Otto Insurance Review 2024: Is Otto Car Insurance Legit?

Otto Insurance is a lead generation site that connects customers with different insurance providers and quotes in seconds. Otto is not an insurance company, but it compares auto, home, pet and life insurance for free through its extensive range of partners.

They say they’ve helped over 1,000,000 consumers find the best car insurance rates—but Otto Insurance isn’t your traditional insurance company.

Instead of providing you with insurance themselves, they gather your information and match you with the best insurance carrier to suit your needs and preferences.

Think of Tinder for insurance quotes. They’ve got hundreds of carriers on their database, pairing you with a potential match within seconds. Then it’s up to you to take action and decide how compatible you are.

In other words, they don’t sell insurance. They just do the legwork in finding it for you.

According to his LinkedIn, Joshua Keller founded the company in January 2022 and is currently the CEO.

There’s not a lot to be found about the creation and history of the company. It seems that Otto Insurance likes to keep an air of mystery about themselves.

In basic terms, Otto Insurance takes your personal and financial information, and then uses it to find you the best insurance quotes for your needs.

The questions are pretty quick and easy. Otto Insurance will compare carriers and deliver results in seconds.

They have some well-established insurance companies on their roster, including:

• Farmers Insurance

• Esurance

• American Family Insurance

• Progressive

• AAA Insurance

• Nationwide

• Liberty Mutual Insurance

• Mercury Insurance

You can use Otto Insurance in any US state or territory, as long as you’re over eighteen years old.

Speedy and handy? Sounds ideal. But there are a few catches you should know about—

Once they’ve found you a “perfect match”, it’s up to you to start investigating. You’ll be directed to the insurance company’s website where you might have to enter more information to get an exact quote from them.

This is great if you prefer to take matters into your own hands. But it can be time-consuming if you’ve got to fill out all your information again and hunt down the best rates.

Having access to hundreds of insurance providers can certainly help you find some good coverage.

Your information will be shared across all carriers, though—which means you could receive multiple calls and texts from various insurance companies who have access to your personal information.

If you already avoid talking on the phone at all costs, rejecting phone calls will be nothing new—but consumers have expressed their irritation about being pestered too much.

Otto Insurance says you can find car insurance for as low as $19 per month—but it doesn’t say anything about the minimum coverage.

Some more transparency would be handy, since you won’t find out your rates until after you’ve submitted your information and it’s been sent to the insurance carriers.

Yes, Otto Insurance is a legitimate company, but not a traditional insurance provider. It's an insurance referral service that connects you with established insurance carriers and agents. Even though it's legit, some say Otto Insurance is a scam as it collects your personal data to send to other agencies.

Otto Insurance also loses some credibility points for not being accredited by the Better Business Bureau (BBB) (source) which aims to help consumers find trusted businesses.

If you want to check that a company is legitimate, you can—

1. Investigate the company website, paying close attention to the Terms and Conditions.

2. Check the contact details—you can confirm them with the Local Chamber of Commerce.

3. Visit the address in person if you’re local to the company.

4. Make sure the payment method is secure and uses familiar services like PayPal.

5. Run a credit check—Creditsafe offers free company credit checks.

While Otto’s main focus is car insurance, they also have home, life, and pet insurance (might be handy when your dog gets a funny tummy after eating the car seat).

Here’s an overview of the Otto insurance types and the application process—

Here’s how you can get an insurance quote from Otto Insurance—

Otto Insurance won’t reveal your quotes until you’ve submitted your personal information. This is so they can use your details to compare and match you with the right insurance carrier.

Once you’ve got your ideal insurance company matches, you’ll need to go to their site and start investigating the quotes on offer.

You’ll also likely be contacted by other insurance carriers offering you their own deals.

And if you’re not sure if you’re getting a good deal, the stats say that the national average cost of car insurance is $1,601 per year (with Vermont and Idaho having the cheapest rates, and California and Michigan being the most expensive).

Among insurance companies, USAA and Nationwide offer the lowest annual car insurance costs, while Allstate and Farmers are on the higher end (at $2,206 and $2,227 respectively).

Otto Insurance is free to use. But, as you know, nothing in life is free.

You won’t have to pay a cent for filling out the application and getting matched with potential insurance companies—but that’s where the free ride ends.

Your insurance rates will depend on the type of insurance you’re looking for and the personal details you provided.

So how does Otto Insurance make money? It’s not clear on their website—but they probably make a commission once you match with and buy insurance from one of their service providers.

Despite sharing your personal information with third-party companies, Otto Insurance is generally safe to use.

They lay out all the details in their Privacy Policy so you can see what you're getting yourself into.

Otto Insurance explains that all their service providers have agreed to secure any personal information they receive and to limit how they can use this information.

Service providers also must stick to federal and state privacy regulations.

Otto also says they limit access to personal information from employees and insurance agents within the company, and apply safeguards that meet federal standards.

If you have a change of heart (or you’ve decided to go undercover), you can request that they remove all your personal information from their database.

Do you enjoy scrolling through countless customer reviews before making a purchase? You’re going to be disappointed.

It’s difficult to find more than a handful of Otto auto insurance reviews.

Their Facebook page has around 22,000 likes and only a bunch of comments (mostly negative).

Some highlighted rude customer service and a flawed website. People complained that they send you on a wild goose chase instead of giving you a quote themselves.

On Quora, the term “Otto Insurance scam” was thrown around, with many customers saying that the insurance company is misleading—and that it should be clearer that it’s a referral service.

Even though there aren’t many reviews to get a solid outlook, there’s no harm in contacting customer service and unleashing all your questions.

When looking for insurance, our top tip is to play the field.

Avoid going for the first quote you see. Shop around and see what’s on offer instead.

Here are some other insurance companies similar to Otto—

Here are some simple steps to follow if you want to save money on car insurance—

1. Build up your credit: You could get lower quotes if you have a better credit history.

2. Have a clean record: Insurance rates go up after accidents or violations.

3. Find the right car: Pricey cars have higher insurance rates as they’re more likely to get stolen—affordable or used cars tend to have lower coverage options.

4. Look for discounts: Keep an eye out for student and good driver behavior discounts.

5. Bundle policies: Many providers offer price reductions if you apply for multiple policies.

6. Compare companies: Do your research and compare the different rates.

If you want to save some serious cash, check out the top savings accounts.

Here’s the deal—Otto Insurance is a referral company. If you expect to get a quote on their website, you’re going to feel let down and irritated.

Otto Insurance is for those who need to be pointed in the right direction, but are willing to take it solo after they’ve matched you up with the right insurance company.

We don’t recommend Otto auto insurance for those who want a quote upfront. While they deliver results in seconds, you’ll have to go to a third-party site to find out the exact rates.

It’s also best to stay from Otto if you don’t fancy being semi-bombarded with insurance companies offering you their “best deals”.