Which Auto Insurance Companies Offer the Lowest Rates?
Last updated November 2023
After a few years of holding steady, auto insurance premiums are rising. In most states, they’re expected to increase over the next few years even more due to higher repair costs, inflated values of used cars, increasing claims, and near-record numbers of injuries and fatalities from car accidents.
Most drivers stick with the same company year after year, and that’s often a costly mistake. They don’t shop for lower rates because they believe most companies charge about the same prices or conclude that the steep discounts they get (for their loyalty, or lack of speeding tickets or accidents) mean they won’t find better pricing elsewhere. But they’re wrong: Insurance companies charge vastly different rates for the same families and policies, and although you might be getting a price break from your current company, its competitors will also probably offer you deals to gain your business.
Our examination of prices charged by the largest auto insurers in seven metro areas found that most area drivers will save $500 or more a year by making a better auto insurance choice. Many will save $1,500 or more.
If you find a better rate, don’t bother waiting months until your current policy term expires to make a switch. If you find a lower-priced policy, you can cancel your old policy and have your old insurance company refund the unused share of your premium. And you don’t have to forsake good service for a better rate: Our ratings reveal low-priced highly rated companies.
Drivers who live in one of the seven metro areas served by Checkbook can use our auto insurance price comparisons to see how the companies stack up.
Although the rates we collected provide a good starting point, it’s unlikely that the rates we report will apply exactly to you and your family. You don’t live at the addresses we used, drive different cars, probably have a different driving record and loss history, and differ in other important ways. And because insurers use increasingly complex formulas to set rates, the companies that offered the lowest rates for our illustrative policyholders might not offer you good rates, too. Unfortunately, you’ll have to collect proposals from several insurers to determine which companies will give you the best rates.
You can shop by using companies’ websites or by calling the companies directly. Some companies sell only through agents.
When contacting agents, you may have to push for reliable information. We often find some agents quote wildly inaccurate rates, while others persistently push more coverage than requested. Before shopping, make a list of the coverages you plan to purchase. Our article "How Much Auto Insurance Coverage Do You Need?" provides advice on which coverages to buy, how much to buy, and what to skip.
Don’t bother using rate-comparison websites such as EverQuote.com, Gabi.com, Insurify.com, QuoteWizard.com, TheZebra.com, and many others. We tried out dozens of these sites and found it an utter waste of time. We rarely were provided with any meaningful price information; instead, our contact info was served up to other companies and agents as sales leads, unleashing a barrage of calls, texts, and emails that still didn’t include the pricing info we sought.