Is Nationwide Good for New York Drivers?

Last Updated on October 4, 2026 by James Shaffer

Nationwide offers auto insurance in New York, with standard coverage options, optional add-ons, discounts, online policy management, and its SmartRide usage-based insurance program. Whether Nationwide is a good fit for you depends largely on the price it quotes for your specific driver profile and how its coverage compares with competing insurers.

This review looks at Nationwide’s current coverage options, discounts, financial strength, customer service features, and considerations for New York drivers.

About Nationwide Insurance

Nationwide traces its history to 1926, when Farm Bureau Mutual Automobile Insurance Company sold its first policy. The insurer was originally created with support from Ohio farmers who wanted access to more affordable auto insurance. The company adopted the Nationwide name in 1955.

Today, Nationwide is a large mutual insurance and financial services organization headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. Its corporate headquarters are at One Nationwide Plaza.

Company	Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company
Founded	1926
Headquarters	One Nationwide Plaza, Columbus, OH 43215
New York Auto Insurance	Available; eligibility and products vary by driver and location
AM Best Rating	A for Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company and its property and casualty affiliates, affirmed November 7, 2025
Website	Nationwide.com

Nationwide’s corporate history provides more information about its development, while its current financial ratings page lists ratings from AM Best, Standard & Poor’s, and Moody’s.

Nationwide Rates and Pricing in New York

There is no reliable way to say that Nationwide is consistently cheap or expensive for New York drivers. Auto insurance rates are personalized, and the company that is cheapest for one household can be much more expensive for another.

Factors that can affect a New York auto insurance quote include your garaging location, vehicle, driving record, annual mileage, coverage limits, deductibles, eligible discounts, and other factors permitted under New York insurance rules. Location can make a particularly large difference, including for drivers in New York City.

Instead of relying on a statewide average or an old Nationwide rate study, get current quotes using identical coverage limits and deductibles. Our guide to the cheapest auto insurance companies in New York explains why comparison shopping is important.

Nationwide Coverage Options in New York

New York drivers must carry several types of insurance before registering and operating a vehicle. According to the New York State Department of Financial Services, required coverage for most private passenger vehicles includes liability insurance, basic no-fault personal injury protection, and uninsured motorist coverage.

New York’s minimum liability limits are $25,000 for bodily injury to one person and $50,000 for bodily injury to two or more people in one accident, plus $10,000 for property damage. Separate higher limits apply when an injury results in death. Basic no-fault PIP provides up to $50,000 per person in covered economic-loss benefits.

Nationwide offers the core types of insurance needed to construct a New York auto policy. These include bodily injury liability coverage, property damage liability coverage, and personal injury protection under New York’s no-fault insurance system.

Drivers can also choose higher liability limits than the state minimums. Higher limits can provide additional financial protection if you cause a serious crash in which damages exceed the minimum coverage.

Collision Coverage

Collision coverage can pay for covered damage to your own vehicle when it collides with another vehicle or object or overturns, subject to the deductible and terms of the policy. New York does not require collision coverage, although a lender or leasing company may require it.

Comprehensive Coverage

Comprehensive coverage, sometimes called other-than-collision coverage, can cover losses involving events such as theft, vandalism, fire, certain weather events, falling objects, and collisions with animals. A deductible generally applies.

Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Coverage

New York requires basic uninsured motorist bodily injury protection for qualifying New York accidents. Drivers can also obtain broader Supplementary Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist coverage, commonly called SUM. New York’s rules for SUM differ from the basic required uninsured motorist protection, so review the limits and any waiver carefully.

Our guide to uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage in New York explains the distinction in more detail.

Medical Payments Coverage

Nationwide lists medical payments coverage among its auto insurance options. However, New York already has a mandatory no-fault PIP system, so the role of optional medical payments coverage should be considered in the context of your existing PIP and health coverage. Availability and terms can vary.

Gap Coverage

Nationwide offers gap coverage in select states for eligible newer vehicles. Gap insurance can help cover some or all of the difference between what you owe on an auto loan or lease and the vehicle’s actual cash value after a covered total loss. Nationwide says its gap product is generally available for vehicles six years old or newer, but availability and policy terms vary by state.

Roadside Assistance and Towing

Nationwide offers roadside assistance as well as towing and labor options. Depending on the policy, services can include assistance with towing, a dead battery, lockouts, and other roadside problems. Coverage limits and eligibility depend on the specific option selected.

Rental Reimbursement

Rental reimbursement coverage can help pay for temporary transportation while your vehicle is being repaired after a covered collision or comprehensive claim, up to the daily and total limits shown on your policy.

Nationwide notes that coverage options and policy terms vary by state. Confirm that any optional coverage you want is available on the specific New York policy you are quoted.

Nationwide Auto Insurance Discounts in New York

Nationwide advertises several ways for eligible policyholders to reduce their premiums. The exact discounts available and the amount saved can vary by state, vehicle, driver, and coverage.

• Multi-policy discount: Bundling auto insurance with an eligible home, renters, or other Nationwide policy may qualify for a discount.
• Safe-driving discounts: A favorable driving record can help drivers qualify for certain savings.
• Good-student discount: Nationwide advertises a good-student discount for qualifying full-time students ages 16 through 24 who meet its academic requirements.
• Accident-prevention course discount: New York law provides an insurance reduction for eligible drivers who complete an approved defensive driving course.
• Anti-theft savings: New York requires insurers to provide discounts for certain qualifying anti-theft devices and other approved vehicle features.

