Mr. Abubakar is a car insurance advisor with 5 years of experience helping individuals find the best auto insurance plans and coverage options. This guide is based on real testing conducted in March 2026 to ensure accurate and up-to-date information.
Who Is American National, and Should You Trust Them with Your Car?
There is a version of this guide that would open with a paragraph about how American National Insurance Company was founded in 1905, is headquartered in Galveston, Texas, and has been serving families for over a century. That is all true. But you can read that on any website. What actually matters to you as a driver trying to pick an insurance company is simpler: are they going to pay when something goes wrong?
The short answer is yes. American National — and specifically its property and casualty arm, ANPAC — has been around long enough and paid enough claims through hurricanes, floods, fires, and plain-old fender benders that their track record is solid. A.M. Best, the financial rating agency that specialises in American National Car Insurance companies, gives them an A (Excellent) rating. That is not just a badge on a website. It means that independent analysts who study insurer balance sheets for a living believe this company has the financial reserves to pay out claims even in a really bad year.
In 2022 the company was acquired by Brookfield Reinsurance. That kind of ownership change always makes people nervous, but Brookfield brought additional capital strength with it, and the company has continued to operate consistently since the transition.
One thing ANPAC does that most of the big-name insurers have largely walked away from: they sell through agents. Not an app, not a chatbot, not a compare-and-click website. An actual licensed American National Car Insurance agent who can sit down with you, look at your specific situation, and tell you what you actually need. For some people that sounds old-fashioned. For others — particularly those with complicated household situations, multiple vehicles, or existing life and home policies through American National — it is genuinely valuable.
A quick note on naming !
American National Insurance Company (ANICO) is the parent. ANPAC — American National Property and Casualty Company — is the specific entity that writes American National Car Insurance. You will see both names used throughout this guide and on official documents. They are part of the same organisation.
American National Car Insurance through American National is available in most U.S. states, though specific products and coverage options vary depending on where you live. Your best first step is talking to a local agent who can confirm exactly what is available in your state.
What Coverage Can You Actually Get?
ANPAC offers the full range of personal American National Car Insurance coverages — nothing exotic, but everything you need. Here is what each one actually does, explained without the insurance-brochure language.
Liability — The One You Cannot Skip
Every state except New Hampshire requires you to carry at least some liability American National Car Insurance to drive legally. Liability is not there to protect you or your car. It is there to protect the other person when you are at fault in an accident.
It splits into two parts. Bodily injury liability covers medical expenses, lost wages, and legal costs for people you injure. Property damage liability covers damage you do to someone else’s vehicle, fence, mailbox, storefront — whatever you hit. Neither one pays a cent toward your own car or your own medical bills.
Most states have embarrassingly low minimum requirements. Some require as little as $10,000 in property damage coverage. That will not get close to covering a new car in most cases. If you cause a serious accident and your liability limits are maxed out, the injured party can come after your savings, your wages, even your home. Spending a bit more to carry proper limits — $100,000/$300,000 or higher — is worth it.
Collision Coverage
Collision pays to repair or replace your car when you hit something — another vehicle, a guardrail, a telephone pole, a parking barrier. It does not matter whose fault it is. You pay your deductible, they pay the rest up to your car’s actual cash value.
If you have a loan or a lease on your car, collision is not optional — your lender requires it. If your car is paid off and it is getting older, the math on whether to keep collision coverage gets more interesting, and we cover that in the money-saving section later.
Comprehensive Coverage
Comprehensive handles everything that is not a collision. Theft. Vandalism. Hail damage. A deer running into the side of your car at 11pm on a country road. Fire. Flood. Falling tree branch. Broken windshield.
Like collision, it comes with a deductible. And like collision, lenders require it. The two are often sold together and called ‘full coverage,’ which is a slightly misleading term. Full coverage does not mean nothing can ever go wrong financially — it means you have liability plus collision plus comprehensive. There are still scenarios those three coverages do not handle, which is why the other options exist.
Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist
About one in eight drivers on American roads has no American National Car Insurance. Some states are much worse than that. Uninsured motorist coverage (UM) protects you when one of those drivers hits you and there is no policy to claim against. Underinsured motorist coverage (UIM) kicks in when the at-fault driver has insurance, but not enough to cover everything.
Without UM/UIM, if a driver with no American National Car Insurance runs a red light and puts you in hospital for three weeks, your own insurer is not automatically on the hook for your medical bills or lost wages. You would need to sue the driver — who, having no insurance, likely has nothing worth suing for. This is a coverage most people do not think about until they need it, at which point thinking about it is too late.
MedPay and PIP — Two Ways to Handle Medical Bills
Medical Payments coverage, or MedPay, is a simple one. It pays medical and funeral expenses for you and your passengers after an accident, regardless of fault. It is not enormous coverage, but it is quick — useful for covering immediate medical costs while other coverage questions get sorted out.
Personal Injury Protection, or PIP, goes further. In addition to medical expenses it can cover lost wages, rehabilitation, household services, even childcare costs if your injuries prevent you from caring for your kids. PIP is mandatory in so-called no-fault states, where each driver’s own insurer handles their own injuries rather than fighting over who caused the accident.
Roadside Assistance
Towing, battery jump-starts, flat tire changes, fuel delivery, lockout service. If you have ever been stuck on the shoulder of a highway at night waiting for help, you understand why this coverage exists. It is an add-on, not expensive, and the kind of thing you only miss the one time you actually need it.
Rental Reimbursement
If your car is in the shop after a covered accident, rental reimbursement pays for a rental car up to a daily and total limit set in your policy. Without it, every day your car is in the body shop comes out of your own pocket — and body shop timelines have a way of stretching.
Gap Insurance ( American National Car Insurance )
New cars lose value fast. In the first year, a brand new vehicle can drop 20% or more in actual cash value. If your car gets totaled six months after you drove it off the lot, your insurer will pay you what the car is worth today — not what you paid for it and not what you still owe on the loan.
Gap insurance covers the difference between the settlement check and what you owe. If you bought new and financed most of the purchase price, this is coverage worth taking seriously for the first few years of the loan.
What Will You Pay? Rates and the Factors That Drive Them
The honest answer to ‘how much does American National car insurance cost?’ is that it depends entirely on who you are, where you live, what you drive, and what happened the last time you were behind the wheel. Two people living on the same street can pay very different premiums.
American National Car Insurance companies use dozens of variables to calculate your rate. Here are the ones that move the needle most.
Your Driving History
Nothing affects your premium more than your record. A single at-fault accident can raise your rates for three to five years. A DUI can nearly double them. Multiple violations in a short period can make some insurers walk away entirely. On the flip side, five or more years of clean driving puts you in the best rate tier for most companies.
It is worth knowing that accidents eventually age off your record. If something happened three or four years ago, your rates may already be improving, and it is worth shopping around to see what the market looks like now.
Your Age
Teen drivers pay more than almost anyone else. Statistically, drivers under 25 have higher accident rates, and insurers price that in. Rates typically improve through your 20s and stabilize in your 30s through late 50s. Some insurers do begin charging slightly more for drivers past 70 or 75, though this varies.
If you are adding a teenager to your policy, do your research before assuming your current insurer is still the best deal. Adding a young driver sometimes changes the pricing landscape enough that shopping around is worthwhile.
What You Drive
A loaded pickup truck costs more to insure than an economy sedan. An older car with modest market value costs much less. Sports cars and performance vehicles tend to attract higher rates because of accident statistics and repair costs. Safety ratings matter too — vehicles with strong crash test scores and good anti-theft features often qualify for discounts.
Where You Live
ZIP codes matter more than most people expect. Urban areas with dense traffic, higher theft rates, and more frequent accidents cost more to insure than rural areas. Moving across town can sometimes change your premium noticeably. Moving across state lines almost certainly will.
