Cheapest Car Insurance in Michigan

While many things make the Great Lakes State easy to love, the struggle to find the cheapest auto insurance rates in Michigan isn’t one of them. The state is notorious for having above-average premiums, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find affordable car insurance in the state. It just means you must do a little research before getting your policy to ensure you’re getting the best rates.

Finding cheap auto insurance in Michigan is a bit like finding a four-leafed clover — it takes a bit of searching, and you feel so lucky once you find it. Michigan’s average full coverage policy costs about $2,190 annually, which is about 30% higher than the national average full coverage policy, which is only about $1,670. However, there are several things you can do to get low-cost auto insurance in Michigan.

The quickest way to get affordable Michigan car insurance is to lower your auto insurance policy coverage to the legal minimum requirements. While base rates will remain high no matter how little or how much coverage you have, lowering your coverage is the easiest and most significant way to lower your premiums. 

The average cost of a policy that doesn’t exceed the minimum auto insurance requirements in Michigan is about $1,880, or about 15% less than the average cost of a full coverage policy. In the state, all drivers are legally required to have $50,000 of bodily injury liability per person, $100,000 of bodily injury liability per accident, $10,000 of property damage liability coverage (or 50/100/10 liability coverage), about $250,000 in PIP, and no more than $1 million in PPI. 

If you lease or finance your car, your lender will likely require you to have collision coverage on your policy, too.

Lowering your coverage to the legal minimum requirements will help you get the cheapest Michigan car insurance. However, there may be other options to lower your premiums. If you’re someone who likes to err on the side of caution, or if you’re someone who frequently makes risky decisions behind the wheel, there are other ways to lower your premiums without sacrificing your coverage. 

It’s important to remember when you get into an accident and the cost of medical expenses or repairs is higher than your insurance limits, that money will have to come out of your own pocket. What you will end up owing will likely be a more significant sum than what you would pay in premiums with a full coverage policy. Thus, the lowest car insurance in Michigan isn’t always the safest choice.

Another way to lower your premiums to get Michigan’s cheapest auto insurance is to apply discounts to your policy. Many insurers offer all sorts of discounts for policyholders. Some discounts involve participation or enrolling in programs, while others require policyholders to meet requirements.

One example of a participatory discount program is a safe driving program. Many insurers offer programs where policyholders can enroll to get discounts on their premiums if they make safe choices behind the wheel or take a class about good driving habits. Some of these programs boast a nearly 20% discount for participating policyholders, which can be significant savings on cheap car insurance for Michigan.

Similarly, many insurers also offer opt-in telematics programs in which policyholders can agree to share their driving data in exchange for discounts on their policies. Some safe driving programs go beyond a class and assign drivers telematics devices to track their habits. In contrast, others use telematics to track mileage and award low mileage discounts to policyholders who drive far below the national average of 12,000 miles annually. 

Drivers should be aware, however, that some insurers will use the data collected by the telematics devices to track driving habits, even if you aren’t enrolled in a safe driving program. These insurers may even increase premiums for drivers who don’t practice safe driving habits, so it’s essential to research these programs and do some soul-searching about your driving habits before opting into one of these programs, as it could mean the opposite of affordable auto insurance in Michigan for some drivers. 

Some of the cheapest auto insurance companies in Michigan are those that offer plenty of discounts. Since average rates are high in many cities throughout the state, finding the companies that offer the most discounts may be the best way to lower your auto insurance premiums. 

While many of the discount programs that involve active participation offer more significant savings, many insurers offer other discounts that don’t require participation and only require policyholders to meet a set of criteria. These discounts help many drivers get the lowest car insurance in Michigan.

For example, many insurers offer good student discounts for policyholders who are in school or have a school-aged driver on their policy who earns good grades. The criteria for this discount differs based on the insurer, so be sure to ask your insurer what they consider to be good grades.

Insurers may also offer discounts to make auto insurance in Michigan cheap for policyholders who have multiple cars on one policy or have multiple policies with the same insurer. Some other common discounts include anti-theft device discounts, veteran discounts, and occupational discounts, among others, like those who get the cheapest home and auto insurance in Michigan with a bundling discount. 

The discounts that require policyholders to meet specific criteria rather than participating in a program are typically lower, ranging from about 5% to 10%. However, some insurers may allow you to stack discounts to maximize your savings.

In Michigan, the cheapest car insurance can be hard to come by for various related reasons. The state has high auto insurance in part because it has a high population, meaning its drivers are statistically more likely to get into a car accident than those in other states.

