5 Best Car Insurance Companies in Pennsylvania for 2022
Pennsylvania is located in the mid-Atlantic, a section of the country made up of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia and Washington, D.C. (and parts of a few other states, too). Historically, car insurance premiums in this region are average when compared to the rest of the country.
Some parts of Pennsylvania will have higher premiums than others due to population size, severe weather and crime rates in urban areas.
Because of this, it’s important to do thorough research when choosing a car insurance company because your premium prices will vary depending on your own personal driving history, credit score and where you live within the state.
Pennsylvania consumers should get at least five quotes from both large and small car insurance companies in the mid-Atlantic region to ensure they’re getting the best insurance for them. You can get quotes easily below by selecting your state in the comparison tool below.
The Best Car Insurance Companies in Pennsylvania
First, we looked at the best car insurance companies, then we ranked each one according to several important factors for paying the lowest auto insurance costs. We took into account each company’s AM Best rating, J.D. Power customer satisfaction and claims satisfaction rating, discounts and savings programs offered, and each company’s reputation for offering low rates when making these determinations.
The best car insurance companies in Pennsylvania according to our analyses were:
Best All-Around Car Insurance in Pennsylvania: Progressive
Best for Customizing Car Insurance: Liberty Mutual
Best for Driver Rewards: Allstate
Best for Affordable Coverage: GEICO
Best Online Marketplace: AgileRates
Compare Auto Insurance Companies in Pennsylvania
Best All-Around Car Insurance in Pennsylvania: Progressive
There are many factors to consider when choosing a car insurance company. Price is certainly important to many Pennsylvania residents. However, a company’s reputation, discount offers and customer service are also important. Progressive delivers on all of these categories.
Progressive does not have the cheapest insurance in Pennsylvania, but it doesn’t have the most expensive, either. On average, consumers in Pennsylvania can expect to pay around $160 per month. However, you can reduce that amount if you participate in two unique Progressive offerings: the Name Your Price Tool and Snapshot program. If you’re a safe driver, you could save up to $146 per year, on average, using the Snapshot program.
Progressive also has other perks like live chat so you don’t have to pick up the phone, and it also has a highly rated customer service support team. This helped the company earn the top spot on our list.
Customer and Claims Satisfaction: 828 (No. 9 on the J.D. Power Pennsylvania Survey)
Financial Strength Rating: A+ (superior)
Statewide Average Premium in Pennsylvania: $1,914
Coverage Options:
- Gap coverage (loan/lease payoff if you owe more than the car is worth)
- Rental car reimbursement (typically $40 to $60 per day)
- Custom parts and equipment value
- Ride-hailing coverage
- Roadside assistance
Discounts:
- Name Your Price Tool (enter your desired premium and Progressive will design a policy)
- Snapshot app ($146 average annual savings)
- Bundle auto and property (12% average discount)
- Multi-policy (5% average discount)
- Multicar (12% average discount)
- Small accident forgiveness (your premium won’t be raised on a claim of less than $500)
- Large accident forgiveness (no premium increase in an accident if you have been a customer for a least five years with no accidents for the past three years)
- Continuous coverage (discount varies)
- Teen driver (18 or younger)
- Good student (discount varies)
- Distant students (more than 100 miles from home — discount varies)
- Homeowner (average discount nearly 10%)
- Online quote (7% average discount)
- Sign online (9% average discount)
- Paperless (discount varies)
- Pay in full (discount varies)
- Automatic payment (discount varies)
Best for Customizing Car Insurance: Liberty Mutual
Liberty Mutual advertises customizing your policy through its “only pay for what you need” motto. And based on our analysis, that’s exactly what it stands for. It offers a wider variety of policy options and discounts than most other car insurance companies.
You can choose the options that will work best for you and exclude the ones that won’t. Meanwhile, there are plenty of discounts to help you get a low car insurance premium.
