Who Has the Cheapest Auto Insurance Quotes in Delaware? (2017)

We analyzed auto insurance quotes to find the best car insurance rates in Delaware. We reviewed annual premiums for a single 30 year old male from about nine companies and nearly forty cities in Delaware. Depending on which company drivers insure with, rates could range from $1,176 to $3,710 from the lowest to the highest in Delaware, and the average being $2,044. Even within the same city for the same driver, the gap between the most expensive and the cheapest car insurer was as high as $4,647-- underscoring the need to comparison shop auto insurance quotes. Read more below, or enter your zip code above for a list of car insurance companies underwriting in your area to begin shopping for rates.

• Cheapest Car Insurance Companies in Delaware
• Cheap Car Insurance in DE: by City
• Best Auto Insurance Companies in DE
• Cost of Auto Insurance in DE: by City

Cheapest Car Insurance in Delaware

The top five cheap car insurance companies in Delaware based on our annual premium study are GEICO, Atlantic States, Grange, Progressive and Donegal Mutual. We arrived at this group of insurers by comparing quotes from nine auto insurance companies, and ranking them based on their average cost in the state. The mean cost among these five insurers is $1,582 which is a 29% savings compared to the average cost for car insurance in the state.

While your actual car insurance quotes will depend on where you live and park, and your driving record, these companies are good ones to start with if you’re looking for low-cost auto insurance in Delaware. Not every company underwrites policyholders the same way, so drivers should always compare quotes between several companies to cover their bases. Here is a table of car insurance companies ranked in the order of lowest average annual insurance costs to the highest:

Rank	Company	Yearly Car Insurance Rate
1	GEICO	$1,176
2	Atlantic States	$1,370
3	Grange Insurance	$1,684
4	Progressive	$1,806
5	Donegal Mutual	$1,877
6	MetLife	$1,972
7	State Farm	$2,291
8	Encompass	$2,513
9	Sentry	$3,710

Cheap Car Insurance in Delaware: by City

The cost of auto insurance varies significantly from place to place, and even within the same city. The cheapest location in our Delaware analysis was Lewes, with an average city cost of $1,830, while the most expensive was Wilmington, at $3,185. In Wilmington, prices differed by as much as $4.647 per year. Take a look at the three cheapest auto insurance companies by city in our table below.

Wilmington, DE

Delaware’s largest city is home to 71,000 residents, and ranks as the most expensive city in our study. It’s the headquarters of major credit card businesses and the conglomerate Dupont, and hosts the Clifford Brown Jazz Festival. It can cost on average $3,158 to insure a vehicle garaged in Wilmington each year.

If you’re looking for cheap car insurance in Wilmington, start by getting quotes GEICO, Progressive and Atlantic States. These companies ranked with three of the lowest costs in Wilmington, and averaged about $2,061 a year in insurance premiums, or about 53% less than the city average.

Dover, DE

Dover is the second largest city and capitol of the First State. Dover International Speedway and Dover Downs are two popular automobile racetracks in the city, with the Monster Mile hosting two NASCAR races a year. The Dover Air Force Base is also located here (we break the AFB out separately in our table above). The cost of auto insurance here in Dover is cheaper than average at $2,003 a year. We found that drivers could save up to 47% when insuring with three companies in particular: GEICO, Atlantic States and Grange Insurance. The average annual rate with these insurers was $1,362.

Newark, DE

Lying midway between Philadelphia and Baltimore is the city of Newark. It measures nine square miles in area, and is surrounded by verdant parks, with ample green space from White Clay Creek State Park to Glasgow Park. The city is served by several interstate highways, including the I-95 and Route 896, which makes it convenient for the city's 32,000 residents to drive and commute about. It's also site of the main campus of the University of Delaware and a major hub for figure skating. It costs on average $2,620 a year to cover your car in Delaware’s third largest city. Residents here can pay costs that are 21% higher than elsewhere in the state, which ranks the city as the 2nd most expensive spot in Delaware. People looking for affordable car insurance quotes should consider Atlantic States, GEICO and Grange Insurance which had three of the lowest auto insurance premiums in Newark at an average price of $1,705. Going with these companies could shave 54% off of what the typical driver in Newark pays.

Middletown, DE

Middletown once played host to the filming of the “Dead Poets Society” – the city’s St. Andrews School served as the main setting for the bulk of its scenes. Depending on when residents drive around, they can find streets blocked off from several annual parades and events. Among these are the Old Tyme Peach Festival, the Big Ball Marathon, and the Hummers Parade. Drivers in Middletown can pay average rates of about $2,057 for car insurance – just around the state average. We recommend that consumers start with quotes at GEICO, Atlantic States and Grange Insurance, which had the three lowest auto insurance costs in Middletown. Together, they had an average cost of $1,193 for the Middletown driver – a reduction of 34% compared to the citywide average. For reference, the three most expensive carriers in town had a mean annual premium of $4,096, which would still cost more than getting insured at Allianz, Ameriprise, and MetLife combined!

Smyrna, DE

Smyrna is home to 10,000 residents, and is centrally located between the state capital of Dover, and south of Newark and Wilmington. Most recently, the town announced the construction of a solar power generation building aimed at creating more renewable energy sources and lowering costs. The typical single male in his early 30s could see annual rates here of $1,983 on average, which is 3% lower than the Delaware mean. When it comes to lowering car insurance costs, we recommend GEICO, Atlantic States, and Grange. Going with these three insurers would cost on average $1,344 and could reduce drivers’ costs by 48%. On the other hand, making the mistake of going with the three most expensive companies in Smyrna would have cost you about $3,000 more each year.