Your Deductibles and Coverage Limits
Higher limits mean higher premiums. That is not surprising. Less obvious is how much deductible choices affect your rate. Raising your collision deductible from $250 to $1,000 can reduce your annual premium meaningfully — sometimes by 15 to 25 percent. Whether that trade-off makes sense depends on how much cash you have available if you need to file a claim.
Credit Score
In most states, insurers are allowed to use a credit-based American National Car Insurance score as a pricing factor. The correlation between credit history and claim frequency is statistically real, even if the reason for it is debated. Drivers with strong credit routinely pay less than drivers with poor credit for otherwise identical coverage.
A handful of states prohibit this practice — California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, and Michigan among them. If you live in one of those states, your credit has no bearing on your American National Car Insurance rate.
Approximate Rate Ranges by Driver Profile
| Driver Profile | Est. Annual Premium | Coverage Level |
| Age 30, clean record, sedan | $900 – $1,400 | State minimum liability |
| Age 30, clean record, sedan | $1,400 – $1,900 | Full coverage |
| Age 45, married, clean, SUV | $1,100 – $1,600 | Full coverage |
| Age 17, no prior record | $2,500 – $4,000 | Full coverage |
| Age 68, one minor violation | $1,200 – $1,800 | Full coverage |
| DUI in past 3 years | $2,000 – $3,500+ | State minimum liability |
These are rough illustrative ranges. Your actual number will come from your specific profile, your state, and the exact coverages you choose.
Discounts — The Ones Worth Asking About
Ask your agent about discounts. Seriously, just ask. A few that should apply automatically will. Others will not get applied unless someone brings them up. Here is what is typically available through American National.
Bundling — the biggest one
If you already have a home, renters, or life insurance policy through American National, bundling your American National Car Insurance with those existing policies is usually the highest-value discount available. The savings compound — your auto policy gets cheaper, and sometimes your other policies do too. It also simplifies life when everything is in one place.
Multiple vehicles
Two cars on the same policy means two chances to save. Multi-vehicle discounts are meaningful for households with more than one car, and insuring them separately often costs more for no good reason.
Clean driving record
Three to five years with no at-fault accidents, no major violations, no DUI. If that describes your history, there is almost certainly a good-driver discount with your name on it. It is one of the more common discounts and one of the more impactful ones.
Good student
Full-time students maintaining a B average or better may qualify. This one surprises some parents — the insurer asks for proof of grades, usually once or twice a year. The logic is that students who do well academically tend to be more responsible generally, and the data apparently supports that. Either way, it is real money off.
Defensive driving course
Taking an approved safe driving course can knock a few dollars off your premium. Particularly relevant if you have had a recent violation — some state courts allow a driving course to reduce points on your record, which then reduces what the insurer can charge you.
Vehicle safety features
Anti-lock brakes, airbags, daytime running lights, modern driver assistance systems — these all reduce the likelihood or severity of accidents, and some insurers pass a portion of that reduced risk back to you in the form of a discount. Newer vehicles tend to qualify automatically.
Auto-pay and paperless billing
Small discount, zero effort. Setting up automatic payments also eliminates the risk of accidentally missing a payment and having your policy lapse — which would be a much larger financial problem than the discount is worth.
Loyalty
Staying with the same insurer and renewing without gaps sometimes earns you a loyalty discount. Worth knowing about, but also worth not letting it become a reason to avoid shopping around. Loyalty discounts rarely make up the difference if a competitor is substantially cheaper.
What Real Customers Say — the Good and the Frustrating
American National is not the kind of company that dominates consumer review platforms the way GEICO or Progressive do. Their customer base tends to be longer-term policyholders who came in through an agent rather than people who signed up online after seeing an advertisement. That shapes the review landscape.
What people genuinely like
- The agent relationship. Customers who have a good local agent consistently mention it as the thing they value most. Having someone who knows your policies, remembers your situation, and picks up the phone when something happens is something the big online insurers genuinely struggle to replicate.
