Who Has the Cheapest Auto Insurance Quotes in Missouri?

We studied auto insurance quotes in Missouri to determine which cities and insurance companies had the most affordable rates and which had the most expensive. The average auto insurance quote in The Show-Me State for our sample drivers was $438 for a basic policy. However, depending on which company Missourians insure with, rates can differ by as much as $360 a year. That is why it is important for drivers to shop around before making a decision with a provider. Enter your zip code in the tool above to start with a list of a few options for cheap auto insurance near you.

Cheapest Auto Insurance in Missouri

To find which companies had the cheapest car insurance rates in Missouri, we got quotes for our four profiled drivers in the 10 most populous cities from 13 carriers that write insurance in the state. The graph below shows the 6 cheapest Missouri insurers on our list:

*Missouri Farm Bureau requires an annual membership fee of $30 with an application.

Based on our sample, Farmers, Electric, Auto-Owners, American Family and Missouri Farm Bureau had the most best auto insurance rates in Missouri. The five companies had an average annual rate of $345 for our benchmark motorists, a 21% reduction compared to the state average. Your actual quotes will differ based on factors such as the amount of liability coverage you need, driving history and profile.

The Most Expensive Auto Insurance Companies in Missouri

On the other hand, Safe Auto, The Hartford, and Nationwide were the most expensive auto carriers in the state. Charging on average 38% than the state mean, these three auto insurance carriers had an average annual premium of $603. Put another way, the cheapest insurer can charge for two years of premium for the price of one at the most expensive company.

List of Car Insurance Companies in Missouri

Below we have ranked the insurers from the most affordable to the most expensive auto insurance company in the state. However, not every driver can insure with every insurance company. In this study, California Casualty and Missouri Farm Bureau are the two specialty providers. California Casualty only underwrites drivers who are educators, firefighters, nurses, EMT, and peace officers. Missouri Farm Bureau insures only members of the Bureau, which has an annual membership fee of $30.

*California Casualty and Missouri Farm Bureau are both specialty insurers.

Cheapest Car Insurance in Missouri: by City

Here are the three cheapest insurers in the 10 largest cities in Missouri for our sample drivers. Our drivers were a single 30 and 65 year old male and two married couples age 30 and 65. We will discuss the five most populated cities in more detail.

Kansas City, MO

Missouri's largest city, KC, is home to over 470,000 residents and the first Walt Disney animation company. Kansas City has over 200 working fountains - reportedly the second highest in the world outside of Rome, Italy - earning the nickname KC the “City of Fountains”. It is also the second most expensive city for our drivers to insure their car, with an average annual premium of $530 for our example motorists. Insurance companies' mean premiums here are 21% more expensive than most other cities in the state.

However, there are cheaper options for drivers living in Kansas City. The cheapest auto insurance companies in KC are Farmers, Electric, and American Family. On average, our sample drivers can save over $170 a year, a discount of 33% compared to the city’s average, by insuring with one of these five providers.

St. Louis, MO

The 2nd largest city in Missouri, St. Louis has a population of over 318,000 and was named after Louis IX of France after being founded by two Frenchmen. One of St. Louis’s major landmarks is the Gateway Arch. This stainless steel 630-foot arch is the world’s tallest arch and represents the westward development of the United States.

St. Louis is the most expensive city for our drivers in Missouri, with an average annual premium of $593 for our four scenarios - that's a 35% increase from the state average. To save on car insurance in St. Louis, we recommend drivers get quotes from Farmers, Electric, and State Farm. These three low cost companies charged our two bachelors and two couples an average annual rate of $455, which was a 23% decrease versus the mean in St. Louis. For married couples, we also suggest Auto-Owners, who ranked with the third cheapest quotes for our profiled married drivers in the city.

Springfield, MO

Known as the “Birthplace of US Route 66” and the drive-thru window, Springfield is the third largest city in Missouri with over 160,000 residents. Our four sample drivers were quoted a mean annual premium of $411 for a basic policy, one of the cheaper rates in the state.

In order for drivers to keep more money in their pocket, we advise drivers to compare multiple quotes to get the best rates in Springfield. We'd suggest that they look at Electric, Farmers, Cameron Mutual, Missouri Farm Bureau, and Auto-Owners. These companies ranked with the lowest rates in Springfield for insuring our drivers' Toyotas and averaged $313 a year for basic coverage. We strongly recommend single male motorists consider a quote from Missouri Farm Bureau (or to look into becoming a member), since our study's single men found their MO Farm Bureau quotes as low as $306 a year for a policy just slightly exceeding MO's minimum requirements.

Independence, MO

Located in the Kansas City metropolitan area, the “Queen City of the Trails” was the hometown of Harry S. Truman. Truman grew up and attended school in Independence, and is the most recent president who did not obtain a college diploma. Our study's motorists here pay around $457 in car insurance premiums a year for basic coverage, the third most expensive city in our 10 city list.

To make sure motorists are getting the best quotes, we recommend Farmers, Electric, and Auto-Owners as three companies to start with. In our analysis, these companies quoted an average annual rate of $310 for our two single and married drivers, which allowed them to shave 32% - or $147 a year – off versus what insurers charged in the area.

Columbia, MO

The city of Columbia is built on hills and prairies near the Missouri River valley with an abundant amount of animal life. The top employers in this city are part of the education system, especially the University of Missouri. Columbia also has the cheapest insurance rates out of the 10 largest MO cities in our study. Annual premiums for a basic policy averaged $368 for our two single men and married couples.

If drivers would like to further reduce their rates, they should add Electric, Farmers, and American Family onto their list of companies to get quotes. These three companies averaged a low cost of $267 a year for our benchmark drivers. Married couples should also get a quote from Auto-Owners, who we found to be the third lowest cost insurer for married motorists, offering our 30 and 65 year old couples annual rates of $306 a year.

Car Insurance Cost in Missouri: by City

While the most expensive cities seem to be larger cities, the cheaper cities are scattered across Missouri. The graph below orders the cities from the most affordable to the most expensive and shows the ten cities in our study with their average annual premiums.

Best Auto Insurance Companies in Missouri

We calculated the complaint index of the 30 largest insurance companies in the state to determine who the best rated auto insurance companies in Missouri were. The complaint index compares a company’s complaint to premium ratio with the industry's overall ratio in the state. An index of 1 is average, and the lower the number, the better the company is at receiving fewer complaints compared to its competitors. Bristol West, State Farm, and Allied rank as the best insurers with the most satisfied customers based on complaint index, we infer. Here is the list of insurers ranked in the order of highest to lowest rated:

Minimum Requirements for Auto Insurance Coverage in Missouri

In The Show-Me State, drivers must have liability auto insurance coverage of at least $25/$50/$10. The drivers in our study opted for basic coverage, which is slightly higher than the state minimum requirements.

Methodology

The quotes we obtained were for a 2010 Toyota Camry owned by our four sample drivers. We looked at 13 companies in the ten biggest cities in Missouri and averaged auto insurance quotes for the four scenarios to come up with a city average. Our benchmarked drivers have good credit and commute 12,000 miles a year. Our driver has no accidents or traffic incidents within the past five years. Here are our four profiles:

Surveyed auto insurance costs in Missouri are for illustrative purposes only and actual quotes will vary based on your physical residence, driving history, and other factors.