Car insurance in Maryland

Posted on September 25, 2014

Here’s the latest Maryland auto insurance info pertaining to quotes, rates, minimums, state laws and quirky statistics, as well as tips on how to find the Maryland car insurance package that works best for you.

Maryland Minimum Liability Coverage

The minimum required insurance coverage for each owned vehicle in Maryland is 30/60/15. That’s insurance speak for $30,000 in Personal Injury Protection (death or injury to the driver), $60,000 in per-accident coverage (death or injury to others) and $15,000 against property damage. Although these mandated minimums are relatively high as compared to other U.S. states, they still fail to cover the actual costs associated an accident. The Insurance Information Institute recommends 100/300 coverage for all drivers in the United States.

Still, most Maryland drivers remain under-insured, having purchased only the minimum required coverage. What’s more, fifteen percent of cars driven in Maryland are uninsured altogether. For this reason, Uninsured Motorist Insurance (UMI) is generally recommended for Maryland drivers, since Maryland is not a “no-fault” state.

Penalties for Driving Without Insurance in Maryland

The standard penalty for getting caught driving an uninsured vehicle in the state of Maryland is a fine of $1,000 and registration suspension for up to one month, plus additional fees. If the vehicle’s insurance remains unpaid, the fine increases by seven dollars each day, with a maximum penalty of $2,500 for a period of one year.

Auto Insurance Rates in Maryland

The average yearly premium for automobile insurance in the state of Maryland was $1,610 in 2016. This figure is quite higher than the national average car insurance premium, which was $1,347 at the time. This may be due to the fact that Maryland is a densely populated state with a higher crime rate than most other states.

Low Cost Car Insurance Deals in Maryland

Owning a car in Maryland is less of a headache if you remain aware of available discount options. Insurance carriers offer a broad assortment of discounts for safe drivers, senior citizens, good students, drivers who use anti theft devices, drivers who buy more than one policy and drivers who own more than one car, among others.

Also, the Maryland Automobile Insurance Fund (MAIF) provides assistance to drivers who are unable to get car insurance. Their programs include the Uninsured Division, which pays monetary benefits to Maryland residents who have been injured in an automobile accident. The Uninsured Division is funded mainly by penalties and fines imposed on uninsured motorists ticketed in Maryland.

Obtaining Auto Insurance Quotes in Maryland

Recent consumer reviews indicate that Maryland’s most popular auto insurance providers are ABC, Allstate, Encompass, Liberty Mutual, The Hartford, State Farm and 21^st Century Insurance. Still, some Maryland vehicle owners prefer smaller local carriers such as Erie Car Insurance and The Advantage Group. Overall, the state of Maryland is home to several dozen car insurance companies based in hundreds of neighborhood offices staffed by friendly agents who offer coverage at competitive rates. Call around and inquire. Compare rates. Ask about their discount programs.

Maryland Car Insurance

This page is packed with all the facts you need to know about Maryland car insurance.

Learn about the populations of various Maryland zip codes, scan Maryland income data, view some Maryland driver statistics, and find out how to cut your costs on car insurance rates in the state of Maryland. Also see a list of the largest car insurance companies in Maryland, a description of the auto insurance coverage Maryland drivers most need, a collection of practical (or not) Maryland state laws, and other info relating to Maryland car insurance.

This page also features a list of the four most expensive and the four least expensive (on average) zip codes in the state of Maryland to buy car insurance. You will see that auto insurance policies and premium rates vary not only between states, but between zip codes within the same state.

Read on to educate yourself on the details of Maryland car insurance.

Maryland Car Insurance Statistics

A 2016 estimate ranks the state of Maryland 19^th among states in population, with well over 6 million people. Since Maryland is only 42^nd among states in land area, it ranks 5^th among states in population density. Roughly 623,000 of the people in Maryland (more than 10 percent) live in Baltimore, Maryland’s largest city. The median resident age of the population of Maryland is about 38.3 years.

The average poverty rate across the state of Maryland is roughly 9.7 percent. This is a quite far below the United States average poverty rate of 13.5 percent. Maryland’s rate of unemployment is 4.3 percent, just a shade beneath the national average unemployment rate of 4.4 percent.

A study conducted by the Insurance Research Council has determined that about 12.2 percent of drivers in the state of Maryland are driving uninsured automobiles. Maryland is far from the worst state in terms of the percentage of uninsured drivers on the road, but still, approximately one out of eight vehicles on Maryland roads is uninsured.

