in all 50 states plus D.C.

If you buy through one of those companies rather than American Family directly, you won't get an American Family agent, the KnowYourDrive or MilesMyWay discount programs, or the rates referenced on this page — worth double-checking which entity is actually underwriting your quote.

The Satisfaction Scoreboard

Should customer satisfaction be high on your list of priorities, then Amica currently has the edge. Here's how the two stack up on satisfaction, financial strength, and complaints:

The 2026 J.D. Power Auto Insurance Study surveyed 52,216 customers and was released in June 2026. Both complaint-index figures sit comfortably below the industry baseline of 1.0, meaning both insurers draw fewer complaints — relative to their size — than a typical carrier.

It's also worth knowing that Amica's shift off a negative A.M. Best outlook followed a stretch of rate increases and what A.M. Best described as a strategic focus on its core northeastern states. That's useful context if you're comparing a national rate average against a quote from your own state — Amica's book of business, and its pricing, currently skews toward the Northeast.

The Amica Score You've Seen Quoted Is Four Years Old

You may come across comparison pages that quote an Amica J.D. Power score of 903. That figure is from the 2022 U.S. Auto Claims Satisfaction Study, where Amica ranked first — four years old at this point, and not directly comparable to current scores, since J.D. Power's claims-satisfaction scale has shifted since then (that study's industry average was 873, versus roughly 700 in more recent claims studies).

More recent numbers, on the current scale: Amica scored 735 in J.D. Power's 2025 Auto Insurance Study — up 26 points from the year before — then 702 in 2026, still enough for first place in New England, just a smaller margin. In the separate Auto Claims Satisfaction Study, Insurance.com's J.D. Power roundup puts Amica's 2025 claims-satisfaction score at 718. Amica remains a strong, consistent performer across these studies — it's just not sitting at 903 anymore.

The Dividend Maths, Finally Shown

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Amica offers dividend policies on auto, home, marine, and personal umbrella insurance in most states. With these, they return part of your annual premium to eligible policyholders. Amica states that dividend payments average 5% to 20% of your annual premium. This is based on its own average range, though, and is not a guarantee.

One of the most important things to know before making a decision on which provider to choose based on this information is eligibility. Amica states, "To be eligible to receive a declared dividend, you must be a policyholder when and if dividends are declared." Amica also says, "Should your policy cancel or terminate for any reason before the end of its full term, you would not be eligible for a declared dividend payment."

Of course, dividend policies aren't available in every state or on every policy type, and dividends are not guaranteed. This should be taken into consideration when choosing which provider to go with for your car insurance.

What the Dividend Is Actually Worth

To see what the dividend could mean in practice, we took a look at both providers and did the math using published sticker premiums. We used the same driver profile for both providers: a 40-year-old driver with good credit, a clean record, 100/300/100 liability limits, and a $500 deductible. Here is what we found.

These premiums are taken from Insurance.com (published March 2026) and Insure.com (published January 2026). The takeaway from these calculations, using Insurance.com and Insure.com's pricing, is fairly straightforward: Amica is roughly $860 more before the dividend and still about $300 more after a 20% dividend — though using NerdWallet's pricing instead, that flips, with Amica coming out cheaper after the same dividend.

That said, there are a few catches you should be aware of before letting this sway your decision:

• Dividend policies can cost more: Amica says dividend policies typically carry a higher base premium than non-dividend policies. That means the true calculation is the dividend-policy premium minus the expected dividend, compared with Amica's non-dividend price. Amica doesn't publish either side of that comparison.

• There is no formula or history: Amica doesn't publish a formula for calculating dividends or a year-by-year payment history. Its 5%-20% range is the only published guide we have to refer to, and is therefore not a prediction of what you will receive.

• Cancel early, and you'll lose it: If the policy cancels or terminates before the end of its full term, Amica says you won't be eligible for the declared dividend. Switching insurers mid-term can therefore wipe out the entire expected payment.

The dividend is a genuine advantage for anyone tempted to take out a car insurance policy with Amica. Still, it isn't a magic trick that automatically makes them the cheaper provider. When shopping for your next car insurance policy, the useful comparison is the actual price of an eligible dividend policy, minus any dividend you realistically expect to receive, against American Family's quote.

Using Insurance.com/Insure.com pricing, even a full 20% dividend leaves Amica about $300 more expensive. Using NerdWallet's pricing, the same full dividend would make Amica roughly $300 cheaper. Which is true for you depends entirely on which rate data is closer to your actual quote — this is exactly why the dividend math needs your real premium, not a published average, to mean anything.

What Each One Costs

These two carriers are priced very differently depending on the driver profile. For a clean, preferred-risk profile, the gap is fairly small. Once credit or driving history deteriorates, though, the gap between these rates widens dramatically.

Based on a 40-year-old driver with good credit, a clean record, 100/300/100 liability limits, and a $500 deductible, we see:

• Insurance.com, March 2026:

  • American Family: $1,912

  • Amica: $2,767

• Insure.com, January 2026:

  • American Family: $1,908

  • Amica: $2,772

Aside from these two sources, NerdWallet also publishes rate data, though its profile (a 35-year-old driver) and update schedule differ, so we're treating it as a second, independent data point rather than a matched comparison to the figures above. NerdWallet's September 2026 analysis tells a different story: American Family at $2,832, Amica at $3,167 — still a gap in American Family's favor, but only about 12%, versus the ~45% gap in the Insurance.com/Insure.com figures above.

