Grand Forks Herald of North Dakota reported on March 23, 2010 that the state had the lowest auto insurance costs in the United States. The newspaper cited a report of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners or NAIC, released in December, 2009. According to the report, the average auto insurance premiums paid by drivers of North Dakota was around $511.79 in 2007, which was the most recent data collected by the NAIC. The report revealed that the national average of annual auto insurance premiums were $794.98.
The report of NAIC showed that Washington D.C. headed the list in the cost of auto insurance premiums, with an average of $1,139.82, followed by New Jersey with an average annual auto insurance premium of $1,103.53, the second costliest state for auto insurance in the country. On the contrary, the second and third lowest auto insurance premium costs were in Iowa and South Dakota at $517.62 and $533.65. The neighboring states of Montana and Minnesota had auto insurance premium averages of $666.08 and $720.69, ranking nineteenth and twenty-fourth in terms of auto insurance costs.
The report of NAIC mentioned that the above figures included only the basic statutory liability coverage and comprehensive or collision coverages were not taken into consideration. However, even in the study that included all the three auto insurance coverages of liability, comprehensive, and collision, North Dakota was third lowest in the average annual premiums in US at $657.63 in 2007. Iowa had the lowest combined coverage costs at $620.08, while Wisconsin was second lowest at $642.47. South Dakota combined premium prices were $668.98, ranking fourth in the country. In this category also, Washington D.C. headed the combined auto insurance coverages prices list with an average of $1,288.52.
In related news, a news release by InsWeb on March 24, 2010, an online provider of insurance price comparisons, revealed that the median auto insurance rates for 6 months dropped by nearly 3% in the state of Colorado in the last 6 months. The average premium rates for 6 months in Colorado were $816. The report showed that the average auto insurance costs for adult men and women were about $848 and $781 respectively. The premiums for auto insurance declined with age groups. Colorado resident drivers in the age group of 19 or younger faced premium costs of around 1,662, while the age group of 20 to 24 was charged $1,145 on an average. The premiums for age groups of 25 to 29, 30 to 39, 40 to 49, and 50 to 59 were $892, $824, $796, and $680 respectively. People in the age group of 60 to 74 were charged premiums of $673 on an average, while for elders of 75 years and above, the auto insurance premiums were $711.