The number of uninsured drivers in the state also plays a role in why car insurance isn’t cheap in Michigan. While prior estimations stated that almost 20% of Michiganders, and 60% of Detroiters, were uninsured, that rate is declining significantly due to auto insurance reform. However, that doesn’t mean finding inexpensive auto insurance in Michigan is easy by any means.

Due to these unfortunate circumstances, the state adopted a no-fault law, requiring drivers to carry no-fault coverages on their insurance policies, like personal injury protection (PIP) and property protection insurance (PPI). PIP is a pricy coverage option, especially if you opt for a high PIP limit or unlimited PIP. 

The cheapest Michigan auto insurance policy will meet, but not exceed, the minimum legal requirements for car insurance in the state and have several discounts applied. This policy will include 50/100/10 in liability coverage, about $250,000 in PIP, and no more than $1 million in PPI, and will cost around $1,880 before any discounts are applied. Discounts may allow the policyholder to save up to 20% on their premiums.

While many people love to save a buck, it’s crucial you get the best auto insurance policy for your needs. If you value cost over coverage, your best policy will meet the minimum legal coverage requirements at a low base rate with several discounts applied. If you value coverage over cost but would still like to save on your premiums, the best policy for you will be full coverage car insurance in Michigan with the cheapest base rate and several discounts applied.

Cheap full coverage auto insurance in Michigan may sound like an oxymoron, but we assure you it isn’t. The best way to get the cheapest full coverage insurance in the state is to hunt for the insurer with the lowest base rates and the most available discounts.

Here at Clovered, we recommend that drivers have a full coverage policy rather than a minimum coverage policy because we know it’s better to be safe than sorry.

PLPD insurance, or personal liability and property damage insurance coverage, is a portion of your auto insurance policy. This is generally referred to as liability coverage, but some places in the state call it PLPD. While cheap PLPD auto insurance in Michigan would be an amount not exceeding 50/100/10, the legal minimum, many people opt to carry more PLPD and instead carry the default limit of 250/500/10. 

The required amount of PLPD in Michigan is 50/100/10, or $50,000 of bodily injury (personal liability) per person per accident, $100,000 of bodily injury per accident, and $10,000 of property damage liability per accident. Carrying only the minimum amount of PLPD will be much cheaper than carrying extra liability coverage on your policy.

On average, PLPD-only policies cost about half as much as full coverage policies since they contain about half the coverage. So, in Michigan, a PLPD policy could cost about $1,095 annually, or half of the average rate for full coverage, which is $2,190 annually. 

While PLPD-only policies could be the answer to how to lower car insurance in Michigan, drivers in the state are considered if they only carry PLPD insurance, as Michigan is a no-fault state. 

No-fault insurance in Michigan refers to mandatory minimum limits of PIP and PPI required by state law. Both coverage types will cover the policyholder’s expenses accrued from an accident when invoked. PIP isn’t cheap and is generally the most expensive coverage many policyholders will have on their auto insurance policy. Thus, cheap no-fault auto insurance in Michigan can be tough to find.

However, since laws changed in 2020 and Michiganders are no longer required to have unlimited PIP, you may choose to lower your PIP limit to lower your premiums. 

While the lowest most people can lower their PIP limit is $250,000, those with Medicare or Medicaid health insurance may be eligible for lower limits or to opt out of PIP completely. Considering your options for low-cost no-fault insurance in Michigan may be an efficient way to lower your premiums. 

The cheapest car insurance quotes in Michigan will likely come from a policy with our partner Geico, with discounts applied. Geico has some of the lowest car insurance base rates in the state and offers a wide selection of discounts, so you don’t have to sacrifice coverage or cost.

Travelers, Progressive, USAA, and State Farm, are some of the best insurance companies in Michigan. Each of these companies offers policies at an average low base rate and offers discounts or savings programs to all their policyholders. But the answer to what is the cheapest car insurance company in Michigan? From our findings, it’s Geico.

You can get a cheap Michigan car insurance quote by following a few simple steps. First, you must decide what type of policy best suits your needs. If you value coverage more than cost, you should look for an insurer with the cheapest base rates for full coverage policies and several opportunities for discounts. 

The Great Lakes State has strict car insurance requirements, so you will always want to ensure you abide by the law when selecting your coverage. Your next step to getting cheap online auto insurance in Michigan will be finding the best rates; that’s where we come in!

Here at Clovered, you can use our free quoting tool to get car insurance quotes from several top Michigan insurers. Getting and comparing quotes online is one of the best ways to ensure you get the best coverage at the best price. If you feel more comfortable speaking with an agent, you can call us at 833-255-4117 or email us at agent@clovered.com.