MetLife offers the cheapest car insurance rates in Michigan if you’re looking for the minimum amount of coverage required, according to our survey of the state’s insurance companies. On average, MetLife offered our sample driver state-minimum car insurance for $65 per month — $22 per month cheaper than the national average for this amount of coverage.
Progressive offers the cheapest rates in Michigan for full-coverage car insurance, which usually includes liability, collision and comprehensive coverages. It offered our driver full-coverage car insurance for an average of $106 per month. That’s $72 per month cheaper than the national average for such policies.
Although these rates are cheaper than the national average, car insurance can be pricey in Michigan. In fact, Michigan is one of the most expensive states for car insurance overall.
Whether you pay a lot or a little for car insurance in Michigan depends on several factors, such as the vehicle you drive, your driving record, your age and the amount of coverage you buy. Speaking of which, in this article, you’ll find information about:
Michigan drivers who want the minimum amount of car insurance the state requires for the cheapest rate should get a quote from MetLife. Based on our data, MetLife offers the most affordable rates in Michigan for state-minimum auto insurance, at an average of $780 per year, or $65 per month.
The rates Auto-Owners and USAA offered for minimum-coverage were nearly as cheap, at an average of $66 and $67 per month, respectively.
| Company | Average annual rate | Average monthly rate | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MetLife | $780 | $65 | ||
| Auto-Owners | $797 | $66 | ||
| USAA | $798 | $67 | ||
| Progressive | $851 | $71 | ||
| Michigan average | $2,236 | $186 | ||
| Note: Average rates are based on non-binding estimates provided by Quadrant Information Services. Your rates may vary. | ||||
A minimum-coverage policy may be your cheapest car insurance option, but that doesn’t mean it’s your best option. State-minimum car insurance protects other drivers and their property. If an accident damages your vehicle and you have a minimum-coverage policy, you’ll need to pay for repairs out of your own pocket.
Progressive offers the cheapest full-coverage auto insurance rates in Michigan at an average of $1,277 per year, or $106 per month, according to our research.
MetLife and USAA also offer cheap full-coverage car insurance to Michigan drivers, at an average of $123 and $135 per month, respectively.
| Company | Average annual rate | Average monthly rate | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Progressive | $1,277 | $106 | ||
| MetLife | $1,480 | $123 | ||
| USAA | $1,615 | $135 | ||
| GEICO | $1,722 | $144 | ||
| Michigan average | $3,671 | $306 | ||
| Note: Average rates are based on non-binding estimates provided by Quadrant Information Services. Your rates may vary. | ||||
Why is full-coverage car insurance so much more expensive than minimum-coverage car insurance? Because it offers a lot more protection. Full-coverage policies usually include collision and comprehensive coverages, as well as liability coverage. Collision coverage pays for repairs to your own vehicle after an accident. Comprehensive, or other-than-collision coverage, pays for damage caused by falling objects, fire, natural disasters and theft.
Progressive is the best car insurance company for Michigan drivers who have one or more speeding tickets on their records, our data shows. It offered our driver a full-coverage policy for an average monthly rate of $131. Not only is that the cheapest rate offered by any of the insurers we surveyed, but it’s just $25 more than the rate Progressive offered to a driver with a clean record.
| Company | Monthly rate before ticket | Monthly rate after ticket | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Progressive | $106 | $131 | $25 | |
| USAA | $135 | $169 | $34 | |
| MetLife | $123 | $170 | $47 | |
| Auto-Owners | $187 | $219 | $32 | |
| Note: Average rates are based on non-binding estimates provided by Quadrant Information Services. Your rates may vary. | ||||
USAA and MetLife are also good options for Michigan drivers who have speeding tickets on their records and want cheap car insurance. USAA’s average monthly premium for drivers with speeding tickets is $169, while MetLife’s average monthly premium for these drivers is just a dollar more, $170.
If you have an accident on your driving record, consider Progressive while shopping for car insurance. Progressive offers the cheapest car insurance rates to drivers with accidents, at an average monthly rate of $147, according to our survey of Michigan insurers. Also, the difference between the monthly rate Progressive charged after an accident and before is just $41.
| Company | Monthly rate before accident | Monthly rate after accident | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Progressive | $106 | $147 | $41 | |
| USAA | $135 | $188 | $53 | |
| Auto-Owners | $187 | $219 | $32 | |
| MetLife | $123 | $267 | $144 | |
| Note: Average rates are based on non-binding estimates provided by Quadrant Information Services. Your rates may vary. | ||||
Michigan drivers who are eligible to buy car insurance from USAA may want to include it while comparing quotes after an accident, as the average monthly rate it offered our sample driver was $188 — the second-cheapest among the companies we surveyed.
