NJM insurance review 2023

If you are looking for the best car insurance on a budget, New Jersey Manufacturers (NJM) might be a good option, but only if you live in the provider’s limited service area. NJM car insurance policies are only offered to residents of five states: Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Bankrate gave NJM a Bankrate Score of 4.1 out of 5.0. This score takes into account that the company ranks highly for customer and claims satisfaction in J.D. Power studies and offers low average rates. However, NJM lost points due to limited availability and lack of functional mobile tools.

NJM offers all the standard auto coverage types, like liability, comprehensive and collision. While NJM doesn’t offer a wide array of endorsements, there are a handful of options for policy customization, including ridesharing coverage, gap coverage, and physical damage coverage for trailers or campers.

Finding the best home insurance company for your needs may seem daunting, but Bankrate's reviews are here to help you narrow down your choices. If you live in a state NJM services, the company's homeowners insurance could be an excellent choice if you're looking for low average premiums and customizable policies. NJM earned a Bankrate Score of 3.2 out of 5, thanks partly to its cheap rates and wide range of coverage options. However, just like with its auto insurance, NJM’s digital tools for home insurance aren’t as robust as the tools offered by many other companies on the market.

Along with the standard homeowners coverage types, NJM policyholders could choose to add identity fraud expense coverage, water backup coverage, scheduled personal property, enhanced other structures coverage and more. The company’s assisted living coverage is especially unique and provides liability and personal property coverage to eligible family members who live in an assisted living facility.

If you're still wondering whether NJM insurance is the right choice for you, you may consider reaching out to these additional home and auto insurance companies:

Members of Bankrate’s editorial staff are licensed agents, and the team has decades of insurance industry experience between us. We understand how much thought goes into gathering insurance quotes and choosing the best company. For this reason, we conduct detailed, holistic insurance carrier reviews — our goal is to provide our readers with the information they need to make the most educated decision about their insurance needs.

Whether NJM is a good company likely depends on your priorities. Based on proprietary premium data, NJM may be among the cheapest car insurance companies, but it only sells insurance in five states. It also offers robust homeowners insurance coverage options, but it's missing a few endorsements for auto. Lastly, policyholders who value digital tools may want to look elsewhere — although the company has an online policy portal, the system doesn't allow for policy changes, and the company lacks a mobile app capable of policy management. Perhaps the best way to determine if NJM can provide what you need is to contact the company for a quote.

NJM customer complaints

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) is a leading regulatory body for the insurance industry. Among other responsibilities, the NAIC tracks the volume of complaints customers file against an insurer and awards a complaint index. Unlike J.D. Power, with NAIC scores, lower is better. A low complaint index indicates that a company receives fewer complaints, while a higher complaint index means it receives more. The NAIC gives a separate complaint index for each line of insurance a company writes. Below, we’ll review the indexes for NJM’s private passenger auto and home insurance.

Other NJM tools and benefits

While NJM’s digital tools may not be as impressive as some of its competitors', the company’s website does feature a helpful “Life Events” section, with articles on everything from getting your first job to having a baby, along with insight into how those events may impact your insurance needs. There’s also a “Safety Center” section that includes tips on personal safety, safe driving and home safety. NJM offers the following products along with its auto and home insurance offerings:

• Renters insurance: Renters insurance is sometimes overlooked, but this policy may provide renters with important liability protection as well as coverage for their personal property.
• Umbrella insurance: An umbrella policy provides extra liability coverage above and beyond what you carry on your home and auto policies.
• Business insurance: NJM’s business insurance offerings include workers' compensation, commercial auto and commercial umbrella policies. Unlike its personal policies, NJM business policies are available in New York.
• Classic car insurance: This specialized type of insurance policy can be used to protect a wide breadth of vehicles like collector cars, antiques, custom vehicles and even tractors. 
• Boat and watercraft insurance: NJM partners with American Modern to bring liability and physical damage coverage to boat owners.
• ATV and motorcycle insurance: Like its boat policies, NJM’s ATV and motorcycle policies are also underwritten by American Modern.

