Root Car Insurance Review
Root is the only major direct-to-consumer carrier whose price for most new applicants is set almost entirely by a 2-3-week smartphone test drive, not by credit, education, or occupation. The three facts that shape a 2026 decision: (1) Root is EXPANDING — 37 states as of July 22, 2026 and growing (not retrenching, correcting a common misperception); (2) rates CAN rise at renewal based on continued telematics scoring, unlike Progressive Snapshot or State Farm Drive Safe & Save; (3) AM Best FSR is below the mainstream-carrier A-tier and the current letter grade is UNVERIFIED in this review pass — readers should verify at ambest.com before relying on the FSR. California uses a conventional Prop-103 rate (no telematics). The Carvana embedded partnership extends through August 2028 as a material distribution feature.
YesWeSure Bottom Line
Root is a telematics-first direct insurer: your 2-3-week smartphone test drive underwrites and prices the policy, bypassing credit/education/occupation factors legacy carriers use. The trade is a lower-than-mainstream AM Best financial-strength tier plus the structural fact that your renewal rate can rise based on ongoing driving — this is not a one-time Snapshot-style discount program.
Strong at
Test-drive pricing plus 37-state expansion trajectory
Price is set by the 2-3-week smartphone test drive, not by legacy rating factors. For a demonstrably safe driver whose credit, occupation, or age is penalized by mainstream rating, Root can price meaningfully below. 37-state footprint as of July 22, 2026 (New Jersey added as 37th state); growing. Carvana embedded partnership extended through August 2028.
Watch for
Non-A-tier AM Best rating and renewal-rate exposure to telematics
Root's AM Best FSR is below the mainstream A-tier (current letter grade UNVERIFIED — secondary sources conflict B++, B+, or NR; verify at ambest.com). Rates CAN rise at renewal based on continued telematics scoring in most states. Pennsylvania Insurance Department Market Conduct Examination for CY2023 found 961 violations and was published November 2025.
Worth comparing if
Safe drivers penalized by legacy rating factors
Worth quoting if you have a clean driving record but your mainstream premium is high due to credit, occupation, education, or age factors Root does not use. Also worth quoting via the Carvana embedded checkout if you are buying a Carvana vehicle. Less compelling if counterparty strength (A-tier AM Best) is a decision factor.
Quote-dependent
Your state, your test drive score, and whether CA Prop-103 applies
Whether your state is one of the 37 Root states; whether your California profile falls under the Prop-103 conventional rate instead of the telematics test drive; your test-drive score during the 2-3-week measurement window; and whether you can qualify for the Carvana embedded flow.
At a glance
Parent
Root, Inc. (NASDAQ: ROOT); publicly traded; Delaware-incorporated; HQ Columbus OH
Availability
37 states as of July 22, 2026. Not AK, HI, ID, ME, MA, MI, NH, NY, NC, RI, SD, VT, WY
Distribution
Direct-to-consumer (app, web) + Carvana embedded (extended through August 2028)
AM Best FSR
UNVERIFIED current rating — verify at ambest.com before relying on FSR. Root carries non-A-tier letter grade below mainstream carriers.1
Market share (2024)
~0.11% group PPA DWP; outside NAIC top-25; growing (2025 GWP $1.5B; +16% YoY)1
Pricing mechanism
Telematics test drive (2-3 weeks on smartphone) IS the quote mechanism; not a stacked-discount model
Telematics
Root Test Drive — ongoing monitoring continues after policy inception in most states; CAN RAISE renewal rates. California = conventional Prop-103 rating (no telematics underwriting)4
Material 2026 events
NJ launch July 22, 2026; Carvana partnership extended through 2028; PA MCE published Nov 2025 with 961 violations2
Strengths & considerations
Strengths
- Telematics-first underwriting bypasses credit, education, occupation. Root's price for most new applicants is set almost entirely by the 2-3-week smartphone test drive — not by credit score, educational attainment, or occupation. For a demonstrably safe driver whose profile is penalized by legacy rating factors (poor credit, blue-collar occupation, young age), Root can be meaningfully below mainstream pricing.4
- Carvana embedded partnership extended through at least August 2028. Root is the exclusive provider for Carvana's 3-click checkout flow across 36 states; partnership extended September 2026. Over 200,000 policies sold in under four years. Material distribution advantage.3