Milford, DE

The town of Milford started from a mill powered by the crossing of the Mispillion River. Motorists in this town of 9,800 pay premiums of about $1,883 a year to insure their cars, or 19% cheaper than elsewhere in the state. For affordable auto insurance in Milford, GEICO, Atlantic States and Grange are three good companies to start comparison shopping for quotes. The average among those three insurers is $1,344, making them $539 cheaper than what the typical insurer charged in the city.

Seaford, DE

The first occupants of Seaford relied on the Nanticoke River as their main means of transport, and it wasn’t until 1720 that roads were started. Today, those roads are better paved and more frequently traveled. Drivers in Seaford can pay about $1,936 when it comes to auto insurance. While it is generally cheaper to insure a car in Seaford compared to other cities in Delaware (by about 6%), there is always room for additional savings. We found that GEICO, Atlantic States and Grange Insurance were the companies with cheapest auto insurance in Seaford. Together the three had an annual premium of $1,344, 44% less than the city average.

Georgetown, DE

Georgetown is located in Sussex County, and was established in 1791 in an effort to designate a centralized county seat convenient for all citizens to travel to. It costs today $1,936 a year to protect residents' cars with liability coverage, or about 6% cheaper than the Delaware average. Affordable auto insurance in Georgetown can be found at GEICO, Atlantic States and Grange Insurance where costs averaged $1,344, or $591 less than the average of other insurers. That's also $2,940 cheaper on average than going with one of the three most expensive companies in Georgetown.

New Castle, DE

The city was once ruled by Swedish, Dutch, and English settlers. Today, its population numbers 5,300 and its average cost of car insurance is $2,486 a year, or 18% higher than the average in Delaware. For cheap car insurance in New Castle, go with Atlantic States, GEICO, and Donegal Mututal (average annual premium: $1,503). In comparison, the three priciest companies have an average cost of $2,574 a year.

Bethany Beach, DE

One of the cheapest places for car insurance in Delaware is Bethany Beach, a town of 1,000 residents. Recognizable by its landmark totem pole statue, the town is a beach resort area popular in the summertime. Auto insurance here costs $1,834 a year – about 11% cheaper than its other neighbors in the state. Between GEICO, Atlantic States and Grange Insurance, the three cheapest, your auto insurance rates would be 36% under the city average. Just make sure to comparison shop - winding up with one of the expensive insurers could cost you $2,116 a year.

Ocean View, DE

Bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, a bay, a canal, and a creek, the town of Ocean View is a seaside community and the second best city for auto insurance. Its 1,900 residents pay a total of $1,834 for automobile insurance, which makes costs here 11% cheaper than elsewhere in the state. If you're looking for low cost automobile insurance in Ocean View, we recommend getting quotes from GEICO, Atlantic States and Grange Insurance. Together their average cost is $1,344, which is $490 lower than the citywide average.

Best Car Insurance in Delaware

State Farm, USAA, Liberty Mutual, GEICO, and Progressive were five best auto insurance companies in Delaware. Here’s how we arrived at this conclusion. 

To determine which auto insurance companies were the best in Delaware, we looked at complaints submitted to the State of Delaware's Department of Insurance as a measure of drivers' customer satisfaction. In our opinion, the companies with the least complaints as a proportion of their business (and compared to the competition) would be doing the best jobs keeping their policyholders satisfied. We calculated this complaint index by dividing a company’s share of complaints to their share of business, and then ranked them from the lowest index number (best) to highest (worst). To be relevant to most consumers, we only looked at large companies in Delaware. Our complaint and premium data was sourced from closed complaints and physical damage premiums written in Delaware in 2013.

Rank	Group Name	Physical Damage Premiums	Closed Complaints	Index
1	State Farm Insurance Group	$43,387,914	10	0.39
2	USAA / United Services Automobile Association	12,074,733	4	0.55
3	Liberty Mutual Insurance Group	18,768,119	7	0.62
4	GEICO Insurance Group	22,110,366	9	0.68
5	Progressive Insurance Group	12,947,704	6	0.78
6	Nationwide Insurance Group	25,084,664	17	1.13
7	Metropolitan Group Property & Casualty Insurance Company	1,438,667	1	1.16
8	Hartford Insurance Group	3,994,430	3	1.26
9	21st Century Centennial Insurance Company	5,877,076	6	1.71
10	Travelers Auto Insurance Group	3,376,989	4	1.98
11	Farm Family Casualty Insurance Company	1,176,177	2	2.85
12	Donegal Mutual Insurance Company	1,558,042	3	3.22
13	Titan Auto Insurance	2,543,913	6	3.95

Cost of Car Insurance in Delaware: by City

How much does it cost to insure a car in Delaware? We found that the overall average across the state was $2,044 for a single man in his early 30s. Annual premiums can vary by as much as $1,830 in Lewes to to $3,185 in Wilmington. This graph below illustrates the average cost in each city in Delaware for our sample driver.

Minimum Auto Insurance Liability Requirements in Delaware & Methodology

We analyzed quotes from 35 cities in Delaware for a single 30 year old male who hasn't had any accidents or traffic violations within the last three years. Our sample motorist drove 12,000 miles a year in 2011. We chose insurance limits a bit above the state minimum required in Delaware. 

Coverage	Study Liability Coverage	Delaware Minimum Liability Coverage
Bodily Injury Protection	$50,000 / $100,000	$15,000 / $30,000
Property Damage	$50,000	$10,000
Personal Injury Protection	$50,000 / $100,000	$15,000 / $30,000
Uninsured Motorist	$50,000 / $100,000	$10,000
Comprehensive Coverage	$500 deductible	N/A
Collision Coverage	$500 deductible	N/A