Pennsylvania is home to a rich history. Philadelphia, a major city in Pennsylvania, has witnessed major revolutionary events like the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. So if you live in Pennsylvania, you may just find yourself humming Hamilton songs when you visit historical sights.

A less-interesting past time when living in this historically rich state, though, is purchasing car insurance.

We understand that researching car insurance can be hard, as there are tons of resources to slog through. To help you avoid wasting valuable time, we’ve done all the hard work for you.

Our guide will cover everything you need to know about car insurance in Pennsylvania, from car insurance rates to must-know driving laws. Keep reading for the only guide you need to learn about Pennsylvania’s car insurance.
And if you’re ready to compare quotes today, use our FREE tool above.

Pennsylvania Car Insurance Coverage and Rates

Every state has different rates. Some states simply have more expensive for car insurance because of several factors, such as what coverages the states require.

In all states, you can expect to pay a significant amount each month on car insurance. The good news is that with careful planning, you can bring your costs down to a manageable level while still getting great coverage.

To see how much car insurance in Pennsylvania will cost, we will go through the required coverages in Pennsylvania and the factors that influence rates in Pennsylvania.

Let’s begin.

– Pennsylvania’s Car Culture

Before we get into coverage and rates, let’s see what vehicles most Pennsylvania residents own.

According to The Hartford, Pennsylvania drivers stick with “practical vehicles,” such as SUVs and minivans.

This doesn’t mean the car culture in Pennsylvania is limited to minivans. The Hartford says there are numerous racetracks in Pennsylvania, such as the NASCAR race track.

So if you move to Pennsylvania, don’t be surprised if your minivan-driving neighbors are enthusiastic.

– Pennsylvania Minimum Coverage

Unless you want heavy fines, you’ll need to have Pennsylvania’s minimum coverage on your vehicle. NOLO lists the required minimum coverages as follows:

In Pennsylvania, an all-purpose policy (of at least $35,000 total coverage) can also suffice to meet Pennsylvania’s minimum requirements. Bear in mind that these are just the minimum requirements.

It’s always better to have more than the state minimum, as better coverage will help prevent the possibility of you paying out of pocket in an accident.

– Forms of Financial Responsibility

A form of financial responsibility is simply a form showing you are following the law by having car insurance. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) says the following forms of financial responsibility are acceptable:

• Insurance ID card
• Declaration page of an issued insurance policy
• Valid insurance binder (temporary proof of insurance valid for 30 or 60 days)
• Copy of application for Pennsylvania Assigned Risk Plan
• Letter from your insurance carrier that verifies financial responsibility

Pennsylvania also allows drivers to provide electronic proof of insurance. This means that you can download the electronic version of your ID card onto your phone and show it to officers.

Of course, we also recommend that you carry a paper version in case of technical difficulties.

– Premiums as a Percentage of Income

A percentage of your annual income is eaten up every year by car insurance payments. To see what percentage of Pennsylvania residents’ income goes toward car insurance, let’s take a look at three years of data that we brought you by partnering with Quadrant.

You may be wondering what disposable income is. Disposable income is the amount you have left to spend after paying taxes.

The percentage of income going to car insurance has remained steady over the years, which is good news. While the cost of car insurance did increase slightly, the average income also increased, meaning the percentage didn’t change drastically.

The percentage of income going to car insurance in Pennsylvania in 2014 is just under the 2014 countrywide average of 2.4 percent. 

Pennsylvania’s percentage of income going to car insurance is solidly in the middle out of all states, neither the cheapest nor the most expensive (the most expensive state is 3.5 percent, while the cheapest is 1.42 percent).

So rest assured that Pennsylvania is average — you won’t be paying exorbitant amounts of income on car insurance. If you want to see what percentage of income you spend on car insurance each year, try out our free calculator below.

CalculatorPro

– Core Coverage

Let’s break down the average premium in Pennsylvania by looking at the cost of different core coverages from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC).

NAIC’s data is based on the state minimum, so you may find car insurance costs to be a little higher.

Pennsylvania’s average is $20 less than the countrywide average, so insurance costs in Pennsylvania are average. While they won’t be the cheapest, they also won’t cost you a month’s paycheck.

