Why is my car insurance so high?

Most people are familiar with “age” being a rating factor for car insurance. The younger and less experienced a driver is the more expensive their auto insurance will be. And this is true, but there are lots of factors that are used to determine the amount you will pay for your car insurance.

Let’s look at other factors that can affect the price of your auto insurance.

Past tickets & accidents

We’ll start with the obvious, tickets and accidents. If you were insuring drivers you would probably charge someone with no tickets or accidents less than someone who had 3 speeding tickets and has caused an accident. It’s really common sense and most of the factors that cause a policy to be more expensive involve the same common sense.

Where you live

For instance, if you live in a zip code that is very densely populated, (more people per sq mile), your auto insurance would be more expensive than someone who lived in a more rural zip code, (less densely populated). The more people you live near the more opportunity for accidents and losses to occur. More common sense.

The car you own

How about the vehicle itself ? Yes! Your premium does depend on what type of vehicle you drive. In simple terms…the faster, heavier, or larger a vehicle is, the more it will typically cost to insure. Some other factors are how many people fit in the vehicle, what the vehicle is used for, and the make of the vehicle, (some manufacturers have better safety ratings than others), and so on….

Marital status, home ownership & credit

Also, being married, owning a home or having really good credit will get you better rates, (the insurance companies believe that being married, or owning a home, and or having good credit all equal less claims. And they have the numbers to prove it!). However, I wouldn’t recommend getting married solely for the cheaper insurance. 

Gender and age

Insurance companies also rate genders differently, (again based on large amounts of data). Age and gender are rating factors, but in most cases, there’s not much we can do about those items.

Having Insurance

That leaves us with the biggest discount available for your auto insurance, which is simply having insurance. Again, companies are looking for stability. The longer you keep your auto insurance active the better. If you have a 30 day or more lapse you will lose your “Transfer Discount”, which is the biggest discount in auto insurance. Keep your insurance active if at all possible for the cheapest rates. 

There are other factors that go into determining your auto insurance rates as well, but I’ve tried to cover the most common of these. I hope this was helpful and informative.

We would love to help you if you have further questions. Please do not hesitate to call us Monday through Friday between 9am-5pm and we will do our best to answer any of your questions.

Drive Safely !!