The New York Department of Financial Services maintains a current list of required and potential auto insurance discounts. If you already have a policy, it is worth checking that all discounts for which you qualify are actually being applied.

How Nationwide SmartRide Works

Nationwide’s SmartRide program is a usage-based insurance program that measures driving behavior through an app or, in some cases, another compatible method. Nationwide currently says participants receive an enrollment discount and can earn a larger discount based on driving behavior.

SmartRide can consider factors such as mileage, hard braking and acceleration, idle time, and nighttime driving. Nationwide states that SmartRide is a discount program rather than a program that increases your rate based on the collected driving behavior, although eligibility, discount amounts, and program details can vary by policy and state.

Nationwide also offers a separate pay-per-mile product called SmartMiles in some states. However, Nationwide’s current SmartMiles availability information specifically lists New York as a state where SmartMiles is not available. New York drivers should therefore not assume that Nationwide’s pay-per-mile option can be added to their policy.

Nationwide Vanishing Deductible and Accident Forgiveness

Nationwide also advertises optional features that can change how certain claims affect your out-of-pocket costs or future premiums.

Its Vanishing Deductible option can reduce an eligible comprehensive or collision deductible by $100 for each year of safe driving, up to a maximum credit of $500. Nationwide states that an initial $100 credit applies after a waiting period when the optional feature is added. Eligibility and availability vary by state.

Nationwide also offers optional accident forgiveness in select states. The feature is designed to help prevent the first qualifying at-fault accident from triggering a rate increase attributable to that accident. It is not the same as having an accident removed from your driving history, and other policy changes can still affect your premium.

Nationwide Customer Service and Claims

Nationwide provides several ways to manage an auto policy. Customers can use Nationwide’s website and mobile app for tasks such as viewing policy information, accessing insurance ID cards, making payments, and starting or tracking certain claims. Roadside assistance can also be requested through Nationwide’s digital tools.

Drivers who prefer personal assistance can work with a Nationwide agent. The company also operates its On Your Side Auto Repair Network, where qualifying covered repairs performed through participating repair facilities come with a written guarantee subject to the program’s terms.

New York’s Department of Financial Services ranks auto insurers every year by upheld complaints per $1 million of premiums. A complaint is upheld when DFS agrees the insurer handled something wrong, such as a late no-fault payment or an improper nonrenewal. The 2025 report covers complaints closed in 2024 and ranks 128 companies. Across all of them combined, the ratio was 0.0341.

Company	Rank (of 128)	Upheld Complaints	Complaint Ratio
Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company	5	0	0.0000
Nationwide Insurance Company of America	10	0	0.0000
Nationwide Assurance Company	41	0	0.0000
Nationwide General Insurance Company	52	1	0.0082
Nationwide Affinity Insurance Company of America	60	1	0.0176

Taken together, the five Nationwide companies had 2 upheld complaints on about $240 million of yearly New York auto premiums, a combined ratio of 0.0083. That’s better than the 0.0341 figure for the whole market. In the previous report (complaints closed in 2023), the same companies had 2 upheld complaints and a ratio of 0.0079, against 0.0275 for all insurers that year.

Those premiums add up to 1.3% of the private passenger auto premiums counted in the DFS report. That share is our own calculation from the DFS figures, not an official market share number, but it gives a rough sense of how much of the New York market Nationwide insures.

DFS points out that the ranking counts only complaints filed with the department, and that one or two extra upheld complaints can move a smaller insurer a long way. Use it alongside price, coverage and claims service, and match it to the company named on your quote or declarations page.

Nationwide’s Financial Strength

Financial-strength ratings are designed to assess an insurer’s ability to meet its ongoing insurance obligations. They are not customer-service scores and do not guarantee how any particular claim will be handled.

Nationwide’s current ratings page lists an A rating from AM Best for Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company and its property and casualty affiliates, affirmed November 7, 2025. It also lists an A+ rating from Standard & Poor’s, affirmed April 27, 2026, for Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company and affiliates.

This corrects older information that may describe Nationwide’s property and casualty AM Best rating as A+. Nationwide’s life insurance subsidiaries have separate ratings, so those should not be confused with the rating applicable to its property and casualty operations.

Is Nationwide a Good Choice for New York Drivers?

Nationwide has several features that may appeal to New York drivers: a broad selection of standard and optional coverages, bundling opportunities, SmartRide, digital account tools, agent access, and optional features such as Accident Forgiveness and Vanishing Deductible where available.

The biggest unknown is price. Nationwide does not have one rate that is consistently best for every type of New York driver, and old rate comparisons can become outdated quickly. A driver in Manhattan can receive a very different quote from a driver in Buffalo, Albany, or a smaller upstate community, even before individual driver and vehicle characteristics are considered.

Get a Nationwide quote and compare it with several competing insurers using the same coverage limits and deductibles. Our guide to the best auto insurance companies in New York can help you build a broader comparison list.

Final Word on Nationwide Car Insurance in New York

Nationwide remains an option for New York drivers looking for a large national insurer with customizable coverage, multiple discount opportunities, both digital and agent-based service, and established financial strength.

That does not mean Nationwide will automatically be the cheapest—or the best match—for your household. Compare its quote against other insurers on an equal-coverage basis, review the optional features you actually need, and confirm that any advertised discount or coverage is available for your New York policy before buying.

FAQs on Nationwide Car Insurance in New York