August 3, 2014

Car insurance rates comparison by state

Middletown, NJ - It may not seem all that cheap to you, but Middletown drivers apparently pay some of the cheapest car insurance in the state.

According to this analysis by ValuePenguin, a personal finance company, Middletown is in the top 10 cheapest cities to insure a car in New Jersey. Value Penguin collected quotes from a variety of insurance companies across 99 towns and cities in New Jersey, and found this:

The average cost of car insurance in NJ was $2, 551. In Middletown, average premiums are $2, 003, 21% below the NJ state average.
Eastern New Jersey is more expensive than Western New Jersey
And, in hardly surprising news, the closer to New York City you get, the pricier car insurance is

The further east a city was located within New Jersey, the more it tended to pay yearly. The five most eastern cities in the state — Bergenfield, Englewood, Fort Lee, Long Branch and West New York — all paid about 30% more than the five most western New Jersey cities (Bridgeton, Blackwood, Sewell, West Deptford and Phillipsburg).

Where is the most expensive to pay car insurance in New Jersey? That would be Newark, where the average yearly car insurance rate is $3, 487, a 37% increase from the state average of $2, 551.

Most expensive New Jersey cities to insure a car:

Newark, average premium $3, 487
Irvington, average premium $3, 487
Passaic, average premium $3, 427
East Orange, average premium $3, 420
Orange, average premium $3, 420

The five most expensive cities are located within 26 miles of one another, coming either from Essex or Passaic counties. The title of 'most expensive city' is actually shared by both Newark and Irvington, which are only separated by a two mile drive down Springfield Ave. Overall, the five cities were about 37% above the state average. And the stereotypes about how high New Jersey's car insurance rates really are true: New Jersey's most expensive cities were 31% higher than the most expensive cities in neighboring New York and 74% higher than the most expensive cities in Pennsylvania. In New York, those cities are: Mineola, Garden City, Lawrence, Hempstead and New York City. In Pennsylvania, those cities are: Philadelphia, Carbondale, Coatesville, Norristown, Levitown and Chester.

Here are the 10 cheapest towns to insure a car in New Jersey, starting with the cheapest: