New Jersey is one of two states that, until recently, were very different from most other states in terms of regulation. One thing that sets New Jersey apart is the "must accept all comers" rule. While most states require insurance companies to accept a second tier of "previously refused" drivers, those are designated by a set of rules. Point here is that NJ is not a good reference point for other states.
Insurance rates are regulated, but the regulation is just one template that overlays rates charged. The other is "experience ratings". Each insurance company keeps statistics on all insured and revises rates on occassion according to how that group has fared in terms of claims. There are actuaries who are paid good money to sort through and make determinations on thousands of criteria, including obvious (driving record, M/F, age, marital status, various car factors like price and how often that vehicle is stolen, crashes, etc.) to the not so obvious (credit rating for example - this is oversimplified, but if an insurance companies' statistics show that people with lower credit ratings have gotten into more accidents than people with better credit ratings, they might adjust rates accordingly).
Bottom line is this - because each insurance company is using a different set of data points (their prior customer history), combined with other factors (regulatory for example), there is no "best insurance company".
You might do better with a useless overhead company like State Farm or Nationwide than you would with direct sellers like GEICO or Progressive IF your specific data points line up favorably. This is why different people will swear their (different) insurance company has the best rates - they're all right!
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