- Stability. People who have been with American National for a long time tend to stay. The company has been around for 120 years, has strong financial ratings, and there is something to be said for dealing with an insurer that is not likely to be acquired, pivoted, or shut down tomorrow.
- Claims handling, for those who have used it. Customers who have filed claims — particularly straightforward ones — generally report the process as manageable. Above-industry-average J.D. Power scores for claims satisfaction back that up.
- Bundling. Customers who hold multiple policies with American National — auto plus home, or auto plus life — frequently mention the combined savings and the simplicity of one insurer handling everything.
Where it falls short
- The digital experience is dated. If you want to manage your policy entirely through a slick mobile app, American National is not the answer. Their online portal handles the basics — payments, documents, policy information — but it does not have the polish of the industry’s tech-first players.
- Service quality varies by agent. This is the downside of an agent-based model. A great agent is a real advantage. A mediocre or unresponsive agent is a real problem. Because you are dealing with a local individual rather than a centralised call centre, your experience depends significantly on who you end up with.
- Not available everywhere. Some drivers looking at American National find their state is not covered or a specific product they want is not offered there.
Industry ratings
| Rating Source | Score / Notes |
| A.M. Best Financial Strength | A (Excellent) |
| Better Business Bureau | A+ |
| J.D. Power Claims Satisfaction | Above industry average* |
| NAIC Complaint Index | Below national median (fewer complaints than average) |
How American National Compares to the Competition
No insurer is the right fit for everyone. Here is an honest look at how American National stacks up against the companies most drivers end up comparing it against.
American National vs State Farm
State Farm is the largest auto insurer in the country and runs on a very similar model — agents, broad product range, strong financial ratings. The main differences are scale and digital capability. State Farm’s mobile app is considerably more developed, and their agent network is much larger, which means a higher likelihood of having an excellent agent near you.
American National may offer more competitive pricing for drivers who are bundling auto with life American National Car Insurance — a product category where ANICO has deeper expertise than most. If that describes your situation, it is worth getting quotes from both.
American National vs Allstate
Allstate and American National are probably the closest comparison on this list. Both are agent-centric, both offer broad product ranges, both have competitive bundling options. Pricing between them varies meaningfully depending on your location, vehicle, and profile. If you are considering either, it is worth getting quotes from both — not because one is definitively better, but because the difference for your specific situation could go either way.
Quick Side-by-Side
| Feature | Amer. National | State Farm | GEICO |
| Agent-based | Yes | Yes | Mostly no |
| Online quote | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile app | Basic | Excellent | Excellent |
| Bundle options | Auto+Home+Life | Auto+Home | Auto+Home |
| Telematics | Limited | Drive Safe & Save | DriveEasy |
| AM Best rating | A (Excellent) | A++ (Superior) | A++ (Superior) |
Frequently Asked Questions
So Is American National Right for You?
It depends what you are looking for. If you want the lowest possible rate with a fully digital experience and no agent involvement, American National is probably not your best option. GEICO and Progressive have invested far more in the technology side, and their pricing for certain profiles is hard to beat.
But if you value having an agent who actually knows your situation — someone who can look at your policies holistically, catch coverage gaps, and pick up the phone when a claim gets complicated — American National is worth serious consideration. That relationship-based model has real value, particularly for drivers who are bundling auto with home or life American National Car Insurance, or for families navigating complicated household situations with multiple drivers.
The financial stability question is basically settled. A.M. Best’s A rating, 120 years of operating history, and claims satisfaction scores above the industry average tell you this is a company that pays. That matters more than most people give it credit for — especially if you ever end up in a situation where the settlement amount is disputed.
Get a quote, talk to an agent, compare it against two or three others, and make a decision based on the full picture. The cheapest policy is not always the right policy. But the most expensive one is not automatically the best either. Somewhere in there is the coverage that fits your life, your car, and your budget.
This guide is for informational purposes only and is not legal or financial advice. Coverage availability, pricing, and discounts vary by state and individual profile. Contact a licensed American National agent for advice specific to your situation.