Best Dayton, OH Auto Insurance in 2024
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Eric Stauffer
Licensed Insurance Agent
Eric Stauffer is an insurance agent and banker-turned-consumer advocate. His priority is educating individuals and families about the different types of insurance coverage. He is passionate about helping consumers find the best coverage for their budgets and personal needs. Eric is the CEO of C Street Media, a full-service marketing firm and the co-founder of ProperCents.com, a financial educat...
Licensed Insurance Agent
UPDATED: Nov 20, 2024
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Have you been looking for cheap auto insurance in Dayton, OH? Well, congratulations: your search has ended. You’ve just found the best auto insurance comparison website on the internet today.
We have connections with all the best companies to help you get a policy you need at a rate that fits easily into your budget. It may only take a few minutes to find a better quote from a company near you!
Just use our FREE quote tool to compare insurance rates now!
There’s a lot going on in Dayton, OH these days. The area is large enough to incorporate a population of over 140,000 people, taking up most of Montgomery County and a little bit of Greene County.
Although it’s the sixth-largest city in Ohio by population, the greater Dayton area is the fourth largest metropolitan area within the state, home to over 803,000 residents.
For many years, Dayton has been a logistical center for manufacturing, as well as suppliers and shippers of goods. It is also well known for making strides in R&D for aeronautical, astronautical, and industrial engineering industries.
- Fun fact: Does it feel a little less crowded in here to you? It could be because Dayton, OH is #7 out of the top 100 cities with declining populations. But that’s not all you can learn about Dayton, Ohio!
Auto Insurance Coverage Requirements in Ohio
Driving legally in Dayton requires:
| Coverage | Requirements | Most Common |
| Bodily Injury Liability | 12,500/25,000 | 100,000/300,000 |
| Property Damage Liability | 7,500 | 100,000 |
| Uninsured Motorist Bodily Injury | Not required | 100,000/300,000 |
| Medical Payments | Not required | 5,000 |
| Collision | Not required | 500 deductible |
| Comprehensive | Not required | 0 deductible |
There’s a very important reason why we have included the most commonly sold coverage numbers next to the bare minimum legal requirements. Not everybody owns a vehicle which requires high amounts of coverage, or superficial coverages like collision.
Then again, even if you’re driving around in a real clunker, you might want to consider purchasing more liability coverage if you have other assets which are worth protecting. It’s all about what works best for you.
The average Ohio driver is probably paying at least $77 a month for their policy right now. But that doesn’t necessarily have to apply to Dayton drivers like you. We can help you save up to 24 percent right now if you’re curious.
The best thing is that all you need is your zip code and you can start saving money today.
If you’re only looking at price, then Founders Insurance and Safe Auto are definitely the most competitive in Dayton right now. But price isn’t everything. You also need to look at things like customer service and financial stability.
Read more:
Can Safe Auto provide either of these? What about Founders? This is why it’s important to shop around and compare companies side by side so that you get the best idea of what they have to offer you.
Ohio auto insurance providers can have a complicated way of calculating your monthly premium. They take sometimes a dozen or more different variables into account in order to evaluate you and how risky of a driver you may be.
The higher the risk, the higher your premium usually. If your risk profile is too high, you may not even be eligible for coverage from certain insurance companies.
Below, we will go over some of the more important variables which determine your risk as a driver.
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Major Car Insurance Factors in Dayton
Some of the variables we talk about here can be difficult or outright impossible to change, such as where you live. After all, we’ve never heard of anyone picking up and moving just to get a better deal on their monthly rate.
But you do have some control over things like your credit score or your driving history, which can make a big impact on how much you end up paying.
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Your Zip Code
As of the last census, the total population of Dayton, OH was 140,478 strong. Alongside that, the average household is bringing home about $28,894 a year in income. What does this mean for your auto insurance rates?
Well, it means that you’re going to be sharing the road with a lot of other drivers, which will likely make your auto insurance company little nervous. And when your insurance company gets nervous, you, unfortunately, end up paying for it.
Automotive Accidents
Anytime an insurance company sees negative statistics in the double digits or higher, it doesn’t look good. Keep in mind, though, that Dayton, Ohio does have a fairly large population. Per capita, this could be right on par with similarly-sized cities.
But if your particular insurance company isn’t a fan of these numbers, ask them if there’s anything you can do to demonstrate your driver safety to get a lower rate.
Auto Thefts in Dayton
Auto theft statistics in Dayton aren’t much better. There were nearly 700 vehicles stolen last time anyone counted, and that number was up from the previous year.
If you happen to be in the market for a new vehicle, now would be a good time to talk to your insurance agent and ask them for advice on which vehicles are the least likely to get stolen. You should also ask them if they recommend any specific anti-theft devices which might make you eligible for a proactive discount.
Your Credit Score
Your credit score can be a tricky thing when it comes to insurance costs. Some companies, like Founders, run on a platform of offering competitive rates to people even in spite of poor credit.