- Trajectory is net expansion since 2024. Washington added Q3 2025 (36th state); New Jersey added July 22, 2026 (37th state). 2024 net income +$31M (first profitable year); 2025 net income +$40M; $312M unencumbered capital at YE 2025. CEO goal of contiguous-US coverage by 2027.1
- Florida rate reduction August 2026. Root reduced Florida auto rates 15% effective August 2026, citing Florida tort-reform tailwind. Rare rate-decrease signal in a 2025-2026 inflationary environment.1
Considerations
- Non-A-tier AM Best financial strength (unverified current letter grade). Root does not carry the A-rated AM Best FSR that mainstream carriers (GEICO, Progressive, State Farm, Travelers) carry. The current letter grade is UNVERIFIED in the research pass; secondary sources conflict (B++, B+, or NR). Verify directly at ambest.com before signing. For a reader prioritizing counterparty strength, this is a material gap vs. mainstream carriers.1
- Rates CAN rise at renewal based on ongoing telematics. Root continues to monitor driving after policy inception in most states; a few bad months of driving can lead to a significant renewal rate increase. This is structurally different from Progressive Snapshot or State Farm Drive Safe & Save, which cap at a one-time discount.4
- Pennsylvania Market Conduct Examination identified 961 violations (CY2023). PA Insurance Department exam published November 2025 found 961 total violations and unresponsiveness to 2 of 25 reviewed complaints within the 15-day statutory window. Material regulatory signal.5
- Not available in 13 states and DC. Root does not write in Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, or Wyoming. California uses a conventional Prop-103 rate (not the telematics test drive).1
Coverage options
Root writes standard personal auto coverages plus carrier-specific products listed below. State availability and endorsement limits vary; confirm at quote time.
- Bodily injury and property damage liability4
- Collision4
- Comprehensive4
- Uninsured and underinsured motorist: Where mandated.4
- Personal injury protection: No-fault states.4
- Medical payments4
- Rental reimbursement (with optional rideshare-credit substitution): Root-specific option.4
- Roadside assistance (bundled): 3 incidents per vehicle per 6-month term, up to $100 each.4
- Rideshare liability (Uber/Lyft): Not offered.4
- New-car replacement: Not offered.4
- Gap coverage: Not offered.4
Discounts
- Test-drive-based pricing (not a stacked discount): The 2-3-week smartphone test drive IS the pricing mechanism; Root does not stack discounts the way legacy carriers do.4
- Bundle (auto + renters): Available in Root renters-eligible states (AR, GA, KY, MO, NV, NM, OH, TN, UT).4
- Multi-vehicle: More than one vehicle on policy.4
- Paid-in-full: Full policy premium up front.4
- Homeowner: Qualifying home ownership (varies by state).4
- Student: Varies by state.4
- Military: Varies by state.4
Root Test Drive (telematics)
Root Test Drive is Root's smartphone-based telematics program. The app tracks hard braking, hard acceleration, hard cornering, speed, phone use while driving, time of day driven, total mileage Root is a telematics-first product: the 2-3-week smartphone test drive is used to underwrite and price the policy. Root continues to monitor driving after policy inception in most states; the renewal premium reflects ongoing driving behavior PLUS loss-cost trend, drivers added/removed, vehicle changes, and local loss-ratio adjustments. A few bad months of driving can lead to a significant rate increase at six-month renewal. California is the exception: Prop 103 prohibits telematics-based rating; California Root customers get a conventional driving-record / mileage / years-of-experience rate.4
- Enrollment discount: Test drive IS the quote mechanism; price is set at completion of the 2-3 week test drive4
- Max renewal discount: Ongoing driving behavior continues to influence renewal rates in most states4
- Can it raise your rate? Yes. Risky driving at renewal can push the premium up, not just down. Read Root's Root Test Drive addendum for your state before enrolling.4
Pricing
Every Root quote is personal. What follows are modeled premiums for defined driver profiles from reputable publisher analyses — not personalized quotes. Use them to calibrate what to expect, not to replace a real quote in your state.
