New Jersey Car Insurance

Read this page to learn all you need to know about New Jersey car insurance. New Jersey drivers can typically cut costs on auto insurance premium rates within their New Jersey zip codes.

The estimated population of the state of New Jersey as of 2016 was nearly 9 million people. New Jersey is the 11^th most populous state in the USA, and places 1^st in population density, despite being ranked only 47^th in terms of land area. The only states having fewer square miles than New Jersey are Connecticut, Delaware, and Rhode Island.

Roughly 10.8 percent of the population of New Jersey lives at or below the poverty level. This number is quite a bit below the overall average United States poverty rate of 13.5 percent. The unemployment rate in the state of New Jersey is 4.2 percent, right around (and just below) the United States average of 4.4 percent. Approximately 10.3 percent of drivers in New Jersey are operating uninsured vehicles, as compared to the national average of 12.6 percent. The median age of New Jersey residents is about 39.6 years.

New Jersey drivers are often curious about the statewide “average” annual premium for New Jersey car insurance. However, statewide averages are of little use to most drivers, in terms of calculating personal car insurance premium rates. One reason is that there are vast differences in premium rates between zip codes within a state. Another reason is that statewide averages are primarily based on the demographic details of a hand picked “average” driver.  So unless you are, for instance, a 35 year old single male New Jersey driver with a clean driving record, a good credit rating, a full time job, and a 2016 4-door Chevy Camaro with dual airbags and a car alarm, which you drive anywhere from 15,000 to 25,000 miles a year, a statewide average will not apply to you. Even if this “average” driver describes you perfectly, your car insurance premium rates will still depend on the zip code where your car is usually parked.

Just for fun, the statewide “average” premium on a New Jersey car insurance policy was about $1,239 last year, according to data derived from insure.com. This figure is a comfortable distance below the national “average” annual auto insurance premium at the time, which was about $1,325.

The best approach for drivers in New Jersey is to get a few online quotes for New Jersey car insurance. Visit a few different websites of major auto insurance carriers. Compare zip codes within the state of New Jersey, using your own personal demographic info. Choose some of your favorite car insurance carriers, or just choose ones you’ve heard of. For more thorough research, input several different zip codes in your area for the same insurance company. Compare quotes from the different zip codes.

Read on for more details about car insurance in the state of New Jersey. This page provides a list of the cheapest and the priciest zip codes in New Jersey to purchase car insurance, as well as a list of the largest car insurance companies in New Jersey, the types and amounts of auto insurance coverage New Jersey drivers need, some seriously odd New Jersey state traffic laws, and other must-know facts about New Jersey car insurance.

Best Car Insurance Companies in New Jersey

A team of researchers recently calculated the top ten auto insurance companies in the whole United States, based on total revenue. It appears that America’s top ten auto insurance carriers are Allstate Insurance, State Farm Insurance, Geico, Progressive Insurance, Nationwide Group, Triple-A, Liberty Mutual Insurance, 21^st Century Insurance, GMAC, and AIG, in that order. This study ranked auto insurers by the total annual dollar amount of premiums written.

The following table shows a list of the top ten auto insurance companies in the state of New Jersey, based on each company’s total market share:

What Types Of Car Insurance Do New Jersey Drivers Need?

State law requires a “basic” New Jersey car insurance policy, which offers bodily injury liability coverage of $15,000 for personal injury and $5,000 for property damage. However, it is not easy to get an insurance company to write a basic policy.

Most auto insurance carriers insist on at least a Standard policy. The standard policy insures bodily injury liability coverage of $15,000 per person, $30,000 per accident, and $5,000 against property damage, as well as uninsured / underinsured motorist (UMI) coverage equal to your liability limits. However, even these amounts may not be enough to cover the cost of an accident.

United States insurance experts recommend that drivers in every state buy more than the minimum car insurance coverage required by state law. The suggested coverage amounts for drivers in New Jersey and all over America are $100,000 for personal injury protection, $300,000 in liability protection for injury to others, and no less than $50,000 in coverage against property damage.

