Allstate life insurance review: Easily customizable
Allstate offers both term life and whole life policies through its agent network, which you can bundle with home or auto policies for extra savings.
By
Daniel MatthewDaniel MatthewOutreach Writer at PolicygeniusDaniel is an outreach associate at Policygenius. Prior to his time on the content team, Daniel was a client-facing life insurance advisor on Policygenius’ customer success team. During that time, he specialized in Brighthouse Financial’s no-exam life insurance product and helped make sure thousands of clients were properly insured.
Edited by
Katherine MurbachKatherine MurbachEditor & Licensed Life Insurance AgentKatherine Murbach is a life insurance and annuities editor, licensed life insurance agent, and former sales associate at Policygenius. Previously, she wrote about life and disability insurance for 1752 Financial, and advised over 1,500 clients on their life insurance policies as a sales associate.
Our proprietary ratings methodology takes multiple factors into account, including customer satisfaction, cost, financial strength, and policy offerings. See the “Ratings methodology” section for more details.
4.6
AM Best rating
AM Best is a global credit rating agency that scores the financial strength of insurance companies on a scale from A++ (Superior) to D (Poor).
A+
Cost
Using a mix of internal and external rate data, we grade the cost of each insurance company's premiums on a scale from least expensive ($) to most expensive ($$$$$).
NA
The bottom line
Allstate is a good choice for term life insurance for many adults between the ages of 18 and 60. Its agents also sell permanent life insurance products, though these types of policies are not sold directly by Allstate.
Note: Allstate life insurance products are not available through the Policygenius marketplace.
Pros
No-medical-exam option available
Term lengths up to 40 years
Cons
Term life is only available in 19 states. In other states, you can purchase term life with Allstate’s network of agents through other insurers.
Higher-than-average consumer complaints
Basic coverages offered
Term life insurance: Allstate’s TrueFit term life insurance plan can be tailored to fit your needs by laddering policies. You can set your policy duration to any specific number of years between 10 and 30, instead of being limited to increments of five and 10.
Whole life insurance: Allstate offers whole life insurance with the potential to earn dividends. Premiums on these policies remain fixed and aren’t adjustable over the course of the policy.
Universal life insurance: Allstate has affiliate partners that offer universal life insurance, which is a permanent life policy with flexible premiums.
Variable universal life insurance: Allstate’s partners also offer variable universal life insurance, which gives you more choices in how your cash value is invested.
Additional coverages offered
Accelerated death benefit rider: This common coverage supplement lets you access a portion of your policy’s death benefit if you’re certified as terminally ill with a life expectancy of less than 12 or 24 months, depending on your state’s laws.
Child rider: This rider extends coverage to your dependent children under a certain age. If they die while the policy is active, a small death benefit would be provided.
Ratings methodology
Price
NA
Allstate does not have a price rating, as we were unable to obtain a quote for Standard rates for a 20-year term policy with $1 million in coverage, the sample policy we use in our price rating scale.
Customer experience
4.5/5
Our customer experience scale uses data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) complaint index. Direct General, Allstate’s affiliate underwriting company for its life insurance policies, has a score of 4.52, which means it receives more complaints than expected for a company of its size. (The expected number would be 1.0.)
Transparency
4.6/5
Our transparency rating scale measures how easily shoppers and policyholders can find information about an insurer on its website. Allstate gets points for having clear contact information and a support hub. It also gets points for having policy details posted. But it loses points for not having average rates clearly posted outside of its quoting tool.
Financial strength
4.2/5
Our financial strength rating is a weighted combination of three industry-leading metrics to measure a company’s financial health: AM Best, Standard & Poor’s, and Moody’s. Allstate has an A+ rating from AM Best, which is excellent, as well as an A- rating from Standard & Poor’s and an Aa3 rating from Moody’s, which are considered average.
A closer look at Allstate
Who is Allstate best for?
If you’re looking for a customizable term life insurance policy between ages 18 and 60, Allstate offers a wide range of term lengths (up to 40 years). Allstate also includes a variety of rider options and gives you the option to convert your term policy to a permanent policy.
What makes Allstate unique?
Allstate gives you the opportunity to customize your term life policy to fit your exact needs. Most term life insurance is available in five or 10 year increments, but Allstate’s Truefit policies let you choose any length of coverage you want.
Who should consider a different life insurance company?
Allstate only offers term life insurance in 19 states through their underwriting subsidiary Direct General. All other states can purchase term life insurance on Allstate’s website and use their affiliate agents, but the policies would be serviced through Protective, Lincoln Financial, or John Hancock.
Here are the 19 states in which Allstate services term life insurance directly:
Alabama
Arizona
Delaware
Georgia
Illinois
Indiana
Louisiana
Maryland
Massachusetts
Missouri
Nebraska
New Jersey
Ohio
Pennsylvania
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas
Washington
Wisconsin
If you want to bundle your life insurance products but you don’t live in one of these 19 states, it may make more sense to purchase a policy with another insurance company.
Allstate life insurance rates
Allstate does not publish its life insurance rates.
Allstate’s history, reputation, and social responsibility
Allstate was founded in Chicago in 1931 as a part of Sears, Roebuck and Co. after starting as an mail order service for auto insurance. By the 1950s, Allstate was experiencing significant growth as a company. Allstate became an independent, publicly traded company in 1993 when Sears sold just under 20% of its ownership. [1]
In the years since, Allstate has acquired numerous other corporations, including CNA Financial in 1999, Esurance in 2011, and National General Holdings Corporation in 2021. [2]
Allstate’s major lines of business are private auto and homeowner insurance policies, but the company also offers life, renter’s, condo, motorcycle, and business insurance.
As of 2021, Allstate had about 16 million customers with over 175 million policies.
Allstate has partnered with organizations such as the American Red Cross to provide disaster kits in states that are susceptible to natural disasters, such as Hawaii in 2018 and California in 2019. [3] [4]
Allstate in the news
In December 2022, Allstate Corporation announced it has committed to achieve net zero emissions for direct, indirect, and value-chain greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. (Allstate)
In 2018, Allstate was named one of the most community-minded companies in the United States. (Insurance Business America)
Allstate vs. other life insurance companies
Compare Allstate to similar life insurance companies using the table below.
Policygenius uses external sources, including government data, industry studies, and reputable news organizations to supplement proprietary marketplace data and internal expertise. Learn more about how we use and vet external sources as part of oureditorial standards.
Daniel is an outreach associate at Policygenius. Prior to his time on the content team, Daniel was a client-facing life insurance advisor on Policygenius’ customer success team. During that time, he specialized in Brighthouse Financial’s no-exam life insurance product and helped make sure thousands of clients were properly insured.
Katherine Murbach is a life insurance and annuities editor, licensed life insurance agent, and former sales associate at Policygenius. Previously, she wrote about life and disability insurance for 1752 Financial, and advised over 1,500 clients on their life insurance policies as a sales associate.
