When a car problem strikes — like an accident or auto theft — you count on your car insurance company to be there. A new generation of iPhone apps strives to keep your insurance company by your side at all times: A virtual agent is available 24/7 to direct you to emergency roadside assistance, walk you through accident protocol or display your coverage details.

Here we’ll guide you through the highs and lows of today’s top car insurance apps from some of the largest carriers. Ratings are provided by Insure.com and are based on the following virtues of a car insurance app:

• User interface: An interface should be easy on the eyes and fingertips, with an intuitive navigation and layout.
• Accident claims: Car insurance apps really prove their value in a crisis. A good accident app offers a clear path through the process of collecting information, getting help and initiating an auto insurance claim.
• Services: Car insurance services tap into the iPhone’s 3G-powered information network. Access emergency roadside assistance, find the nearest gas station or view key stats on cars you may consider buying.
• Account administration: Manage your existing account from your phone or shop for new car insurance coverage. You can pay your bill, view your coverage details or get a car insurance quote. 

Overall, your smartphone should put you in touch with key resources when you need them. Car insurance apps should strive to make the most of your 3G connectivity, GPS, camera and graphical navigation tools.

Farmers iFarmers and iClaim

 

Highs

Between its two apps, iFarmers and iClaim, Farmers Insurance covers all the bases. The iFarmers app features a full menu of account-administration features, and iClaim lets you file and track insurance claims. The high point of the entire two-app effort is the claims information interface, which integrates the iPhone’s GPS and camera and features spiffy vehicle damage graphics.

Lows

Integration issues are the only downfall of the Farmers suite. Distributing insurance account and claims features across two apps is a recipe for inefficiency. This creates multiple data entry requirements, with no integration of account data across the Farmers Web site and the two apps.

The view from the driver’s seat

Farmers’ apps deliver an extensive roster of features. All the greatest hits of car insurance apps are here: online bill pay, policy management, user-friendly claims reporting and GPS-powered links to nearby services. The star of the iClaim app is the claims reporting, called HelpPoint. The app’s home page exhorts users to call HelpPoint rather than proceed to the mobile. This is an odd disclaimer, given the added value the app provides. Users can complement a claims call by taking photos of vehicle or property damage, collecting the other driver’s information and recording incident details using an automated GPS and time stamp. Claims reporting is well-appointed for a potentially distressed user, with suggested camera angles and a rotatable vehicle graphic for noting exact damage (simply touch the graphic to record damage sites). Altogether, the HelpPoint app is thoughtfully programmed to serve as a steady assistant in a time of crisis. Meanwhile, useful side features are on hand for extended functionality. Two standouts ‘are the Farmers Alerts emergency-notification system and the Home Inventory log. There are also “how to” videos (for example, “How to Change a Car Tire”).

Farmers’ app developers should have quit while they were ahead, however. The remaining features — video advertisements and irrelevant games, for example — offer little value to justify their inclusion in an already full-featured app. The “everything but the kitchen sink” design philosophy may account for the most serious short-coming of the Farmers app suite: the lack of integration between the two apps. The two discrete apps may represent a design choice or a technical necessity, but one thing is clear — a single app with all the essentials would have been better than two with some high-value essentials and a lot of high-bandwidth extras.

State Farm Pocket Agent

 

Highs

State Farm’s Pocket Agent goes the extra mile with visual media tools for accident reporting. Sketch the scene, pinpoint vehicle damage on a car diagram and take photos.

Lows

The app falls short in the account-administration department, which lacks standard features such as “bill pay” and policy details.

The view from the driver’s seat

State Farm’s Pocket Agent brings the wow! factor to car insurance apps with its use of graphics and drawing tools for accident reporting. The home-page menu stumbles a little as a user interface, with oddly redundant fields for “after an accident” and “document an accident.” Once you drill into any of the five sections, however, the capabilities are clear and impressive. “Find a repair facility” wastes no steps with an exterior link to Google maps or a request for your location; instead, it uses the phone’s internal GPS to automatically call up a list of service stations near you. “Document an accident” brings together all the pertinent reporting details in a single interface, which functions as a straightforward checklist ideal for accident-stressed users. GPS-defined location? Check. Photos? Check. Robust multimedia tools let you check off areas of damage on a vehicle graphic and even draw the accident on a street map complete with trees, trains, bicycles and other features you can add with the tap of a finger.

There’s room for improvement in this ambitious reporting tool; namely, the vehicles can’t be oriented on the street map, there aren’t guidelines for photo shots and the damage can’t be marked precisely. The Yes-No checkbox for fatalities exposes technology’s tin ear for tragedy (at least it isn’t a dropdown box). But overall, Pocket Agent wins for setting a high bar and for the most part, achieving the desired functionality.

American Family My Amfam

Highs

A no-nonsense user interface makes it easy to take care of business and be on your way. Robust administrative tools are the stars of this practical app.This app is armed with comprehensive bill-pay and insurance claims-tracking functions.

Lows

The app falls short in the incident reporting department. The claims form misses some key points (how about recording the other driver’s information after an accident?) and requires accident victims to tap information into the tiny keyboard. With competing apps offering everything from drop-down menus to interactive mapping and drawing functions, My Amfam is behind the curve on information reporting.

The view from the driver’s seat

My Amfam is a sensible app that covers the major bases — account administration and a link to emergency roadside assistance— but leaves plenty of room to improve in key areas such as claims reporting. The user interface is pleasingly straightforward, unencumbered by flashy branding or links to TV ads. Administrative functions offer comprehensive account management, with access to bill pay, insurance claim initiation and tracking, and one-touch links to Amfam’s customer service hotline and local agents. The only downside of the administrative section is its reliance on internal links to the Amfam website. These web-based functions are integrated into the app’s interface, but the links to the website bog down the app with excruciatingly slow page loads and occasional app crashes.

But it’s really in the accident and damage claims section that My Amfam’s utility as a mobile access point falters. And it’s this feature that users are most likely to need on the road. The ability to document the details of a claim at the scene of the incident is arguably the highest purpose of a car insurance app—the ability to pay an insurance premium on the road is not. Competitors have shown what the iPhone can do in claims reporting, setting a high bar with interactive maps of the accident scene, embedded camera functions and a GPS reading of the exact location. My Amfam presents a limited claim form with vague headings like “Description of Incident,” using only the ‘wheel’ selection tool and the keyboard for data entry — even the ‘Location’ field requires a typed answer. This brief form offers no guidance on the key information to collect in the event of an accident, such as the other driver’s name and contact information.