The pattern is hard to miss: Amica charges roughly three times as much after a DUI and more than twice as much when the driver has poor credit. The clean-driver gap between these two providers is around 4-5%. American Family is more forgiving when it comes to blemishes in your driver profile, while Amica is priced closer to a preferred-risk carrier — worth knowing before you assume a national average tells you what you'd actually pay.

One thing worth disclosing about NerdWallet's numbers specifically: its Amica figures are drawn from four states — Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Rhode Island — among the more expensive auto insurance markets in the country, while its American Family figures aren't restricted the same way. So treat the size of the gap above as directional rather than an exact national comparison; your own quote, for either carrier, will reflect your actual state.

Cost by Credit Score

Credit score is one of the biggest levers in this comparison. Published rate data segmented by credit tier (via The Zebra) shows American Family pricing lower than Amica at every tier:

The gap is narrowest for drivers with very poor credit (about $79 a year) and widest for drivers with very good credit (about $165 a year). Exact figures will shift over time and vary by state, but the pattern — American Family pricing lower across every credit tier — has held consistently across the sources we checked.

Cost by Age

Age matters just as much as credit. Teen drivers see the widest gap of any group, with American Family running about $1,556 a year cheaper on average, per the same Zebra rate data:

Drivers in their 20s are the one group where Amica actually prices below American Family; every other age band favors American Family.

Because these profiles come from different sources with different update dates, treat all of the figures on this page as indications of the difference in pricing rather than matched-date quotes. Your own quote, for either carrier, will depend on your specific state, vehicle, and driving history.

Worth flagging specifically: these credit- and age-tier breakdowns come from The Zebra, not NerdWallet — and since NerdWallet's baseline numbers compress the American Family/Amica gap to roughly 12% versus the ~45% gap in the Insurance.com/Insure.com baseline, don't assume the credit- and age-tier percentage gaps above would hold at the same magnitude if priced using NerdWallet's methodology instead.

Discounts, Usage-Based Programs, and Roadside Assistance

Usage-Based and Pay-Per-Mile Programs

Usage-based and pay-per-mile programs are where these two carriers differ most:

If pay-by-the-mile pricing matters to you, American Family currently has a program for it and Amica doesn't. On KnowYourDrive, it's worth knowing that third-party reviews of the program suggest most enrolled drivers land closer to the 10% enrollment discount than the full 20% renewal rate.

Discounts and Savings

Both carriers offer a similar standard set of discounts — good student, multi-policy, multi-vehicle, anti-theft and anti-lock-brake equipment, safe/defensive driver, pay-in-full, homeowner, paperless billing, and military, among others. Amica also offers a few discounts American Family doesn't: a loyalty discount, a tenure credit based on how long you were insured with your previous carrier, and a legacy discount for drivers under 30 who were previously covered on a family member's Amica policy.

Roadside Assistance

American Family's Emergency Roadside Service covers up to an hour of mechanical labor at the breakdown site, towing to the nearest repair shop, fuel and oil delivery, tire-change and battery-charge labor, and locksmith labor (though not parts). Amica's roadside assistance runs 24/7 and covers jump-starts, flat-tire changes, fuel delivery, and towing up to 15 miles to the nearest repair facility. The practical difference: Amica publishes a specific tow-distance cap, while American Family caps on-site labor time instead and doesn't cover locksmith parts.

Which Should You Choose?

When comparing American Family and Amica, there isn't one clear universal winner. Which you should choose ultimately depends on your own unique driver profile and what matters most to you in a car insurance policy. To give you some further guidance:

• Outside of American Family's 19 states: There is no comparison to make. If Amica seems like a good option, you should compare it with another national carrier, or one that definitely operates in your state, before making a final decision.

• Clean record, good credit, price-driven: American Family is the clear winner in this respect. Their published rates are substantially lower than Amica's across the board.

• Claims experience is your priority, and you're willing to stay put: Amica would be the top choice if these circumstances apply to you. With an A+ Superior financial-strength rating, a 2026 regional J.D. Power win, and an above-average claims score, it is clearly the stronger option. The dividend is a genuine bonus, but it is not guaranteed, and you will need to keep the policy through its full term to qualify.

• Ticket, DUI, or damaged credit: Based on the published figures, American Family would be the best choice. They are much more forgiving of these things, and Amica penalizes them much more heavily.

In short, Amica is the stronger choice for service and strength, whereas American Family is the better choice for those in search of a provider with good risk tolerance and lower overall costs.

American Family and Amica are not really competing on the same strengths. American Family has the clearer price advantage, while Amica has a stronger draw for drivers who are looking to prioritize claims experience, financial strength, and possible dividends.

Published averages, of course, are only a starting point. Your age, driving record, credit, location, and coverage choices can change the numbers considerably. If you're looking to find out what you'd actually pay with each of these insurers, SaveMax Auto is here to help. We can help you find quotes matched to your exact driver profile, so you can take the guesswork out of finding the perfect car insurance.

FAQs About American Family and Amica