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From the cheapest car insurance companies in New Jersey to the most popular insurance providers, we have it all for you Garden State dwellers. If you’re proud of your accent, not so proud of your notorious reality TV legacy, and have a strong divide between professional sports teams, this page is for you.
What Are You Looking For?
- New Jersey’s Cheapest Companies
- Most Popular New Jersey’s Car Insurance Providers
- Customer Satisfaction Ratings
- Our Recommendation
What are the minimum coverage requirements in New Jersey?
Standard policies in New Jersey must include liability insurance to fulfill the state’s minimum requirements. Liability is made up of bodily injury liability coverage and property damage liability coverage.
However, the minimum coverage is not enough for many drivers, as it only covers damage done to other drivers.
Adding comprehensive coverage and collision coverage to your auto policy will ensure that your own vehicle is protected as well.
There is also a variety of coverage options that can be included as add-ons to auto insurance policies, such as uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage, personal injury protection, GAP insurance, roadside assistance, and more.
The more coverage you opt to add, the higher your insurance premiums will be, so assess what’s available to you and what you need and choose your coverage wisely.
How are auto insurance rates determined in New Jersey?
Auto insurance providers look at factors like your age, gender, marital status, credit score, and driving record when setting your rates. A few states have banned providers from considering a credit-based insurance score, but New Jersey isn’t one of them.
Drivers with a clean driving record will save a lot of money on auto insurance because they seem less risky to insure.
It’s important to get auto insurance quotes from multiple companies, as each will have their own way of assessing risk to determine how much you should pay.
What are New Jersey’s cheapest providers?
We did the math based on a lot of data to find that drivers in New Jersey spend about $1,000 annually at the low end and top out at over $3,500 with some insurance providers. You’ll want to take a look at our data below so you know where to find the lowest rates.
| New Jersey's Cheapest Car Insurance | Average Annual Rate |
|---|---|
| Farmers | $955.25 |
| Plymouth Rock | $1,154.92 |
| Travelers | $1,158.81 |
| Norfolk & Dedham | $1,230.41 |
| USAA | $1,270.57 |
| National General | $1,273.95 |
| Amtrust | $1,273.95 |
| Foremost Insurance | $1,451.52 |
| Pennsylvania Lumbermens | $1,532.36 |
| CSAA | $1,548.29 |
| PURE | $1,586.95 |
| California Casualty | $1,690.22 |
| The Hartford | $1,787.18 |
| Esurance | $1,792.50 |
| American Commerce Insurance | $1,841.82 |
| CURE | $1,852.39 |
| Progressive | $1,876.15 |
| New Jersey Manufacturers | $1,906.84 |
| Allstate | $1,966.41 |
| Amica Mutual | $1,971.49 |
| Mercury | $1,977.22 |
| Ameriprise Financial | $2,018.78 |
| American National Financial | $2,023.16 |
| 21st Century | $2,075.50 |
| Electric Insurance | $2,132.29 |
| GEICO | $2,154.33 |
| ACE | $2,181.42 |
| Selective | $2,209.81 |
| State Farm | $2,356.92 |
| Liberty Mutual | $2,371.46 |
| IFA | $2,392.65 |
| MetLife | $2,411.28 |
| Allianz | $2,492.82 |
| Nationwide | $2,538.01 |
| Kemper | $2,610.72 |
| AIG | $2,700.79 |
| Hanover | $2,906.63 |
| Chubb | $3,081.49 |
| American Independent Insurance | $3,536.02 |
* We took a look at 30 zip codes and five driver profiles to find annual averages for 40 companies based on data from New Jersey’s insurance department.
What are the most popular New Jersey car insurance carriers?
It’s important to look at an insurance company’s “popularity” or what we like to call “market share.” It shows the percentage of customers a company has compared to competitors.
Take GEICO for instance. We found that it’s Jersey’s 29th cheapest car insurance provider, but it has the most customers out of any other company in the state. Why is this? It might be that it offers better coverage or service and customers are willing to pay more for it. Farmers is New Jersey’s cheapest provider for average drivers, but it has a tiny market share in comparison.
Just take a look to see how popularity and price compare. You’ll find that the cheapest options aren’t always the most popular and vice versa.
| Market Share Percent | Average Annual Rate | |
|---|---|---|
| GEICO | 17.4 | $2,154.33 |
| New Jersey Manufacturers | 13.37 | $1,906.84 |
| Allstate | 12.98 | $1,966.41 |
| Progressive | 9.76 | $1,876.15 |
| State Farm | 8.65 | $2,356.92 |
| Plymouth Rock | 7.83 | $1,128.72 |
| Liberty Mutual | 7.58 | $2,371.46 |
| USAA | 3.56 | $1,270.57 |
| Travelers | 3.21 | $1,158.81 |
| Farmers | 2.94 | $955.25 |
What New Jersey auto insurance companies have the best customer service?
