Erie Car Insurance Pricing

Erie Insurance offers some of the most competitive auto insurance rates in the country. The average annual insurance premium with Erie is just $1,495, which is about 22 percent lower than the  national average. It’s worth noting that many factors can affect your individual insurance rates. The quote you receive from Erie may be higher or lower than the average premium, depending on your personal circumstances. Here are the average costs with Erie for various driver profiles and coverage levels:

Let’s dive deeper into factors that  may affect your insurance rates:

• Minimum vs. full coverage: Minimum coverage, meaning the minimum amount of insurance your state requires, is the cheapest coverage available. If you decide to upgrade to full coverage, which includes comprehensive, collision, and uninsured motorist coverage, your rates will increase.
• Age: Insurance rates tend to decrease as you get older — up to a point. While a 16-year-old driver could easily pay upwards of $4,000 or more per year for insurance, someone in their 40s or 50s will enjoy some of the lowest insurance rates. However, premiums tend to start rising again for drivers in their 70s and 80s.
• Gender: Generally speaking, men pay more for car insurance because they are more likely to cause accidents than women. The difference is greatest between young men and young women. However, in California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania, it’s illegal for auto insurance providers to discriminate based on gender.
• Marital status: You might be surprised to learn that tying the knot can help you save money on insurance. While the difference isn’t significant, married individuals generally pay a bit less for auto insurance.
• Driving record: Your driving record is one of the most important factors impacting your insurance premium. If you have a clean record, you’ll have access to the best insurance rates, while having an at-fault accident, speeding ticket, or other violation on your record can increase your rates.
• Credit score: Insurance providers use credit scores as a measure of risk when setting insurance premiums. Drivers with good credit may get rates well below the average, while drivers with bad credit usually have considerably higher premiums. However, California, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Michigan all ban insurance companies from using your credit score as a factor in insurance pricing. In Utah and Oregon, auto insurers are allowed to use credit information to determine rates and offer discounts, but cannot use it as the sole factor for policy decisions such as cancellations or non-renewals.
• Location: Auto insurance rates vary by state. Some states may have higher average rates due to more uninsured drivers, more accidents, a greater chance of inclement weather, and more. Drivers in states like Florida and New York see the nation’s highest average premiums, while states like North Dakota and Maine have the lowest premiums.¹

Erie Insurance has several features that help it to stand out from its competitors. Some of these features may be available from a few other competitors, while others are entirely unique to Erie.

ERIE Rate Lock

ERIE Rate Lock (sometimes called Erie SelectAuto, or Erie RateProtect in New York) is the company’s signature program that helps you avoid rate increases. With Rate Lock, even with a claim your rates won’t increase unless you make certain changes to your policy, including adding or removing a driver or vehicle, or changing your address or where you usually park your car.  Rate Lock is limited to three years for drivers in Virginia, and is not available in all states.

Diminishing Deductible

For each policy year that you don’t file a claim, your deductible will decrease by $100, up to a maximum decrease of $500. This means that if you have a $500 deductible, it could eventually go down to $0.

Erie Insurance has a relatively limited coverage area compared to many of its competitors. Right now, Erie offers car insurance policies in 12 states and Washington, D.C. Here are all of the locations where Erie auto insurance is available:

• Illinois
• Indiana
• Kentucky
• Maryland
• New York
• North Carolina
• Ohio
• Pennsylvania
• Tennessee
• Virginia
• Washington, D.C.
• West Virginia
• Wisconsin

While Erie is available in all of the states mentioned above, coverage and discount options aren’t identical everywhere. A local agent can explain policy options in your state.

You can cancel your auto insurance policy at any time without paying a cancellation fee. Unfortunately, Erie doesn’t allow you to cancel a policy online. Instead, you will need to contact your local Erie agent directly. You can find your agent’s phone number by using this link on their website: erieinsurance.com/find-an-insurance-agent. You will need to provide a cancellation date to your agent and, if applicable, you will receive a refund for your unused insurance premium.

Erie Insurance has nearly a century of business under its belt. Henry Orth Hirt and Oliver Grover Crawford founded the company in 1925 after working together at the Pennsylvania Indemnity Exchange. Their goal was to create an insurance company that emphasized customer service.

After its founding, it took less than a decade for Erie Insurance to venture outside of Pennsylvania. It started offering policies in Maryland in 1953 and soon expanded into other states.

Originally, Erie specialized in auto insurance, but in 1961, it introduced its first homeowners insurance policy. By 1967, the company was also offering life insurance policies. The company continued expanding regionally until 2014, when it expanded into its most recent state, Kentucky.

In the nearly 100 years since Hirt and Crawford founded it, Erie Insurance has gone from a small Pennsylvania insurance provider to a Fortune 500 company with more than 6,500 employees, 14,000 agents, and 7 million policies in effect.

Here are some more important numbers for Erie customers:

You can contact Erie Insurance using any of the contact methods listed in the table above. However, you always have the option of reaching out to your local agent directly. Contacting your local agent may result in faster service since you already have a relationship with that individual.

Erie Insurance isn’t available in every state, but it has plenty of perks for customers in the 13 locations where it offers policies. Some of the benefits policyholders can enjoy include below-average premiums and unique coverage options. If you’re interested in learning more, read our full Erie auto insurance review.