AUTO INSURANCE ARTICLE

Lowest Auto Insurance in Which State?

By: beverly

Each state has its own required amount of minimum liability insurance on their cars and other motor vehicles, for that matter. This minimum liability in auto insurance includes coverage for bodily injury liability, per accident limit, and property damage liability coverage. Expressed in three-part numbers, Michigan’s minimums for instance are presented as 20/40/10. It means, the minimum insurance under Michigan jurisdiction, is $20,000 worth of bodily injury coverage per person injured with a maximum of $40,000 per accident, and $10,000 of property damage liability insurance.

Since these are only the legal minimums required it is on the discretion of the policyholder to get additional coverage. Perhaps you wonder, why get beyond the minimum? The thing is, these insurance minimums only cover the damage to other motorists, their passengers, and other people’s property - not your own. To have protection for yourself, you need medical payments coverage, collision coverage, and other-than-collision (comprehensive) coverage.

High Minimum States

The states with unrivalled high auto insurance minimums are Alaska and Maine. In both states motorists are required to carry a split limit of at least 50/100, and at least $25,000 in property damage coverage. In New Hampshire, North Dakota, and South Dakota $25,000 worth of property damage coverage is required, but only 25/50 of bodily injury insurance. Slightly higher requirements of 30/60/25 meanwhile are registered in North Carolina.

Low Minimum States

No other state beats Mississippi in the lowest state minimum category with 10/20/5. Behind are Florida, Louisiana, and Oklahoma, which all have minimums of 10/20/10. Ohio’s minimums are 12.5/25/7.5, and all of the following states require low minimums, as well: Arizona (15/30/10), California (15/30/5), Delaware (15/30/5), Georgia (15/30/10), New Jersey (15/30/5), Nevada (15/30/10), Pennsylvania (15/30/5), and South Carolina (15/30/10).

Now do not get confused between the terms low minimums and low-cost insurance. You may live in a state which has low limits for basic auto insurance. But this does not preclude the fact that car insurance rates might be more expensive there than elsewhere. A case in point is New Jersey which has low minimums precisely because auto insurance is so expensive in this state. Raising the minimum rates in New Jersey would be ill-advised indeed, with few people barely able to afford auto insurance.

So, if you are on a shoestring budget and planning to move to a new state, it is to your advantage if you first get an auto insurance quote. It would be better to know in advance rather be out of clue how much auto insurance would cost you in the new state you’re moving to. If you find out it would turn out to be more expensive generally than what you are currently required to purchase at the minimum, then you can make some adjustments accordingly. And in case, you find out, the minimum and the insurance cost would be totally be just a fraction of what you are currently paying, then you can divert that money to some other moving costs instead.

The following are information of auto insurance minimums in 30 other states:

* Alabama 20/40/10

* Arkansas 25/50/15

* Colorado 25/50/15

* Connecticut 20/40/10

* Hawaii 20/40/10

* Idaho 20/50/15

* Illinois 20/40/15

* Indiana 25/50/10

* Iowa 20/40/15

* Kansas 25/50/10

* Kentucky 25/50/10

* Maryland 20/40/10

* Massachusetts 20/40/5

* Minnesota 30/60/10

* Missouri 25/50/10

* Montana 25/50/10

* Nebraska 25/50/25

* New Mexico 25/50/10

* New York 25/50/10

* Oregon 25/50/10

* Rhode Island 25/50/25

* Tennessee 25/50/10

* Texas 20/40/15

* Utah 25/50/15

* Virginia 25/50/20

* Vermont 25/50/10

* Washington 25/50/10

* Wisconsin 25/50/10

* West Virginia 20/40/10

* Wyoming 25/50/20