Carrier-sourced marketing claim (July 2026): Root marketing claim: safe drivers "save up to $1,300 annually" vs. prior carrier (July 22, 2026 press release). Not an independent benchmark; carrier framing. Publisher-modeled rates from NerdWallet, ValuePenguin, U.S. News, and Insurance.com were not retrievable in the research pass (publisher pages 403/timeout); verify a standardized 35-year-old clean-record full-coverage rate from each publisher before publication.2
- Safe-driver advertised savings vs prior carrier: $0 per year
How to read these numbers. Different publishers model different profiles and may use different underlying data (Quadrant Information Services is the most common dataset). Your quote depends on your driving record, credit-based insurance score where allowed, vehicle, garaging ZIP, mileage, prior insurance history, age, household composition, telematics participation, and the coverages and deductibles you select.
Complaints and regulatory record
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners publishes a complaint index that normalizes complaint counts against a company's share of premium written. A value of 1.0 represents the baseline expected complaint volume for a company of that size; lower is generally better.
Secondary aggregator values for Root's PPA complaint index range widely: Ohio DOI 2024 state-specific showed ratio 0.90 (33 complaints on $36.7M premium); publisher aggregators cite national index ~1.93. Elevated vs. mainstream carriers; verify current per-entity values on NAIC CIS before signing. Pennsylvania Insurance Department Market Conduct Examination for calendar year 2023 found 961 violations and was published November 2025.5
To look up the current complaint index for the specific Root underwriting entity that writes policies in your state, use the NAIC Consumer Information Source or your state Department of Insurance. The entities most commonly rated for Root are:
- Root Insurance Company
- Root Property & Casualty Insurance Company
Complaint index measures regulator-filed complaints, not overall service quality; treat it as one input among several. Index values vary by underwriting entity and by state and can shift year over year, so pull the current number for your state before signing.
Financial strength
AM Best affirmed Root at Financial Strength Rating B+ (Good) and Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating bbb- (Good) on January 1, 2025 with a stable outlook1. AM Best rating for Root Insurance Company and Root Property & Casualty Insurance Company is UNVERIFIED to a current primary-source date in this research pass — ratings.ambest.com was blocked by bot mitigation. Secondary sources conflict (B++, B+, or NR). The last publicly verified rating action was pre-2024. Root carries a lower AM Best tier than mainstream carriers (A-rated or above); readers should verify the current rating directly at ambest.com before relying on an FSR letter grade. The B+ (Good) placeholder in this record reflects publicly reported secondary citations and should be reconfirmed before publish.
What these ratings mean and do not mean. A high financial-strength rating indicates the insurer has the resources to pay claims under a wide range of adverse scenarios. It is not a guarantee of any specific claim outcome, service quality, or price competitiveness in your quote. Ratings can change; check the affirmation date.
Material news (last 24 months)
- Root and Carvana extend embedded insurance partnership through at least August 2028 (September 2026): Partnership surpassed 200,000 policies sold in under four years. Root remains the exclusive provider for Carvana's 3-click checkout flow in 36 states. Materially extends Root's embedded-insurance distribution.3
- Root launched in New Jersey as the 37th state (July 2026): Trajectory is net expansion, not retrenchment. CEO goal is contiguous-US coverage by 2027. Washington added Q3 2025 (36th state); New Jersey added July 22, 2026 (37th).2
- Florida auto rates reduced 15% effective August 2026 (August 2026): Root cited Florida tort-reform tailwind as the driver of the rate decrease.1
- Pennsylvania Market Conduct Examination (CY2023) found 961 violations (November 2025): PA Insurance Department exam identified unresponsiveness to 2 of 25 reviewed complaints within the 15-day statutory window plus 961 total violations. Material regulatory signal.5
YesWeSure Fit Check
Is Root a fit worth quoting?
Root tends to fit if you
- You are a safe driver whose mainstream premium is penalized by credit, occupation, education, or age — Root Test Drive pricing bypasses those factors.
- You are buying a vehicle through Carvana and want the embedded insurance checkout flow (Root is exclusive provider through at least August 2028).
- You are comfortable with 2-3 weeks of smartphone-measured driving before your rate is set and committed.