Other companies, as shown below, do differentiate between high and low credit scores. Some companies interpret a low credit score as a sign that you may not be as financially responsible as other drivers and charge you more because of it.
Some may even believe it’s a sign that you will be less careful behind the wheel and more likely to file a claim after an accident.
Your Age
The more experience you have driving, the more likely you are to get an affordable monthly premium. Understandably, this is going to seem very unfair to younger drivers – and also the parents of younger drivers if their children are still living at home.
Proof of good grades and driving education courses will go a long way towards taking the sting out of a young driver’s expensive monthly premium.
Bundling everyone in the same household together under the same policy can also help you get discounts – but be prepared to pay a hefty price until at least the age of 25.
Your Driving Record
Insurance companies are notorious for sending a customer’s monthly premium spiking after getting a new driving violation on their record. Now, if your driving record is perfectly clean, then you’re in an excellent position to negotiate a lower rate for your coverage.
But even if your record isn’t squeaky clean, it’s not hopeless. If you can go at least 3 years without getting another ticket or filing a claim, those incidents will disappear from your record and you can start saving money.
All it takes is a little patience.
Your Vehicle
The type of vehicle you drive will play a major part in deciding how much coverage you need. Leased vehicles and financed vehicles will likely require you to purchase higher amounts of insurance coverage depending on the terms of your lease/loan.
Older vehicles which you own outright give you more options when deciding how much coverage to purchase; just remember that purchasing too little coverage can cost you more than you save in the event of an unwanted accident.
Minor Car Insurance Factors in Dayton
Of course, tweaking some of the factors below can add up to some extra savings over time:
Your Marital Status
Are you newly married? Are you getting married soon? Or have you been married for years, but had no idea that it could help save you money on your car insurance rates?
No matter what life stage you are in, if you and your spouse are not bundling your coverage together on a single-family policy, you could be missing out on some double-digit discounts.
Your Gender
Sometimes insurance companies will change their male customers more based on certain statistical data that makes them seem like a higher risk. Other companies may have different data which points the blame at females for the majority of accidents.
Yet other providers may not factor sex into the equation at all. If you’re unsure about which policies your insurance company follows, it cannot hurt to call if your insurance agent and ask.
Your Driving Distance to Work
Traffic statistics for Dayton aren’t great; but considering the size of the population, they could certainly be a lot worse. The average drive to work can take as little as 15 or as many as 25 minutes. And the more time you spend idling in traffic, the more likely you will have to pay more for your monthly premiums.
Conversely, you could cut down your time on the road and your monthly rate by turning yourself into one of the 8 percent of Dayton residents who carpool or the 6 percent of locals who walk to work.
Nearly three-quarters of the city’s working residents will drive their own vehicle alone to the office each day.
Have you noticed lately how many auto insurance companies are offering major discounts for drivers who are willing to track their mileage and driving habits and send the data back to their insurance provider?
Some companies boast that they will reduce a customer’s monthly rate by as much as 1/3 or more, provided the tracking devices report favorable data.
If you don’t find yourself driving that often, and especially if you rarely find yourself stuck in rush-hour traffic, you should consider giving the service a try.
Your Coverage and Deductibles
One quick and easy way to lower your monthly payment is to contact your insurance company and raise your deductible. But this can backfire on you quickly if you get into a serious accident and you don’t have the cash to take care of that deductible.
Lower deductibles cost you more money in the short-term and make it easier to get back on the road if the worst happens; higher deductibles can save you money in the long term, but they can make life extremely difficult if your car gets totaled and you don’t have at least enough to pay for that deductible.
Education in Dayton, OH
There’s a little bit of room for improvement – and potential for auto insurance discounts – when looking at the demographics of education in Dayton. 29.4 percent of residents chose not to pursue higher education after earning their high school diploma or something similar.
Only 10.4 percent of residents have a bachelor’s degree, which is 7 percent below the state average. But did you know that auto insurance providers often give higher education discounts to drivers who have given themselves the gift of learning? It’s true!
And if you’ve been thinking about going back to school, you can use the opportunity to get car insurance discounts as yet another one of many excuses why it would be a good idea.
You have well over a dozen different choices within the Dayton city limits such as the main campus of Wright State University, Sinclair Community College, or even the University of Dayton.
There are also vocational schools such as the Dayton School of Medical Massage or the Regency Beauty Institute-Dayton.
At the end of the day, price is one of many important factors you need to look at when choosing the auto insurance company who’s right for you. The lowest insurance rates in the world won’t mean anything if your provider won’t come through for you and handle your claim in a quick, professional, fulfilling manner when you need them most.
Not only can we help you find the most affordable rate in your zip code, but we can help you find it from some of the best companies operating near you.
Just use our FREE quote tool to compare insurance rates now!
How We Conducted Our Car Insurance Analysis
*We calculated our average rate based on the following metrics: a married, 34-year-old male with good credit, a 12-month history of maintaining auto insurance, a clean driving record, who owns his own home.
Miles driven annually were based on the average. The average rate was also calculated based on a financed 2015 Honda Accord with a pre-installed anti-theft device.