Online Agency Says Auto Insurance Rates Fell 3.5% in 2009

Online insurance agency insurance.com said its records show that car insurance rates across the nation declined 3.5 percent in 2009 to $1,803 per year.

The company said the decline followed a rate increase of 8 percent in 2008.

According to insurance.com’s RateWatch report, while overall car insurance rates rose from $1,810 at the end of 2007 to $1,954 in 2008, they dropped back down to $1,803 as of November 2009. RateWatch data from November shows the lowest car insurance quotes, on average, were down $66 from the third quarter average of $1,869. This larger decrease followed a .09 percent decrease from $1,893 to $1,876 between the first and second quarters of 2009.

The agency said its RateWatch is based on real-time auto insurance quotes from more than a dozen insurance companies at its Web site.

States seeing the sharpest car insurance rate declines in November 2009 were Washington, D.C. (down 15.5 percent), Nebraska (down 12.7 percent), Vermont (down 9.0 percent), Idaho (down 6.4 percent), and West Virginia (down 5.6 percent).

Rates increased the most in Colorado (up 4.5 percent) and Washington (up 3.6 percent), according to the report.