A “complaint index” shows the percentage of customers who complain compared to the amount a company has in that area (market share). What you need to know about complaint index is that lower numbers mean less customers are complaining. A company with low numbers is probably a good choice because it means you’ll have better odds of being a happy customer too.
This chart starts with the worst New Jersey auto insurance providers based on high customer complaint levels. Through our research, we found that Personal Service Insurance has a lot of complaints, while Mercury, Founders, Encompass, Chubb, and Selective Auto Insurance have much better customer service.
Take a look to see how insurance companies you’re interested in are doing with customer service.
| Company | Number of Comlaints | Complaint Index | # of Vehicles INSURED |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mercury Indemnity Co of America | 0 | 0 | 21,515 |
| Founders Ins Co | 0 | 0 | 21,429 |
| Encompass Group | 0 | 0 | 39,912 |
| Chubb Insurance of New Jersey | 0 | 0 | 18,702 |
| Selective Insurance | 0 | 0 | 38,514 |
| NJM Group | 4 | 0.208 | 794,137 |
| Plymouth Rock | 3 | 0.455 | 272,484 |
| Travelers | 2 | 0.469 | 176,070 |
| Palisades Group *Part of Plymouth Rock | 2 | 0.492 | 168,002 |
| Farmers | 1 | 0.687 | 60,119 |
| California State Auto Group | 2 | 0.702 | 117,622 |
| State Farm Group | 11 | 0.921 | 493,518 |
| American Commerce Insurance | 1 | 0.989 | 41,742 |
| Allstate | 17 | 1.139 | 616,259 |
| Liberty Mutual | 11 | 1.208 | 375,951 |
| USAA | 7 | 1.211 | 238,735 |
| Esurance | 2 | 1.342 | 61,556 |
| Progressive | 16 | 1.392 | 474,850 |
| CURE | 2 | 1.559 | 52,980 |
| GEICO | 37 | 1.585 | 964,100 |
| NJ Skylands Insurance Association | 1 | 1.726 | 23,935 |
| 21ST CENTURY | 4 | 1.772 | 93,221 |
| MetLife | 4 | 1.816 | 90,972 |
| Amica Mutual | 2 | 1.973 | 41,860 |
| American National Financial | 1 | 2.296 | 17,990 |
| Hanover Insurance | 2 | 2.67 | 30,934 |
| IDS | 2 | 2.708 | 30,505 |
| The Hartford | 3 | 5.848 | 21,189 |
| IFA Insurance Company | 6 | 9.719 | 25,497 |
| Personal Service Insurance | 11 | 16.515 | 27,508 |
*Complaint Ratio = Valid Complaints to 1,000 Insured Autos Ratios Calculated for Companies with at least 10,000 autos 2014 Auto Insurance Consumer Information Report
**Valid Complaints: The insurer, licensee, producer, or other regulated entity committed any violation of: an applicable state insurance law or regulation; a federal requirement that the state Department of Insurance has the authority to enforce; or, the term/condition of an insurance policy or certificate; or the complaint and entity’s response, considered together, indicate that the entity was in error.
***Complaint Index = How the Insurer’s Complaint Ratio compares with all other insurers on the report. The average is equal to 1.00 Below 1.00 is better; above 1.00 is worse
What do we recommend?
We want you to make up your own mind. Our purpose here is just to make sure you have all the information you need to do it. The one piece of advice we do have for you when you’re picking a car insurance company is to go with one that’s great across a number of categories.
If you’re looking for cheap, our data concludes that Farmers is the cheapest auto insurance provider in the state. However, it’s ranked 10th in popularity (market share). We also found that Palisades, Travelers, Norfolk & Dedham, and USAA all rank in the top 10 for price and market share, but not for customer satisfaction (complaint index).
Make sure to ask about insurance discounts when you’re comparison shopping. Many insurance providers offer safe driver discounts, student discounts, discounts for vehicle safety features or for taking a defensive driving course, and a lot more to help you get a more affordable rate.
What you need to do is figure out your insurance priorities and then make the best overall choice. If you’re feeling anxious about all this, get help from one of our independent agents.
Where We Found The Facts
We fact-check like it’s going out of style to find all the relevant and honest information out there about car insurance. The one thing that might not be true to your life are the average quotes you’ve seen on this page. While they are true for average drivers, you might not fit that bill entirely. Every driver is different, so the best way to get an accurate premium is to call for a quote. We just wanted to give you a good idea of what to expect by giving you a ballpark average to go on.
Source Links:
- valuepenguin.com
- New Jersey Department of Insurance