Insuring a car or any vehicle can be a complex concept to fully understand. For the most part, people just want to know one thing; how much does car insurance cost? There are a few various factors that can impact your price that will be discussed shortly. First though, what is the average cost?
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Average Cost for Car Insurance in the USA
In a recent 2011 survey conducted by RMIIA (Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association), the average price of insuring a car was found in every state of the United States.
Image Source: www.carinsurance.com
Factors Affecting Costs
The cost of car insurance depends on a variety of factors.
- The first thing that affects your insurance premium is what car you drive. A lot of auto insurance providers assign vehicle safety ratings to each vehicle. From this rating system, a car that is assigned a score that says that it is safer results in a cheaper insurance premium.
- The next thing that can affect your premium price is how much you drive. Normally, the more you drive, regardless of how safe a driver you are, the higher your insurance premium will be. This is because the more miles you drive, the risk of having some form of a car accident or costly repairs is always going to be increased.
- Where you also have an impact. Due to higher rates of crimes in urban areas, it is likely that these people will have higher rates than people living in rural areas.
- The last thing that can affect the premium that isn’t related to yourself as a person (sex, age, etc) is your driving record. The more frequently you have had accidents or had costly insurance payouts for repairs results in a higher premium rate.
Cost of Insuring A Car for an 18-year-Old
An 18-year-old, a male especially, will find that insurance premiums for you are quite high. It is unlikely at that age you will find a premium for under $100 a month and this is for a low-quality amount of coverage. Higher amounts of coverage could be in the hundreds per month.
With the potential of over two thousand a year for insurance for a decent amount of coverage, this is obviously much higher than the highest priced average state in America. The reasoning for the expensive price is due to 18-year-olds being a high statistical risk as they are much more likely to have accidents and the like. It is recommended to get on your parent’s policy to reduce your premium.
Cost of Insuring A Car for a 16-year-Old
A sixteen-year-old has even higher premiums than the eighteen-year old’s premium. These young people, especially males, are seen to be more likely to engage in dangerous road driving and as a result, their premium is higher.
16-year-olds are only brand new on the road and as a result, you have very little driving experience so the premium can be as high as $2300 a year for coverage. Once again, it is much cheaper to be added to a parent’s existing insurance plan.
If the teenager does have an accident or something similar, however, the parent’s insurance premium will increase by quite a lot.
Average Car Insurance Costs for Women
A study done in 2010 by InsWeb found that, for a six month period, the national average for insurance premiums for men was $765 while women’s was lower at $698. There are a few reasons why women pay less than men:
- Women are much less likely to have a DUI on their driving record (almost 50% lower)
- It is more likely that a woman is not listed as the main driver on a policy with multiple members
- On average, women buy cheaper cars than men
While some of these prices have gone up for women in the last few years, women still on average have a noticeably smaller premium than men.
Best rated car insurance providers online
MSN Money compiled customer satisfaction ratings from 2013 for a variety of companies. The three highest rated ones are as follows:
USAA
The highest rated insurance company was USAA. Some of the benefits that they offer include your first accident not affecting your premiums as well as a no-drop promise. What this means is that you will have your policy renewed even if you have accidents and traffic violations. It is regardless as quite affordable with a decent amount of coverage. The biggest downside to USAA however, is that they only provide coverage to people that are members of the military or family members of military people.
Image Source: www.autoinsurance.org
- Name: USAA
- Phone Number: 210-531-USAA (8722)
- Website: www.usaa.com
Erie Insurance Group
Next was the Erie Insurance Group. Like USAA, your first accident doesn’t affect your rates and, something USAA doesn’t have, discounts for safe driving. What this means is that if you don’t have an accident (usually for three to five years) you will get a discount on your premium.
Image Source: www.erieinsurance.com
- Name: Erie Insurance Group
- Phone Number: (800) 458-0811
- Website: www.erieinsurance.com
Auto-Owners Insurance
Auto-Owners Insurance does have a similar discount policy for safe driving like Erie. They are regarded to have quite good customer service and competitive pricing as well as having free lock replacement when keys are stolen.
Image Source:www.auto-owners.com
- Name: Auto-Owners Insurance
- Phone Number: (517) 323-1200
- Website: www.auto-owners.com