Maryland drivers often try to estimate the statewide “average” annual premium rate for Maryland car insurance. But this method of calculating premium rates is dubious at best. Statewide averages cannot really help you figure out your premium rates on an auto insurance policy. This is partly because a statewide average is based on a set of imaginary demographics. What’s more, even if you fit the description chosen by the researchers, your car insurance rates will still have a lot to do with your Maryland zip code.

For those who are curious, the statewide “average” annual premium rate for an auto insurance policy in the state of Maryland was about $1,258 last year. This number is not too far above the national “average” car insurance premium, which was about $1,224 at that time. Still, Maryland drivers can reduce their auto insurance premium rates by getting a number of online quotes for Maryland car insurance from various car insurance websites. While you are at each company’s website, obtain quotes for several Maryland zip codes in your immediate area, using your own demographic information. Doing this research can save you a lot of dollars a year on Maryland car insurance.

The Largest Maryland Car Insurance Companies

The ten largest auto insurance companies in America, according to a statistical report from insure.com, are Allstate Insurance, State Farm Insurance, Geico, Progressive Insurance, Nationwide Group, AAA, Liberty Mutual Insurance, 21^st Century Insurance, GMAC, and AIG, in that order. In this study, auto insurance companies were placed in order of the dollar amount of premiums written. This helped researchers determine each insurance company’s total market share.

Shown below is a list of the ten largest car insurance companies in Maryland, based on each company’s total market share within the state of Maryland.

Rank	Company	Premiums ($)	Market Share (%)
1	Berkshire Hathaway Insurance	$881,225	22.06
2	State Farm Group	$768,861	19.24
3	Allstate Insurance Group	$504,486	12.63
4	Nationwide Group	$347,681	8.7
5	USAA Group	$299,082	7.49
6	Erie Insurance Group	$280,181	7.01
7	Progressive Insurance Group	$216,053	5.41
8	Liberty Mutual Insurance	$207,822	5.2
9	MD Auto Insurance Fund	$65,129	1.63
10	Travelers Group	$56,411	1.41

Berkshire Hathaway Insurance, which owns Geico, has the lion’s share of auto insurance policies in the state of Maryland. Still, there are many major Maryland car insurance companies available to you, along with quite a few smaller, regional auto insurance carriers. As you probably already know, there is no such thing as The One Best Maryland Car Insurance Company.

Cutting Costs on Maryland Car Insurance

Drivers in Maryland and all across the United States should read some recent customer reviews of car insurance companies. This will help you decide which company should write your policy. It is well understood that all auto insurance companies are competitive, with slightly different areas of focus. All car insurance companies feature various deals and discounts.

As well, all car insurance companies receive customer complaints, some of them quite bitter. What’s more, all car insurance companies get sued from time to time. However, focusing on the content of the reviews should give you some impression of the honesty and integrity (not to mention the relative cost) of a car insurance company. As for the financial strength of the company, you can find this out from the website of A.M. Best.

Basically, Maryland drivers need to compare auto insurance quotes across several Maryland zip codes, and get quotes from several different Maryland car insurance carriers, in order to save even more money on Maryland car insurance premium rates.

What Types Of Car Insurance Do Maryland Drivers Need?

The state minimum liability requirement for Maryland car insurance is $30,000 in bodily injury liability for each person injured, $60,000 in bodily injury liability per accident, $15,000 insurance coverage against property damage. Also required is the same liability levels of uninsured and underinsured motorist insurance (UMI), as well as $2,500 in personal injury protection (PIP).

Although Maryland’s state-mandated liability limits are higher than in most states, even these amounts may not be high enough to cover the cost of an actual auto accident.

United States insurance experts agree that drivers in Maryland (and in every other state in America) purchase more than the minimum auto insurance coverage required by state law. Analysts recommend coverage amounts of $100,000 for personal injury liability protection, $300,000 coverage against bodily injury to others, and at least $50,000 to cover the cost of damage to other people’s property.

Of course, Maryland drivers may also opt for higher levels of insurance, such as comprehensive and collision coverage. These types of insurance will cover the cost of repairs to your vehicle when it gets damaged by collisions, animal strikes, falling objects, fires, floods, vandalism, car theft, and other incidents that are known to cause vehicle damage.

