diff --git a/lib/smarter_csv/auto_detection.rb b/lib/smarter_csv/auto_detection.rb
index affcbe33..f3496140 100644
--- a/lib/smarter_csv/auto_detection.rb
+++ b/lib/smarter_csv/auto_detection.rb
@@ -19,7 +19,12 @@ def guess_column_separator(filehandle, options)
       count.times do
         line = readline_with_counts(filehandle, options)
         delimiters.each do |d|
-          candidates[d] += line.scan(d).count
+          escaped_quote = Regexp.escape(options[:quote_char])
+
+          # Count only non-quoted occurrences of the delimiter
+          non_quoted_text = line.split(/#{escaped_quote}[^#{escaped_quote}]*#{escaped_quote}/).join
+
+          candidates[d] += non_quoted_text.scan(d).count
         end
       rescue EOFError # short files
         break
diff --git a/spec/features/formating/column_separator_spec.rb b/spec/features/formating/column_separator_spec.rb
index c729c7b0..7e98926f 100644
--- a/spec/features/formating/column_separator_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/features/formating/column_separator_spec.rb
@@ -87,6 +87,14 @@
         end.to raise_exception SmarterCSV::NoColSepDetected
       end
 
+      it 'does not detect separators that are between quotes' do
+        data = SmarterCSV.process("#{fixture_path}/separator_chars_between_quotes.csv", options)
+
+
+        expect(data.first.keys.size).to eq 5
+        expect(data.size).to eq 3
+      end
+
       context 'when auto is given as a string' do
         let(:options) do
           {
@@ -148,6 +156,16 @@
         end.to raise_exception SmarterCSV::NoColSepDetected
       end
 
+      it 'does not detect separators that are between quotes' do
+        data = SmarterCSV.process(
+          "#{fixture_path}/separator_chars_between_quotes_no_headers.csv",
+          options.merge(user_provided_headers: %w[Name Age Job Department Project])
+        )
+
+        expect(data.first.keys.size).to eq 5
+        expect(data.size).to eq 3
+      end
+
       context 'when auto is given as a string' do
         let(:options) do
           {
diff --git a/spec/fixtures/separator_chars_between_quotes.csv b/spec/fixtures/separator_chars_between_quotes.csv
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..06c00c38
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/fixtures/separator_chars_between_quotes.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+"name, info":"age, years":"job, title":"department, info":"project, code"
+"John, Doe":"35, years":"Senior, Developer":"Engineering, Dept":"Code, 1234"
+"Jane, Smith":"29, years":"Project, Manager":"Product, Development":"Code,5678"
+"Emily, Jones":"42, years":"CTO,":"Technology,Dept":"Code,9012"
diff --git a/spec/fixtures/separator_chars_between_quotes_no_headers.csv b/spec/fixtures/separator_chars_between_quotes_no_headers.csv
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..7fef5849
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/fixtures/separator_chars_between_quotes_no_headers.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+"John, Doe":"35, years":"Senior, Developer":"Engineering, Dept":"Code, 1234"
+"Jane, Smith":"29, years":"Project, Manager":"Product, Development":"Code,5678"
+"Emily, Jones":"42, years":"CTO,":"Technology,Dept":"Code,9012"