Lowering Your Auto Insurance Rate

Feel like you’re paying too much for your auto insurance? Think you could get better coverage for less? Just curious about what other deals are out there? You’re not alone. In 2024, the average policyholder’s premium increased by 26% to more than $2,500 each year, according to Bankrate. Factors include high numbers of car crash injuries and fatalities; litigation costs for accidents; and severe weather, such as flooding and wild fires, that damages cars.

 Examine Your Policy

•  Driving less than before? Many insurers provide discounts for driving under a certain number of miles a year. This can save, on average, $116 on your annual premium.
• Still have a family member on your policy who no longer drives your vehicle, such as teenagers or ex-spouse? Removing extra drivers saves, on average, $1,500 - $2,000 per year.
• It’s important to review your liability coverage to ensure it properly covers damage and medical expenses in the event of a crash. Consumer Reports recommends holding liability coverage of $100,000 per person, $300,000 per incident for bodily injury or death, and $100,000 for property damage. Remember that injured parties can come after any of your assets for expenses beyond your coverage, so it’s important to have robust coverage to begin with.

Seek Out Savings

• Increasing your deductible from $500 to $1,000 can reduce your premium by 20 to 25%.
• Drive an older vehicle or is your premium more than 10% of your vehicle’s value? Dropping collision insurance saves, on average, $300 to $800 a year. This would mean you pay out of pocket for any damage done to your vehicle.
• Bundling home and auto insurance can save, on average, $382 a year. It’s always worth inquiring.
• Some insurers provide discounts for completing a defensive driving course. In New York, for example, motorists receive a 10% discount on their premium after taking a state-approved course that costs $25 and takes about 5 hours once every three years.

Shop Around

• Switching insurance providers can save you, on average, $461 on your annual premium.
• Use reliable comparison sites, such as Experian, Jerry, Policygenius, Way, and The Zebra. Avoid CarInsurance.com, EverQuote, Insurance.com, Insure.com, and QuoteWizard, which are known to sell users’ personal data to insurance companies and brokers.
• Independent agents can offer access to smaller regional insurers or build region-specific plans that may provide better value and customer service than national providers. You can find these agents on the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America website, independentagent.com.
• Using a mutual insurance company could save you 5% to 20% annually. Mutual insurance companies typically have the same premium costs as standard plans, but they offer annual rebates when the company performs well. These providers include NJM, State Farm Mutual, USAA, and Amica.
• When choosing between a few providers with similar rates, review Consumer Report’s ratings of those companies. Pay attention to factors beyond the cost, because low rates may correlate with poor claims performance.

Note: when pulling up an insurance provider’s website by typing their name into a search engine like Google or Edge, review the resulting URLs to ensure you’re going directly to the insurer’s page and not to a comparison or broker’s site.

Source: Consumer Reports April 2025