Particular Maryland Traffic Laws

In Baltimore City, it is illegal to spit on a city sidewalk, but okay to spit on a city street.
In Baltimore, it is illegal to block the sidewalk with a box.
In Rockville, it is illegal to swear on any street, sidewalk, or highway.
On a more practical note, all drivers who register cars in the state of Maryland must sign an “insurance certification,” which is a written agreement that insurance will be maintained throughout the period of ownership of the vehicle.
In the state of Maryland, mopeds have to be insured with the same coverage levels as passenger vehicles.
Maryland is a “tort” state, as opposed to a no-fault state. This means that in the state of Maryland, the payout on a car insurance claim will depend on who is at fault in the accident.

Best And Worst Zip Codes For Maryland Car Insurance

Car insurance premium rates range wildly throughout the zip codes in the tiny state of Maryland. Premium rates in Baltimore are positively shocking, while the rates in western Maryland are downright reasonable. Car insurance rates are affected by factors like population density, unemployment statistics, median annual income, median resident age, and neighborhood crime rates, among other aspects that change with the changing zip codes, even within the same state.

Recently, we ran a comparison study of zip codes within the state of Maryland. Here is a list of the four most expensive (followed by the four least expensive) zip codes (on average) to buy car insurance in the state of Maryland.

Annual premium rates in Maryland’s most expensive zip codes can be as low as around $1,224, or as high as up to $3,550. It is not surprising that the four priciest zip codes in Maryland are all located in Baltimore, Maryland’s largest city.

Zip Code	Pop Density	Unemployed %	Poverty %
21216 (Baltimore)	8,113	14.00%	25.80%

This dense urban zip code covers only 3.3 square miles, but is home to more than 27,000 people. The unemployment rate here is more than three times the Maryland state average of 4.3 percent. Likewise, the poverty rate is nearly three times the state average of 9.7 percent.

Zip Code	Pop Density	Unemployed %	Poverty %
21215 (Baltimore)	9,311	18.20%	26.70%

This zip code has a population of well over 63,000, all squeezed into about 6.8 square miles. The unemployment rate and the poverty rate are even worse in this neighborhood than in the above-mentioned zip code.

Zip Code	Pop Density	Unemployed %	Poverty %
21223 (Baltimore)	9,462	20.70%	39.80%

Roughly 25,000 residents live in this zip code, which has a land area of only 2.6 square miles. The unemployment rate and the poverty rate are both exceptionally high here, hovering at around four or five times the Maryland state average.

Zip Code	Pop Density	Unemployed %	Poverty %
21217 (Baltimore)	17,058	18.50%	35.70%

The population density is probably highest in this neighborhood of about 40,000 people, packed into a land area of only about 2.3 square miles. Poverty and unemployment are bad here too.

Now you can compare the information shown above to the list shown below of the four least expensive zip codes (on average) in the state of Maryland to buy car insurance. Annual premium rates in these neighborhoods can be anywhere from around $640 to about $1,375.

Zip Code	Pop Density	Unemployed %	Poverty %
21742 (Hagerstown)	651	6.30%	9.60%

The population density is low in this Washington County zip code, which has a population of about 33,000, but the 50-square-mile land area includes parts of Fountainhead-Orchard Hills, Robinwood, Hagerstown, Paramount-Long Meadow, Leitersburg, Mount Aetna, Jugtown, Ringgold, and Reid. The poverty rate is right around the state average of 9.7 percent.

Zip Code	Pop Density	Unemployed %	Poverty %
21740 (Hagerstown)	891	10.90%	19.50%

This zip code is home to more than 62,000 people. It includes parts of Hagerstown, St. James, Wilson-Conocoheague, Halfway, Maugansville, Bagtown, Beaver Creek, Kemp’s Mill, Cearfoss, Robinwood, Fairview, Funkstown, and Mount Aetna. Poverty and unemployment are high here, although the population density is low.

Zip Code	Pop Density	Unemployed %	Poverty %
21795 (Halfway)	308	6.30%	6.80%

This zip code includes not only a small part of Halfway, but also small parts of Williamsport, Pinesburg, Downsville, Wilson-Conocoheague, and Kemp’s Mill. Just over 9,000 people live here. The population density and poverty rate here are both well under average.

Zip Code	Pop Density	Unemployed %	Poverty %
21733 (Fairplay)	139	3.80%	3.5

This zip code is home to only about 838 people. The population density is low here, and the poverty rate falls far below the state average.

In all, the tiny state of Maryland is home to 603 zip codes that occupy 24 counties enclosing 431 cities, from Aberdeen to Woodsboro and every town in between. It is clear that there is a vast range in rates between the cheapest zip codes and the most expensive zip codes to buy Maryland car insurance.

by admin