Customer Satisfaction Rating: 816 (No. 14 on the J.D. Power Pennsylvania Survey)
Financial Strength Rating: A (excellent)
Statewide Average Premium in Pennsylvania: $1,548
Coverage Options:
- Medical payments (extends to legal fees, bereavement costs, and pain and suffering)
- Personal injury protection
- Disappearing deductible ($100 annual reduction)
- Lifetime mechanical repair guarantee
- New car replacement
- Better car replacement
- Rental car reimbursement
- 24-hour roadside coverage
- Loan/lease gap coverage
- Original replacement parts
- Teachers car insurance (covers vandalism, collision and stolen school supplies from your car)
- Driving in Mexico
Discounts:
- Homeowner
- Military
- Early shopper (get a quote before your current policy expires)
- Good student (B- average or better)
- Student away at school
- Vehicle safety and anti-theft devices
- Alternative energy vehicle
- Accident- and violation-free
- Right Track (save up to 30% with driver monitoring)
- Bundling
- Multicar
- Automatic payments
- Pay-in-full discount
- Online purchase
- Paperless documents
Best for Driver Rewards: Allstate Insurance
If you’re a good driver, you deserve to be rewarded, and Allstate makes that possible. Allstate made this list because it offers some of the best rewards for Pennsylvania drivers. The most popular perk is its Safe Driving Bonus Check program, where Allstate mails you a check every six months you’re accident-free.
Allstate also offers something called Deductible Rewards, where you can get $100 off your deductible every year you’re accident-free. It also offers accident forgiveness, discounts on car repairs and more.
All of these perks make the cost to have Allstate insurance higher in some instances than others on this list. However, having good car insurance is about more than just cost. Sometimes it’s nice to have a company that offers perks and actually pays people who drive safely.
Pennsylvania is one of 16 states where Allstate offers its Milewise plan for low-mileage drivers. It’s an alternative pricing method in which your premium is based on actual mileage driven.
For example, you’ll pay a daily base rate, plus a per-mile rate. If your daily rate is $1.50, and your per mile rate is $0.06 — and you drive 20 miles per day — your combined daily rate will be $2.70. That comes to $985 per year or just $82 per month.
Customer and Claims Satisfaction: 851 (No. 14 on the J.D. Power Pennsylvania Survey)
Financial Strength Rating: A+ (superior)
Statewide Average Premium in Pennsylvania: $3,499
Coverage Options:
- Accident forgiveness
- Sound system insurance
- Roadside coverage
- Personal injury protection
- Personal umbrella (covers liability in excess of standard auto policies)
- Rental reimbursement
- Classic cars
- Car insurance for travel to Mexico
- Ride-hailing coverage
Discounts:
- New car
- Multi-policy
- Smart student
- Vehicle safety equipment
- Early signing
- Responsible payer
- Smart Student (minimum GPA 2.7)
- EZ pay plan
- Paperless (Allstate ePolicy)
- Pay by automatic withdrawal and/or full payment
- Drivewise monitoring app
- Deductible Rewards ($100 reduction in your deductible for each year you’re accident-free, up to $500)
Best for Affordable Coverage: GEICO
GEICO has the lowest statewide average car insurance premiums in Pennsylvania. And while cheap doesn’t necessarily equal quality, GEICO has the fourth-highest rating in the state for customer claims and satisfaction and an AM Best rating of A+, making it very likely claims payment is consistent.
The company also offers plenty of coverage options, including ride-hailing and mechanical breakdown coverage. And if that’s not enough, GEICO offers the deepest discounts in the industry.
Customer and Claims Satisfaction: 841 (No. 4 on the J.D. Power Mid-Atlantic Survey)
Financial Strength Rating: A+ (superior)
Statewide Average Premium in Pennsylvania: $800 (lowest in state)
Coverage Options:
- Roadside assistance coverage
- Ride-hailing
- Mechanical breakdown
- Collector vehicles
- Medical coverage
- Personal injury protection
Discounts:
- Multivehicle (25%)
- Bundling
- New vehicle (15%)
- Vehicle safety and anti-theft equipment (up to 23%)
- Good driver (accident-free for at least five years — up to 22%)
- Good student (15%)
- Driver’s education
- Federal employees (12%)
- Members of the U.S. military (15%)
- Membership in — or employee of — hundreds of groups and employers
- Customer loyalty
Best Online Marketplace: AgileRates
AgileRates is an online insurance marketplace, providing consumers access to multiple providers for both auto insurance and home insurance.
More than 300,000 drivers have obtained their car insurance coverage through the platform. By providing general information, such as your ZIP code, the type of vehicle you drive and the coverage you’re looking for, you can get car insurance quotes from several companies.
