Youngstowners Pay Highest Rates for Auto Insurance
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Car owners in Youngstown pay the highest rates in Ohio for auto insurance, $936 per year compared the state average of $685, ValuePenguin.com, a consumer finance website reports.
The $936, or $57-a-month figure is 36.6% above the state average.
ValuePenguin was founded last summer, said the author of the study, Brian Quinn, and is self-financed. It has a staff of three researchers, including Quinn, and analyzes subjects that range from Affordable Care Act exchanges to the best credit cards for travel to pet insurance rates. It has no connection with Youngstown State University.
Three of next four most-expensive cities to buy car insurance are in Cuyahoga County -- Euclid ($919), Lakewood ($918) and Cleveland ($915), followed by Toledo ($802).
Columbus is seventh-highest at $748. Closer to home, Warren residents pay $715 a year for auto insurance while those in Boardman pay $696, of the 34 metropolitan entities analyzed.
Residents of Cincinnati pay $722, ValuePenguin reports, and those in Canton pay $643.
The study assumed that a 30-year-old single male who drives a Toyota Camry between 10,000 to 16,000 miles a year wants to buy an auto insurance policy. He owns the car and has not been involved in an auto accident over the past five year nor been cited for a moving violation.
The figures for each of the 34 entities are the averages of the quotes obtained from Geico, State Farm, Nationwide, Cincinnati Insurance and Allstate, the study said.
Influencing Youngstown car owners paying the highest rate, Quinn said, is its property crime rate, including auto theft, which is 60% above the national average of 230 per 100,000 residents. Youngstown reports 415 auto thefts per 100,000 residents.
The number of traffic accidents or vehicular collisions in Youngstown was not out of the ordinary.
Car owners who pay more for insurance tend to live in cities or suburbs with high rates of property crime, he said.
Residents of Brunswick in Medina County have the distinction of paying the lowest rates in Ohio for auto insurance, ValuePenguin found, $557 a year, or 18.7% below the state average. Second-lowest are residents of Findlay, $569 or 17% below the average, followed by Bowling Green, $581 or 15.2% below average, Mentor, $595 or 13.2% below average, and Cuyahoga Falls, $602 or 12.1% below average.
Copyright 2014 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
CLICK HERE to subscribe to our twice-monthly print edition and to our free daily email headlines.