The cheapest minimum-coverage car insurance in Columbus, Georgia comes from State Farm, according to our analysis. The average annual rate from the company is $48 per month, $8 less than the city average.

The average Columbus driver pays $670 per year for minimum coverage.

Drivers pay just about the state average in one of Georgia's largest metro areas, which straddles the Alabama border. Full-coverage rates in Columbus are less than 1% more expensive than the state overall, while minimum coverage is nearly 2% cheaper.

Cheapest for minimum liability

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Cheapest for young drivers

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You should always get quotes from multiple insurers and compare them before selecting a policy. Depending on your background and driving history, your rates may vary.

Cheapest auto insurance in Columbus: State Farm

State Farm and Georgia Farm Bureau offer the cheapest minimum liability car insurance rates in Columbus, according to our analysis. Those two insurers were at least $79 per year cheaper than the city average, a savings of 11% or more.

State Farm has the cheapest rates in our analysis, at $48 per month, or $580 per year. Georgia Farm Bureau came in at $591 per year.

USAA's rate of $538 per year was the lowest offered, but the company only sells insurance to members of the military, veterans and some of their family members.

You will only get the lowest level of protection with minimum liability coverage. That means in the event of an accident, all your costs may not be covered. We suggest you purchase as much coverage as you can, especially to protect an expensive vehicle.

Cheapest full-coverage car insurance in Columbus: Georgia Farm Bureau

The cheapest widely-available full-coverage car insurance in Columbus is offered by Georgia Farm Bureau. Geico had the next-lowest rates in the city.

USAA offered the lowest rates overall, but the company's policies are only available to members of the military, veterans and some of their family members.

At $1,359 per year, Georgia Farm Bureau was $181 less than Geico. Those two companies and USAA were the only companies that were cheaper than the city average of $2,398.

Full-coverage auto insurance differs from minimum coverage because it has higher liability limits and includes collision and comprehensive coverages. Those coverages protect a driver's own car in several situations.

Cheapest car insurance for drivers with prior incidents

Incidents on a driving record, such as a speeding ticket, DUI or accident, raise insurance rates in almost every instance, and that impact shows in the rates of Columbus drivers.

Cheapest car insurance in Columbus after an accident

Georgia Farm Bureau offered Columbus' best full-coverage rates after an at-fault accident. Those rates were considerably cheaper than second-place Geico, with a difference of $1,267 per year.

Georgia Farm Bureau's average rate was $1,485 per year, 46% less than Geico, and an increase of 9% from the cost with a clean record. An accident raised Columbus drivers' rates 46% on average.

Cheapest car insurance for drivers with a speeding ticket: Georgia Farm Bureau

Georgia Farm Bureau offered the best rates in Columbus for drivers with a speeding ticket looking for full-coverage car insurance. The company's annual rate of $1,485 was 14% cheaper than Geico and 57% cheaper than Progressive.

On average, a speeding ticket raised Columbus drivers' rates 16%, or $377 per year.

Cheapest car insurance for drivers with a DUI: Georgia Farm Bureau

In Columbus, a DUI increases the full-coverage insurance rate by $1,381, a jump of 58%. Georgia Farm Bureau offers the city's best rates, at $2,629 per year.

Georgia Farm Bureau's rates increase 93% with a DUI, but are still the cheapest overall. Progressive's rate is the second-lowest, at $3,267, while Allstate was third, at $4,227.

Cheapest car insurance for drivers with poor credit: Georgia Farm Bureau

The best rates for drivers with poor credit in Columbus were offered by Georgia Farm Bureau and Geico. Credit history can have a significant impact on your rates — more so than a speeding ticket or accident.

On average, poor credit increases rates $705 per year in Columbus. Georgia Farm Bureau's rates were $710 cheaper than the next-best option, Geico.

Cheapest car insurance for married drivers: Georgia Farm Bureau

Georgia Farm Bureau just edged out Geico for the best rates for married drivers in Columbus. Georgia Farm Bureau charged an average of $17 less per year than Geico, and $697 less than Progessive.

Insurers tend to see married drivers as less risky, and they often pay lower rates as a result. Georgia Farm Bureau's rate of $1,359 was $952 less than the city average.

Cheapest car insurance for young drivers: Georgia Farm Bureau

Insurers usually consider 18-year-old drivers to be considerably riskier than older, more experienced drivers. As a result, they tend to pay more for insurance. In Columbus, younger drivers save the most with Georgia Farm Bureau. The next-best rate was from Geico, and other companies for the most part charged considerably more.

Georgia Farm Bureau's rate of $4,327 was $356 less than Geico, and 46% cheaper than the city's average rate. On average, a younger driver pays 236% more than a 30-year-old.

Some good options for young drivers looking to lower their insurance costs include:

Best auto insurance companies in Columbus

The top companies for customer satisfaction in Georgia were USAA, Allstate, State Farm and Progressive, according to a ValuePenguin survey. USAA is only available to members of the military and certain family members.

For more information about each insurer's customer service rating, read more about the best car insurance options in Georgia.

Average car insurance costs in Columbus by neighborhood

The Columbus metro area sits on the western border of Georgia and includes some cities in Alabama. Nearly 200,000 people live in the city itself.

Columbus spans nine ZIP codes, and the price of full-coverage insurance varies by $129 from the cheapest to the most expensive.

The least expensive ZIP code in Columbus for car insurance is 31905, which includes the southern part of town and Fort Benning. The most expensive was 31808, which includes a few sparsely populated northern parts of the city.

Columbus residents can also potentially save money by moving across the border to Phenix City, Ala. The rate for full coverage in Phenix City is $334 cheaper than Columbus, on average.

Auto theft statistics in Columbus

Columbus ranked 11th among Georgia's 15 largest cities in car thefts per 10,000 residents, based on the most recently available data. In 2017, Columbus had 35.4 cars stolen per 10,000 residents.

Johns Creek, a city of 85,048 in the northeast corner of the Atlanta metro area, ranked at the top, with only 2.1 cars stolen per 10,000 residents. Columbus overall had 704 auto thefts.

Methodology

We collected data from six of the largest insurers in Georgia. The sample driver is a 30-year-old male with a 2015 Honda Civic EX. The driver has average credit, unless otherwise stated. Rates are for a full-coverage policy, unless otherwise noted.

The analysis uses insurance rate data from Quadrant Information Services publicly sourced from insurer filings. Rates should be used for comparative purposes only, as your rates will likely differ.

Sources: FBI 2017 Georgia crime report