– Additional Liability Coverage

To see if the additional coverages in Pennsylvania are worth the added cost, we are going to take a look at their loss ratios. Why do we care about loss ratios?

Because loss ratios show us whether or not companies are paying out claims.

A high loss ratio (over 100 percent) means a company is paying out too many claims and risks bankruptcy. A low loss ratio means  a company is paying out hardly any claims and you have a higher chance of your claim being rejected.

Broken down further, this means that if a company has a loss ratio of 50, it is paying out $50 in claims for every $100 earned in premiums.

With this in mind, let’s take a look at loss ratios for additional liability coverages in Pennsylvania.

While PIP’s loss ratios have remained steady at a fantastic percentage, MedPay’s loss ratios were extremely high in 2013 before plummeting to less than 10 percent in 2015.

While the lower percentage could be because fewer claims were made, it could also be because companies overextended themselves in 2013 paying out MedPay claims and had to use the next few years to recover losses.

As for uninsured and underinsured’s loss ratios, the percentages look decent, as they’ve stayed steadily around 60 percent. What is uninsured and underinsured additional coverage?

If you are in an accident with uninsured or underinsured drivers, they will likely be unable to pay your accident costs if they are at fault. If you don’t have additional coverage protecting you from uninsured/underinsured drivers, you’ll be forced to pay out of pocket.

The good news is Pennsylvania is ranked as 43rd in the U.S. for its number of uninsured drivers. This means that only 7.6 percent of drivers on the road in Pennsylvania are uninsured. 

Still, to eliminate your chance of having to pay out pocket, consider getting additional coverage.

– Add-Ons, Endorsements, & Riders

Thought we were done talking about your options for car insurance coverages? Not quite. While these coverages aren’t required in Pennsylvania, insurers offer them in case drivers want to add extra protection.

• Guaranteed Auto Protection (GAP)
• Personal Umbrella Policy (PUP)
• Rental Reimbursement
• Emergency Roadside Assistance
• Mechanical Breakdown Insurance
• Non-Owner Car Insurance
• Modified Car Insurance Coverage
• Classic Car Insurance
• Usage-Based Insurance

These additional add-ons can be useful if you want a specific service, such as emergency roadside assistance. Some of the options can also save you money, such as classic car insurance (classic car policies are cheaper than regular car policies) or usage-based insurance.

– Male vs. Female Rates

Now that we’ve covered car insurance coverages, let’s start diving into rates with data from Quadrant.

In Pennsylvania, insurers are not allowed to base rates based on drivers’ gender. Pennsylvania is one of the first states to outlaw gender discrimination in car insurance, with states like Calfornia recently passing similar laws.

In fact, Pennsylvania will soon offer a gender-neutral driver’s license.

Let’s take a look at male versus female rates to see the rates for gender and age.

We should note that this Quadrant data is based on purchased coverages by Pennsylvania’s residents. Because of this, it includes rates for high-risk drivers, drivers who purchase more than the state minimum, and drivers who purchase additional coverages.

This means that depending on what you purchase, your rates could be higher or lower than the averages shown above.

So now you know that providers in Pennsylvania do not base rates on gender. Age, however, does not get this same treatment; the younger you are in Pennsylvania, the more you pay.

This makes sense when you consider the driving experience of a teenager compared to that of a 60-year-old.

– Rates in Pennsylvania’s 10 Largest Cities

Some of Pennsylvania’s largest cities are infamous in pop culture — think Rocky running up the stairs in Philadephia or Micheal Scott working in Scranton.

So let’s take a look at the costs of car insurance in the 10-most-populated cities in Pennsylvania.

Philadelphia is the most populated city in Pennsylvania, and it also has the most expensive rates. The cheapest of the largest cities in Pennsylvania in Lancaster, also known to locals as Amish Country.

If you drive in Lancaster, you are likely to see multiple horse-drawn buggies, so be careful and keep an eye on the side of the road.

– All Zip Code: Cheapest Rates by Zip Code

If you are looking to save on car insurance, then take a look at the complete list of zip codes below to see what the cheapest zip codes are in Pennsylvania. We’ve also included providers’ prices for each zip code, so you can see who the cheapest provider is in your area.