Frequently asked questions about NJM insurance

Bankrate utilizes Quadrant Information Services to analyze 2023 rates for ZIP codes and carriers in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Auto insurance rates are weighted based on the population density in each geographic region.

Auto

Quoted rates are based on a 40-year-old male and female driver with a clean driving record, good credit and the following full coverage limits:

• $100,000 bodily injury liability per person
• $300,000 bodily injury liability per accident
• $50,000 property damage liability per accident
• $100,000 uninsured motorist bodily injury per person
• $300,000 uninsured motorist bodily injury per accident
• $500 collision deductible
• $500 comprehensive deductible

To determine minimum coverage limits, Bankrate used minimum coverage that meets each state’s requirements. Our base profile drivers own a 2021 Toyota Camry, commute five days a week and drive 12,000 miles annually.

These are sample rates and should only be used for comparative purposes.

Age: Rates were calculated by evaluating our base profile with the ages 16-60 (base: 40 years) applied. Depending on age, drivers may be a renter or homeowner. Age is not a contributing rating factor in Hawaii and Massachusetts.

The rates for drivers ages 16-20 added to their parents' policy reflect the good student and driver's training discounts applied. The rates for drivers aged 16-20 on their own policy do not include the good student and driver's training discounts. Additionally, 25-year-old rates are based on the driver as a renter and 30+ on the driver as a homeowner.

Incidents: Rates were calculated by evaluating our base profile with the following incidents applied: clean record (base), single speeding ticket and single at-fault accident.

Homeowners

Quoted rates are based on 40-year-old male and female homeowners with a clean claim history, good credit and the following coverage limits:

• Coverage A, Dwelling: $150,000, $250,000, $350,000, $450,000, $750,000
• Coverage B, Other Structures: $15,000, $25,000, $35,000, $45,000, $75,000
• Coverage C, Personal Property: $75,000, $125,000, $175,000, $225,000, $375,000
• Coverage D, Loss of Use: $30,000, $50,000, $70,000, $90,000, $150,000
• Coverage E, Liability: $300,000, $300,000, $300,000, $300,000, $500,000
• Coverage F, Medical Payments: $1,000

The homeowners also have a $1,000 deductible and a separate wind and hail deductible (if required).

These are sample rates and should be used for comparative purposes only. Your quotes will differ.

Bankrate Score

Our 2023 Bankrate Score considers variables our insurance editorial team determined impacts policyholders’ experiences with an insurance company. These rating factors include a robust assessment of each company’s product availability, financial strength ratings, online capabilities and customer and claims support accessibility. Each factor was added to a category, and these categories were weighted in a tiered approach to analyze how companies perform in key customer-impacting categories.

Like our previous Bankrate Scores, each category was assigned a metric to determine performance, and the weighted sum adds up to a company’s total Bankrate Score — out of 5 points. This year, our 2023 scoring model provides a more comprehensive view, indicating when companies excel across several key areas and better highlighting where they fall short.

• Tier 1 (Cost & ratings): To determine how well auto and home insurance companies satisfy these priorities, 2023 quoted premiums from Quadrant Information Services (if available), as well as any of the latest third-party agency ratings from J.D. Power, AM Best and the NAIC, were analyzed.
• Tier 2 (Coverage & savings): We assessed companies’ coverage options and availability to help policyholders find a provider that balances cost with coverage. Additionally, we evaluated each company’s discount options listed on its website.
• Tier 3 (Support): To encompass the many ways an auto and home insurance company can support policyholders, we analyzed avenues of customer accessibility along with community support. This analysis incorporated additional financial strength ratings from S&P and Moody’s and factored a company’s corporate sustainability efforts.

Tier scores are unweighted to show the company's true score in each category out of a possible five points.