New Jersey drivers can also consider buying comprehensive and collision coverage. These insurances financially protect drivers from vehicle damage caused by head-on collisions, bad weather, fires, floods, and falling objects, as well as vandalism, car theft, and other unforeseen vehicle mishaps.

Outdated New Jersey State Traffic Laws

• Drivers must warn other drivers they pass on the highway before passing them.
• All motorists must honk their horns before passing anything on wheels, even a skateboarder.
• You cannot pump your own gas in New Jersey.
• If you have been convicted of a DUI in New Jersey, you may never again apply for vanity license plates when you register your car.
• It is illegal in New Jersey for car dealerships to be open on Sundays.
• Automobiles are not allowed to pass horse drawn carriages on the street.
• It is illegal in Caldwell, New Jersey to dance or wear shorts on the “main avenue.”
• It is illegal in Elizabeth for a woman to walk down Broad Street on Sundays without wearing a petticoat.

Best And Worst Zip Codes For New Jersey Car Insurance

The car insurance premium rates for policies in the state of New Jersey are affected by many things, such as population density, median annual income, the median age of the residents, and crime statistics in each New Jersey zip code, to name just a few influencing factors.

Here is a list of the four costliest zip codes in New Jersey to buy auto insurance, where annual premium rates can exceed $2,100. All four zip codes have the same average premium rate, according to a study from insure.com. Three out of the four most expensive New Jersey zip codes are in Newark. Newark is the largest city in the state, with a population of more than 277,000.

This zip code is home to more than 50,000 people. The poverty level here is nearly three times the state average of 10.8 percent. Unemployment is almost four times the state average of 4.2 percent. In population density, the state of New jersey ranks first in the nation, with an average population density of 1,210 people per square mile. As you can see, the population density of this New Jersey zip code is more than 15 times higher than the state average. No wonder car insurance rates are highest here.

Irvington is a township located just west of Newark. This urban zip code is home to more than 54,000 people, although the population density and the poverty level are just a bit lower than the above zip code in Newark. However, the unemployment rate here is even worse, at well over four times the state average.

This urban zip code in Essex County is home to more than 31,000 people. The median age of 29.1 is more than a decade younger than the state average. Poverty and unemployment are out of control in this neighborhood, so car insurance premium rates are high. That’s why most people who live around here use public transportation if they can.

The poverty rate, unemployment rate, and population density are all bad news for car insurance in this Newark zip code, so once again the premium rates are high.

The least expensive zip codes for New Jersey car insurance are listed below. Annual premium rates can be as low as around $650, or as high as around $1,250, according to a New Jersey zip code comparison. Here are the four least expensive zip codes to buy car insurance in the state of New Jersey.

This neighborhood is home to less than 8,000 people. Population density, the poverty rate, and the unemployment rate are low, low, and low. Bernardsville is the cheapest zip code in New Jersey to buy car insurance.

This zip code is home to about 27,000 people. All three parameters are low here too, so the average annual car insurance premium rate for this zip code is only five dollars more than it is for the above zip code.

This rural Morris County zip code is home to only about 350 people. The resident age here is 47.8 years, more than 8 years higher than the New Jersey state average. The poverty rate is low, despite that unemployment is more than twice the state average of 4.2 percent. Probably many people in this neighborhood are retired.

This zip code, also in Morris County, has a population of about 3,000. The population density is very low, and the poverty levels are among the lowest in America. This makes up for the slightly high rate of unemployment, in terms of the cost of car insurance premiums.

All in all, New Jersey is home to 723 zip codes in 21 counties encompassing 591 cities, from Aberdeen to Wyckoff and all towns in between. There’s a broad range of annual premium rates on New Jersey car insurance between the cheapest zip codes and the most expensive zip codes in New Jersey.

How much can YOU can save on New Jersey car insurance?

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