Car Insurance Rates in Delaware
It may be one of the smallest states in the country by size, but Delaware is part of a car-insurance trend that is well known to drivers across the United States.
No matter where you drive in the east, it seems like you will pay a little bit more each year for the privilege of protecting your vehicle from accidents, theft and weather-related incidents like hurricanes and floods. Mother Nature may not be kind to residents of the West Coast, especially California, where the ground tends to shake every so often, but the East Coast is more densely populated and offers more risks.
According to a Forbes.com article, three of the top 10 states as far as car-insurance rates are on the East Coast (Florida, New York and Delaware). The reason why rates tend to be higher in this part of the country has to do with the heavily-traveled corridors and rush-hour backups each city faces. Ever been on Interstate 95 just outside Philadelphia, headed to the south toward Wilmington, Delaware’s biggest city?
Yes, you probably know how bad the traffic can be if you have made that trip. A combination of this and other factors such as car theft, weather, etc., have made East Coast cities and states targets for high insurance bills.
New York and Florida are no-fault states. This simply means fault is not assigned to a driver in the event of an accident, and it limits the ability for a person whose car was wrecked by another driver to sue that driver in court for more damages. The drawback of no-fault insurance is not only will the driver that hit you (if you were in an accident) see his or her rates rise, yours will likely go up as well. The highest-insurance state in the nation, in terms of cost, is Michigan — another no-fault state.
Good2Go does not come with the no-fault policy, but the cost of insuring a vehicle is still among the highest in the United States. According to data from the Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association, the average expenditure per Delaware car was $1,007 in 2008 and that number rose to $1,031 in 2010. Average expenditure is taken by dividing total premiums for liability, comprehensive and collision coverage by the number of insured vehicles in the state.
There is one thing to consider about Delaware when it comes to size. It is the second-smallest state in the nation, behind Rhode Island. The high cost of car insurance, combined with a smaller amount of vehicles insured, may produce the four-digit expenditure figures. Delaware residents must carry $15,000 for single injury/death, $30,000 for multiple injury/death and $10,000 for injury or destruction of property.
Although the state is small there are some heavily-traveled corridors where many cars pass through each day, heightening the risk something might happen. The Interstate 95 corridor is one of the worst in terms of traffic. AARoads.com has the amount of traffic per day on I-95 between Wilmington and Philadelphia at 157,000 cars. The old road before the advent of interstates was US Highway 13, and that is a hazard due to the stop-start nature of lights and traffic. US 40 between Baltimore and Philadelphia is also heavily traveled, as many drivers use it to escape the bustle of I-95 and the Delaware Turnpike.
The bottom line is you will pay more to drive on the East Coast, and Delaware is one of those states where you may get a discount but more often than not will face higher bills.
Try to have a good driving record, stay accident-free and carry enough coverage. That will at least save a bit of money in the long haul.
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- The Delaware Business Weekly Round Up – March 8, 2013