Finding cheap car insurance with a DUI on your record can be difficult. Progressive is the best option here, based on our data. The average monthly rate it offered our sample driver with a DUI was $126. That’s by far the cheapest rate of any of our surveyed insurers. It’s also only $20 more than what Progressive offered our driver with a clean record.
| Company | Monthly rate before DUI | Monthly rate after DUI | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Progressive | $106 | $126 | $20 | |
| USAA | $135 | $238 | $103 | |
| MetLife | $123 | $305 | $182 | |
| Auto-Owners | $187 | $444 | $257 | |
| Note: Average rates are based on non-binding estimates provided by Quadrant Information Services. Your rates may vary. | ||||
Other insurance companies charged much higher rates after a DUI. In fact, the rest of the best insurers included in our study basically doubled their premiums compared to what they offered a driver with a clean record. Because of this, it’s especially important to compare quotes from several companies when shopping for car insurance with a DUI.
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Young drivers in their teens and twenties pay a lot more for car insurance than older, experienced drivers in Michigan (and elsewhere). This is mainly because younger drivers are more likely to get into accidents than older drivers.
That higher risk prompts insurance companies to charge higher rates to teen drivers, as well as those who are a few years older. How much higher? An average 19-year-old driver in Michigan pays $359 per month for minimum-coverage car insurance, according to our analysis, while an average 30-year-old driver pays $186 per month. In other words, a 19-year-old driver pays about twice as much as a 30-year-old driver does for car insurance in Michigan.
Where can you get the cheapest car insurance in Michigan for your age group? Here are your best options:
| Age range | Cheapest companies | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teens | MetLife, Auto-Owners, GEICO | |||
| 20s | Progressive, MetLife, GEICO | |||
| 30s | MetLife, Auto-Owners, Progressive | |||
| 40+ | MetLife, Auto-Owners, Progressive | |||
| Note: Average rates are based on non-binding estimates provided by Quadrant Information Services. Your rates may vary. | ||||
Progressive, MetLife and Auto-Owners are among the best companies for cheap car insurance, no matter your age.
USAA is a great option, too, if you’re eligible. It was also among the top insurance companies for each of these age groups. We didn’t highlight USAA here, though, because only veterans, current members of the military and some of their family members qualify for coverage.
Cost plays an important role when it comes to buying a car insurance policy, but it’s not the only thing to consider. Service and satisfaction are vital components, too. After all, if an insurer takes forever to process claims, or if its customer service representatives are unhelpful, a cheap premium won’t mean much.
Auto-Owners, Progressive and USAA all fare well in terms of both service and satisfaction. They are also among the cheapest car insurance companies that operate in Michigan. Combine the two and it’s easy to see why they’re the state’s best car insurance companies overall.
| Company | J.D. Power 2020 U.S. Auto Insurance Satisfaction Study | National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) 2020 Complaint Index | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Auto-Owners | 842 | 0.64 | ||
| Progressive | 842 | 0.76 | ||
| USAA | 895 | 0.98 | ||
| Note: J.D. Power assesses overall customer satisfaction on a 1,000-point scale. The NAIC Complaint Index measures the rate at which customers file complaints to their state regulators. The median Complaint Index is 1.0. | ||||
You might be wondering why MetLife isn’t on this list, despite the fact that it, too, offers cheap car insurance to Michigan drivers. The short answer is that it failed to make the top 20 of J.D. Power’s 2020 U.S. Auto Insurance Satisfaction Study for the North Central region, which includes Michigan. Also, its NAIC Complaint Index was higher than expected for the market.
To drive legally in Michigan, you must get at least the following amounts of no-fault car insurance:
No-fault car insurance compensates drivers for damages tied to an accident regardless of who is at fault. In other words, if you live in a state with a no-fault car insurance law, your insurance provider will cover all or some of your expenses, even if you cause the crash.
While shopping for no-fault car insurance in Michigan, you may come across this acronym: PLPD. PLPD stands for personal liability and property damage. It typically refers to the bodily injury and property damage liability coverages mentioned above.
You may face several penalties if you’re caught driving without car insurance in Michigan, including:
Michigan drivers used to be able to buy "7-day insurance" policies to meet the state’s car insurance requirements. This kind of coverage is no longer legal.
QuoteWizard conducted a comprehensive study of Michigan's car insurance rates utilizing Quadrant Information Services. Unless otherwise stated, the quotes analyzed here were for a single, 30-year-old male with a clean driving record. He owns a 2012 Honda Accord LX and drives it 13,500 miles a year, on average.
Full-coverage car insurance policies mentioned in this article include the following:
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