Who Has Cheap Columbus Car Insurance Quotes for Safe Drivers?

Deciphering which companies have the most affordable insurance rates for safe drivers involves a little more sweat than just comparing rates from one or two companies. Each auto insurance company has a proprietary method for filing rates in each state, so let’s rank the most affordable insurance companies in Ohio.

Best Insurance Companies for Safe Drivers

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What’s the cheapest car insurance in Ohio?
Rank Company Cost Per Year
1 Utica National $654
2 Erie $661
3 Allied $697
4 Frankenmuth $701
5 USAA $711
6 Travelers $733
7 Merchants Insurance Group $771
8 Cincinnati Insurance $772
9 Grange Mutual $804
10 Motorists Mutual $824
11 General Casualty $829
12 Central Mutual $848
13 Hastings Mutual $858
14 State Farm $885
15 Atlantic States $913
16 Western Reserve $941
17 Westfield $946
18 Progressive $953
19 Auto-Owners $998
20 American Family $1,010
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Utica National generally has some of the lowest car insurance rates in Columbus at around $654 annually. This is $386 less than the average premium paid by Ohio drivers of $1,040. Erie, Allied, Frankenmuth, and USAA also make the cut as some of the cheaper Columbus, OH insurance companies.

As shown in the table above, if you buy coverage from Frankenmuth and switched to Utica National, you might realize annual savings of about $47. Insureds with USAA could save as much as $57 a year, and Travelers policyholders might realize rate reductions of up to $79 a year.

Be aware that those premium estimates are averaged for all drivers and vehicles and and are not figured with a specific location for safe drivers. So the car insurance company that can offer the best rates for your situation may not even be in the list above. That affirms the importance of why you need to compare prices as often as possible using your own driver information and specific vehicle type.

One of the many things that are looked at to determine car insurance rates is where you normally keep your vehicle in Columbus. Regions with more people or even just more weather-related claims are more likely to have higher rates, whereas less populated areas have the benefit of cheaper auto insurance prices.

The table below shows the priciest cities in Ohio for safe drivers to buy auto insurance in. Columbus is ranked at #4 with an annual cost of $1,199 for the average insurance policy, which is around $100 monthly.

How much does car insurance cost in Columbus, OH?
Rank City Premium Per Year
1 Toledo $1,267
2 Cleveland $1,259
3 Youngstown $1,235
4 Columbus $1,199
5 Cleveland Heights $1,178
6 Cincinnati $1,174
7 Euclid $1,164
8 Akron $1,157
9 Dayton $1,120
10 Hamilton $1,102
11 Canton $1,102
12 Newark $1,095
13 Springfield $1,094
14 Fairfield $1,085
15 Beavercreek $1,058
16 Kettering $1,040
17 Middletown $1,035
18 Lakewood $1,031
19 Lorain $1,015
20 Mentor $1,008
21 Strongsville $1,001
22 Parma $997
23 Cuyahoga Falls $997
24 Mansfield $992
25 Elyria $965
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Table data uses estimated as the specific geographic location can modify auto insurance rates greatly.

The illustration below shows how choosing a deductible can increase or decrease premium costs when researching cheap insurance for safe drivers. The premiums are based on a married female driver, comp and collision included, and no discounts are applied to the premium.

A 50-year-old driver could save $216 a year by changing from a $100 deductible up to a $500 deductible, or save $326 by changing to a $1,000 deductible. Younger drivers, like the 20-year-old example, could possibly save up to $536 or more by using higher deductibles when buying full coverage. If you do raise deductibles, it is important to have additional savings on hand to satisfy the extra out-of-pocket expense, which deters some people from using high deductibles.

How accidents and tickets impact rates in Columbus

In a perfect world, the ideal way to snag low insurance prices for good drivers is to be a careful driver and not receive tickets or have accidents. The example below highlights how speeding tickets and at-fault fender-benders can influence annual premium costs for different insured age categories. The rate quotes are based on a married male driver, comprehensive and collision coverage, $100 deductibles, and no discounts are factored in.

In the example above, the average cost of an auto insurance policy per year with no accidents or violations is $1,493. Get one speeding ticket and the average cost surges to $1,714, an increase of $221 each year. Then throw in two accidents along with the one speeding ticket and the annual cost of insurance for safe drivers goes up to an average of $3,579. That’s an increase of $2,086, or $174 per month, just for not driving responsibly!

The importance of shopping around

Ohio insurance rates are influenced by many factors that can increase the cost of having a policy. Getting older, increasing deductibles, or getting caught speeding can trigger changes in premium resulting in some rates now being affordable when they were higher priced.

Additionally, insurance companies change rates multiple times each year in order to maintain liquidity for claims. Higher than usual claims may cause a rate increase, while lower claims can cause lower-priced Columbus car insurance rates.

To illustrate this point, the data below shows which company has the cheapest car insurance in Columbus, OH for a 35-year-old female driver with no accidents, a clean driving record, and excellent credit. If we look at prices based on her personal risk profile, Utica National might offer the cheapest car insurance rates in Columbus at $837 a year. This is $203 less than the average policy premium paid by Ohio drivers of $1,040. Allied, Frankenmuth, Erie, and Travelers are the rest of the cheapest Columbus, OH auto insurance companies.

Now we will pretend the driver from above a claim, a little lower credit rating, and a few blemishes on her driving record. Since every insurance provider has their own unique process to set premium rates, comparing rates may result in a slightly different list of cheap Columbus auto insurance companies as shown below.

Cincinnati Insurance now has the best price in Columbus, OH with Merchants Insurance Group, General Casualty, Grange Mutual, and Motorists Mutual also being competitive. This illustrates why it is critical to compare lots of rates when trying to find the best car insurance rates for safe drivers. Car insurance prices can be altered by many things and change dramatically, so the cheapest company the last time you compared rates may now be priced much higher than other options.