Let's Keep Those Car Insurance Payments Low
When you're on the lookout for affordable car insurance, your best bet is to compare quotes and ask about discounts regularly. The cheapest option for you might not be the same as for someone else, so it's important to shop around online or by connecting with an insurance agent. And as an added tip, maintaining a clean driving record and good credit can also help keep your premiums low.
Cheapest Insurance Rates by Company
We analyzed car insurance rates sourced from publicly available insurer filings and put together this list to show you how prices can vary between different companies. These rates are for people with good driving records who are looking for typical coverage.
| Rank | Insurance company | Average annual premium |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shelter Insurance | $1,453 |
| 2 | Erie Insurance | $1,488 |
| 3 | The Hartford | $1,549 |
| 4 | American Family | $1,551 |
| 5 | PEMCO Insurance | $1,554 |
| 6 | Ameriprise | $1,561 |
| 7 | Metropolitan Insurance Co. | $1,563 |
| 8 | Grange | $1,565 |
| 9 | 21st Century Insurance | $1,638 |
| 10 | American Alliance | $1,646 |
| 11 | Auto-Owners Insurance | $1,671 |
| 12 | Safeway Insurance | $1,688 |
| 13 | American National | $1,709 |
| 14 | Mercury Insurance | $1,711 |
| 15 | Arbella | $1,718 |
| 16 | COUNTRY Financial | $1,720 |
| 17 | Dairyland Insurance | $1,726 |
| 18 | Farmers Insurance | $1,732 |
| 19 | State Farm | $1,738 |
| 20 | AAA Insurance/ Auto Club | $1,746 |
| 21 | Allied | $1,747 |
| 22 | Nationwide Insurance | $1,749 |
| 23 | USAA | $1,769 |
| 24 | Safeco | $1,776 |
| 25 | MAPFRE Insurance | $1,783 |
| 26 | Allstate | $1,784 |
| 27 | Commerce Insurance | $1,795 |
| 28 | Amica | $1,817 |
| 29 | The General | $1,852 |
| 30 | Infinity Insurance | $1,852 |
| 31 | Windhaven | $1,877 |
| 32 | National General | $1,879 |
| 33 | Liberty Mutual | $1,879 |
| 34 | Citizens | $1,882 |
| 35 | Progressive | $1,889 |
| 36 | Esurance | $1,900 |
| 37 | Elephant Insurance | $1,902 |
| 38 | NJM Insurance | $1,908 |
| 39 | Plymouth Rock | $2,006 |
| Source: EverQuote. See full methodology below. | ||
Keys to cheap car insurance
Keep a clean driving record
Avoiding accidents, violations and claims will help you get the best auto insurance rates possible. That's because all of them can lead to rate increases. EverQuote looked at the difference premiums reported by users with clean driving records vs. those with an accident and found an average increase of 34%.
| Avg. premium for clean driving record | $1,773 |
| Avg. premium for driving record with one at-fault accident | $2,379 |
| Percent increase due to accident | 34% |
Maintain good credit
Did you know that having poor credit can affect your car insurance rates even more than an accident or ticket? Auto insurers say that poor credit correlates to a higher chance someone will make a claim. So they often use "credit-based insurance scores" as a major factor in pricing. The practice is banned in California, Hawaii and Massachusetts.
While improving credit can take months or years, it pays off in multiple ways:
- Cheaper car insurance.
- Better rates on a mortgage.
- Lower rates for car loans.
- Better credit card rates and access to cards with more perks.
Get car insurance discounts
Ask your insurance agent to review the possible discounts a company has, both when you buy a policy and regularly after that.
The discount for bundling home and auto insurance with the same insurer is generally one of the bigger discounts you can get. You can often also bundle auto insurance with renters, condo, mobile home or manufactured home insurance to get cheap car insurance.
Other common discounts include:
- Insuring more than one vehicle with the same company.
- Being a good student or having a student away at school without a car.
- Going paperless by receiving policies and bills electronically.
- Having car-safety features such as airbags and anti-lock brakes.
- Having an anti-theft device such as a car-tracking device.
- Loyalty as a customer over the years.
- Taking a defensive driving class, sometimes offered specifically to drivers age 55 and older.
Choose a vehicle that's cheap to insure
Insurance companies look at the "claims history" of vehicles to help determine rates. If other drivers of your model of car tend to crash a lot or make insurance claims, rates for the vehicle can rise for everyone. Here's a list of the cheapest cars to insure.
Drop collision and comprehensive coverage on older cars
There's no need to pay for insurance that has little potential benefit. That could be the case if you're paying for comprehensive and collision insurance on an older vehicle.
Collision and comprehensive coverage pay for damage to a vehicle for problems like hail, theft, animal collisions and crashes into objects like trees. The most it will pay is the value of the vehicle, minus your deductible. On an older vehicle, that insurance check may not amount to much.
A search for cheap car insurance is good to do on a regular basis. Auto insurance companies change their rates frequently so spending some time getting quotes can be worth it.
Methodology for average premiums: Premiums were reported by EverQuote users, based on policies with 100/300/50 in liability insurance and 100/300 in uninsured motorist coverage. Rates are based on single vehicles with one driver who has a good driving record with no violations. Premiums for sedans, coupes and hatchbacks were averaged. Premiums are based on expenditures reported between Jan. 1, 2017, and Dec. 31, 2018. Your own rates will be different.
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