Say "Old Town" to a paddler anywhere in the country and they'll think canoe before they think Maine. The company that earned that reputation still builds boats on the Penobscot River in the actual city of Old Town, population 7,617.

Car insurance here runs close to Maine's statewide averages — about $1,262 a year for minimum liability, $1,704 for full coverage — numbers that don't know or care that the city's name is stamped on canoes in garages across the country.

A Brand Name Bigger Than the City

Old Town Canoe Company was founded here in 1898 and incorporated in 1901. For decades it was the largest canoe manufacturer in the world, so dominant that its name became a generic term for the product itself, the way people say Kleenex for tissue or Xerox for copies.

The company still operates in Old Town today, now building mostly polyethylene canoes and kayaks. It's a rare case of a small Maine mill town's name traveling further than the mill town ever did.

Old Town Auto Insurance at a Glance

  • Minimum liability: 50/100/25 ($50k injury per person / $100k per accident / $25k property)
  • Fault system: At-fault (tort) — same as the rest of Maine
  • Avg. minimum liability: ~$1,262/yr, in line with the state average
  • Avg. full coverage: ~$1,704/yr, in line with the state average
  • Population: 7,617, on the Penobscot River just north of Orono

Living Next Door to a Flagship University

Old Town sits directly north of Orono, home to the University of Maine's flagship campus and about 9,600 undergraduates. Stillwater Avenue and Route 2 carry a steady flow of students, staff, and off-campus residents between the two towns every day.

Most of that traffic is rated on Orono addresses, not Old Town's. But a shared road network still means Old Town sees more daily driving volume than its own population would generate in isolation — commuters, weekend paddlers heading to the canoe factory outlet, and everyone in between.

What Maine's At-Fault Rule Means Here

Maine runs a tort, at-fault system — the driver who causes a crash is on the hook for the damage, and their insurer pays out accordingly. Old Town doesn't get an exception just because a fender-bender happens near a college-town intersection instead of a mill-town one.

Maine also requires medical payments coverage of at least $2,000 per person, plus uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage matched to the state's 50/100 liability limits — a combination most states don't require together.

The Maine Bureau of Insurance regulates every carrier writing policies in Old Town the same way it does across the river in Orono — worth checking before signing with an insurer you don't already recognize.

What to Carry If You're Splitting Time With Orono

A daily commute across the Old Town–Orono line means more time on shared, university-adjacent roads than Old Town's own traffic count would suggest. Raising property damage liability above the $25,000 state minimum is worth the modest added cost if that's part of your routine.

For the fuller breakdown of when it pays to carry more than Maine's floor, see our minimum vs. full coverage guide. A city that put its name on canoes worldwide still prices its car insurance like the quiet river town it is.