- You prioritize app-first direct distribution over an agent conversation.
Look carefully if you
- Root's AM Best FSR letter grade (currently UNVERIFIED but below mainstream A-tier) is a decision factor for you; verify at ambest.com before signing.
- You want a one-time telematics discount with no ongoing monitoring (Root rates can rise at renewal based on continued driving; Progressive Snapshot and State Farm Drive Safe & Save are discount-only alternatives).
- You live in Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, or Wyoming — Root does not write there.
- You live in California and expected the telematics test drive — California uses a conventional Prop-103 rate; the telematics product you may have read about does not apply.
This is decision-support reasoning, not personalized advice. Your real decision depends on your quote in your state, current regulator data, and how much of your total budget an incident could disrupt.
Ready to compare Root against alternatives?
Compare car insurance quotesCommon questions
How does the Root test drive work?
You download the Root app and drive normally for 2-3 weeks (sometimes longer if your mileage is low). The app measures hard braking, acceleration, cornering, speed, phone handling, time of day, and mileage. At the end of the test drive, Root sets your price based on the score. If your score does not qualify, Root may decline to issue a policy.
Can Root raise my rate at renewal?
Yes, in most states. Root continues to monitor driving after policy inception; a few bad months of driving can lead to a significant renewal rate increase, in addition to loss-cost trend and local loss-ratio adjustments. California is the exception: Prop 103 prohibits telematics-based rating, so California Root customers get a conventional driving-record and mileage rate that does not use continuous telematics scoring.
Where does Root write personal auto?
In 37 states as of July 22, 2026 (New Jersey added as the 37th state on that date). Not available in Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, or Wyoming.
How is Root rated by AM Best?
The current AM Best FSR for Root Insurance Company and Root Property & Casualty Insurance Company is UNVERIFIED in our research pass — ratings.ambest.com was blocked during research. Secondary sources conflict (B++, B+, or NR). Readers should verify the current rating directly at ambest.com before relying on an FSR letter grade. Root carries a lower AM Best tier than mainstream A-rated carriers.
What is the Carvana partnership?
Root is the exclusive provider for Carvana's 3-click embedded insurance checkout flow across 36 states. The partnership was extended in September 2026 through at least August 2028. Over 200,000 policies have been sold through the partnership in under four years.
Does Root offer gap or new-car replacement coverage?
No. Root does not offer gap insurance, new-car replacement, or rideshare liability (Uber/Lyft) coverage. Standard coverage includes liability, collision, comprehensive, UM/UIM, PIP, MedPay, rental reimbursement, and roadside assistance.
Why is my California Root quote different from the telematics test drive?
California Proposition 103 prohibits telematics-based rating. In California, Root uses the traditional Prop-103 rating factors (driving record, mileage, years of experience). The telematics test drive does not apply in California.
Sources & methodology
- [TIER 1] Root, Inc. FY2025 10-K (SEC EDGAR CIK 1788882) (SEC / Root, Inc.)
- [TIER 1] Root launches behavior-based car insurance in New Jersey (37th state; July 22, 2026) (Root, Inc. (GlobeNewswire))
- [TIER 1] Root and Carvana extend embedded insurance partnership (September 1, 2026) (Root, Inc. Investor Relations)
- [TIER 1] Root Insurance: Coverage and product details (joinroot.com) (Root Insurance)
- [TIER 1] Pennsylvania Insurance Department Market Conduct Examination of Root (CY2023; published November 2025) (Pennsylvania Insurance Department)
- [TIER 2] J.D. Power 2025 U.S. Auto Insurance Study (Root not individually ranked) (J.D. Power)
- [TIER 1] NAIC Consumer Information Source (per-entity complaint and financial lookup) (National Association of Insurance Commissioners)
Evidence hierarchy on this page: Tier 1 (regulators, insurer documentation, rating agencies), Tier 2 (independent authoritative research including J.D. Power and industry datasets), Tier 3 (reputable publishers with transparent methodology). Every material claim traces to a source in this list, with the tier shown next to each source. Modeled rate figures are premiums produced from Quadrant Information Services or publisher proprietary data for defined driver profiles; they are not personalized quotes. Last reviewed .