One of the advantages to an online car insurance marketplace is that you can provide the required information as well as any policy options you want to add. You’ll then get side-by-side comparisons from several providers, allowing you to see premiums for identical policies. This provides you with the lowest premiums available based on the mix of options you want and the discounts that apply to you.
AgileRates is an excellent choice for drivers who may have less-than-perfect driving profiles. That might include one or more moving violations, an at-fault accident, poor credit or even a citation for driving under the influence.
Comparison shopping is much more important if any of those factors apply to you.
How We Chose the Best Car Insurance Options in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania is a unique state for car insurance. Even though it is a no-fault state (more on that below), its average premiums are lower than other no-fault states like Louisiana, Florida and Michigan. Still, we considered more than just cost when comparing car insurance options in Pennsylvania.
Here are some of the tools, websites and research that helped us compile this list of the top car insurances companies in Pennsylvania:
- Cost and Rating: In addition to evaluating car insurance premiums in Pennsylvania, we also considered the financial rating of car insurance companies.
- Special Incentives: We researched many different insurance companies’ discount offerings, perks and programs, highlighting the ones that offered something different or unique.
- Driver Profiles: Another tool that allowed us to test several different profiles of drivers in Pennsylvania was ConsumersAdvocate.org. This site helped us test for drivers with positive and negative driving histories, plus drivers with a range of different credit scores.
- J.D. Power Study: We also incorporated research from J.D. Power’s highly respected 2020 U.S. Auto Insurance Study.
What You Need to Know About Pennsylvania Coverages
Pennsylvania is a no-fault state. This means that drivers file a claim with their own insurance company in case of an accident. A driver’s own insurance company will pay for medical bills and lost wages regardless of who was at fault.
In some states, this system contributes to extremely expensive car insurance, but in Pennsylvania consumers can choose a tort option to make their insurance more affordable: full tort or limited tort.
What Is the Difference Between Full Tort and Limited Tort?
Full-tort no-fault insurance gives drivers the right to sue other drivers for expenses and pain and suffering in the event of an accident.
Limited tort limits the option to file a lawsuit after an accident but still requires a driver’s own insurance company to pay for medical expenses. This choice enables drivers to choose a more affordable car insurance option if they want.
What Are Pennsylvania’s Car Insurance Minimums?
Pennsylvania drivers are required to have car insurance by law. At a minimum, they must have at least:
- $15,000 per person/$30,000 per accident of bodily injury liability insurance
- $5,000 of property damage liability insurance
- $5,000 of medical payment coverage
What If You’re a High-Risk Driver in Pennsylvania?
High-risk drivers might have difficulty finding car insurance coverage in Pennsylvania. Here are a few options.
- Get coverage with an auto liability insurance policy, which can be a challenge for high-risk drivers.
- Make a cash deposit of $35,000 with the department of motor vehicles.
- Get a certificate of self-insurance issued by the DMV to owners of fleets of more than 25 vehicles.
- Get a surety bond for $35,000 obtained from an insurance company licensed to do business in Pennsylvania.
If a high-risk driver is declined by car insurance companies or has a plan canceled, high-risk drivers will need to consult the Pennsylvania Assigned Risk Automobile Insurance Plan. This is considered a last resort.
What Are Pennsylvania’s Laws Regarding Non-Insurance?
In Pennsylvania, the penalties for driving without car insurance include:
- A minimum of $300 fine for driving uninsured
- A three-month suspension of your vehicle registration
- A three-month suspension of your driver’s license
- A restoration fee to restore your vehicle registration
- A restoration fee to restore your driver’s license
- A restoration fee to restore your commercial driver’s license
- The vehicle may not be driven by anyone while the registration is suspended
- Vehicle impoundment
Final Thoughts
Drivers in Pennsylvania should get several different quotes before settling on a car insurance company. They should also consider getting more coverage than the minimum required car insurance coverage in Pennsylvania in order to fully protect themselves from liability and other drivers who may be underinsured or not insured at all.
Pennsylvania drivers should also consider their own driving histories, needs and time constraints when considering a car insurance company. Some car insurance companies offer more perks, like excellent customer service, easy claims filing and discounts for safe driving. However, sometimes perks come with higher premiums.
For these reasons, drivers in Pennsylvania should get at least five car insurance quotes, and research discounts and perks offered at each company before choosing the best car insurance in Pennsylvania for them.
