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Priciest States for Auto Insurance Rates

Auto insurance rates are determined by a number of factors including driving record, credit score, traffic violations, accidents, among many other factors. However, your location also determines your rate and I don’t just mean the city in which you live.

More importantly, the state in which you reside has a huge affect on your auto insurance rates. Factors that affect rates in a given state include state insurance laws, the weather as well as the number of uninsured drivers on the road. The latter is a huge problem – even more so in today’s economy with unemployment rates still high and could be a problem that we face for several years especially with insurance rates on the rise.

Recently released reports stating the priciest states for auto insurance rates show that the national average for auto insurance rates is $1,561. This is $131.74 higher than it was last year in 2010 simply proving that auto insurance rates are indeed on the rise.

Michigan is the priciest state for auto insurance per this report by Insure.com costing on average $2,541. One of the main reasons Michigan has the highest insurance rates is because it is the only state right now that promises the unlimited PIP, also known as personal injury protection, while other states have limits on how much PIP they will payout. This can turn into a huge amount of money for insurance companies resulting in the high cost of insurance.

Louisiana comes in second place with insurance rates averaging approximately $2,453. The reason for Louisiana being so expensive is partly due to its judicial system. Their system favors individuals meaning that when individuals and insurance companies go to court, the insurance company generally loses causing them to pay out a huge chunk of change. Therefore, this causes insurance costs to spike up.

Oklahoma comes in third with average insurance rates being around $2,197. Oklahoma is pretty terrible when it comes to weather and storms. This is one of the worst states for tornadoes. Storms across the state, with damaging hail and winds resulting in a higher percentage of damaged vehicles, cause for such high insurance rates in Oklahoma.

Rounding out the rest of the top 10 priciest states for auto insurance includes Montana at $2,190, Washington D.C. at $2,146, California at $1,991, Mississippi at $1,896, New Mexico at $1,896, Arkansas at $1,836 and Maryland at $1,807.

Note: All figures based on a middle-aged male driving a 2011 year model automobiles. The policies were 100/300/50 yearly.