Car Insurance Ad Mascots We Love: Dr. Rick From Progressive

Nowadays, it seems like every car insurance company has a zany mascot trying to sell insurance with funny TV ads. Whether it's the Geico Gecko or Patrick Mahomes, car insurance ads are basically comedy sketches now. But one car insurance ad spokesperson who is surprisingly effective and quietly hilarious is Dr. Rick from Progressive. 

Dr. Rick is a fictitious "Parenta-Life Coach," played by actor Bill Glass, who provides group therapy for young homeowners who are turning into their parents. It's an inevitable fact of life that as soon as you buy your first home, you will immediately become uncool. You'll stop going to fun nightclubs and hip parties, and start wearing unstylish-but-comfortable shoes and spending your weekends aimlessly wandering the aisles at home improvement warehouse stores. 

Dr. Rick tries to help these unfortunate young souls overcome their premature fustiness, mostly without success. Let's look at a few reasons why Dr. Rick from Progressive is one of our favorite car insurance ad mascots, and see how Progressive can help you get a better deal on insurance.  

Dr. Rick from Progressive: Long-suffering life coach for the prematurely old 

At the start of each Progressive ad with Dr. Rick, he looks at the camera, documentary-style, and explains what he's working on today with a group of young homeowners who are turning into their parents. Throughout each ad, Dr. Rick helps his patients learn how to order lunch from a fast-casual restaurant menu that looks like a "science project," learn the difference between a social media status post and a search bar, or learn to let go of their extra car floor mats and unused pieces of crown molding.  

Dr. Rick is a unique choice for an insurance ad mascot, because he never mentions the name "Progressive" or talks about insurance at all. He's a funny character with a strange but vividly realized little world happening around him, and Progressive is just using this as a hook to get our attention. This is a low-key brilliant approach for an ad. The company is basically saying, "We're so confident about our insurance, that we don't even have to sell it to you -- we just want you to enjoy this funny 30-second comedy sketch." 

The only sales pitch comes at the end of each Dr. Rick ad. Progressive's voiceover narrator softly intones: "Progressive can't protect you from becoming your parents. But we can protect your home and auto when you bundle with us." 

Why bundling home and auto insurance can save you money  

If you're a new homeowner, whether you're turning into your parents or not, chances are you're discovering an exciting new world of expenses. Buying a home means you get to pay for homeowners insurance, property taxes, home maintenance costs, and all the other unglamorous outlays involved with keeping a roof over your head. What if you could find an easy way to save money on some of these costs of homeownership? 

Well, now you can. It's called: bundling home and auto insurance. Buying a home -- or doing an annual renewal of your homeowners insurance policy -- is a good occasion to take a fresh look at your auto insurance coverage. Getting home and auto insurance from the same company can often help you save big money. That's because insurance companies want to keep you as a customer. The more insurance business they can get from you, the better deals they're likely to offer -- think of it like a "bulk discount" for insurance.  

Progressive's website says that it offers possible savings of up to 24% on average for new customers who bundle home and auto insurance. The Ascent's research found average savings of 12% for people who bundle home and auto with Progressive. But whether your discount is 12% or 24%, or some other number, Progressive ranks as one of our top picks for best insurance companies for bundling home and auto. 

Progressive auto insurance also offers a few special benefits and discounts that could make it a good choice. The Ascent's research gave Progressive high marks for its unique auto insurance coverage choices, like "pet injury" insurance, and for offering affordable premiums for drivers with an accident history. Progressive also offers the Snapshot telematics insurance program that rewards safe drivers with extra discounts. 

Bottom line

Dr. Rick from Progressive made our list of best car insurance ad mascots because of the funny concept, relatable characters, and great acting. The Dr. Rick Progressive ads have racked up hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube; it's not often that TV ads are so entertaining that people actually seek them out for repeat viewings. There's something about this hapless, mustachioed life coach that makes people want to see more of Dr. Rick's weird little cinematic universe. 

And instead of doing an aggressive "hard-sell" approach, or shouting to the rafters about how awesome its insurance is, Progressive just barely mentions at the end of each ad, "Oh by the way, we can help you bundle home and auto." Sometimes in advertising, less is more. The understated approach of Dr. Rick might not stop you from turning into your parents, but it could make Progressive insurance worth considering for your next homeowners insurance or auto insurance policy -- or both!