Commute (each way in minutes): 22.5
Insurance premium (5-year average): $782
Gas prices (annual): $927
Car repair costs (cost per job): $377
Car thefts (per 100k people): 147.0
Fatal crashes (per 100M miles driven): 0.7
Minnesota, "Land of 10,000 Lakes," is also "Land of Great Places to Drive."
Bankrate's recently released "Best and Worst States for Drivers" rankings place Minnesota at number five spot . Beyond the Great Lakes, Minnesota also has some great roads, according to the ranking.
The Bankrate rankings are intended to depict the "overall experience for motorists in each state." To this, Bankrate came up with six categories that they evenly weighted: number of fatal crashes (per 100M miles driven), car thefts (per 100k people), repair costs (per job), gas prices, insurance premiums (five-year annual), and commute times (each way in minutes).
The information was provided from an assortment of public and private agencies including Highway Safety, CarMD, the US Department of Transportation, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
After gathering the information for all fifty states and compiling the statistics into their ranking system, Bankrate noticed a few trends. "The best states for drivers have lots of wide-open spaces, whereas the worst states tend to be filled with people and cars – a bad combination for drivers’ wallets,” Bankrate senior analyst Chris Kahn wrote in an e-mailed report.
Minnesota earned its place near the top of the list thanks to low commute times, low gas and repair costs, and safe drivers (and a low number of fatal crashes). The insurance premiums and car theft rate in Minnesota are higher than some of the other states on the list.
The remaining four states on this list provide even better experiences for motorists.
