How do auto insurers calculate rates? Cheap insurance found seven factors that impact auto insurance using internet searches.
7 factors that affect your car insurance rate
How age, location and other factors affect your car insurance rate
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Car insurance gives drivers peace of mind knowing that if you ever have a car accident, the damage will be covered and someone will be there to help you deal with the consequences. However, peace of mind comes at a price: Car insurance costs US drivers earn an average of $1,553 per year starting in 2022, according to US News & World Report.
If you think auto insurance is too expensive, you might still have to pay for it. Auto insurance is mandatory in all US states except New Hampshire and Virginia. New Hampshire still requires drivers to be able to pay accident costs if they are at fault in a car accident. Virginia has auto insurance laws, but allows drivers to assume all risk and liability by paying the state $500 per year. Uninsured Motor Vehicle Expenses.
Even though most states require insurance, that doesn’t mean drivers have it. In 2019, 1 in 8 drivers had no insurance, according to a 2021 report published by the Insurance Research Council.
To better understand how insurers calculate rates, Cheap insurance compiled a list of seven factors that impact auto insurance using internet research.
Age
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With time comes experience, and that’s something insurers look at when setting rates. Teenagers are less experienced and more likely to take risks like texting or not wearing a seatbelt while driving. In 2019, the Centers for Disaster Control and Prevention found that around seven teenagers died each day as a result of car crashes, and that teenage drivers were three times more likely to be involved in a fatal crash than drivers in other age groups.
Insurance rates begin to drop at age 25, and age becomes less of a factor until you reach 65. After that, the older you get, the more likely your premiums will go up again because older drivers have vision changes and reaction times more often.
Genre
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Insurance companies base their prices on risk factors, and gender is one of the most controversial. Teenagers tend to be the highest risk drivers, so their rates are high. However, beyond this, it is unclear whether males or females have higher rates…Forbes found that women generally have lower rates than men, but not in all age groups.
Not all states allow insurers to price based on gender — California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania all have laws against gender-based pricing. Montana was one of those states, but repealed its law in 2021. Since then, the Consumers Federation of America found price disparities between men and women in Montana when other factors were the same.
Location
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City drivers pay more for insurance than drivers in rural areas. Urban areas have more drivers on the road, which means the likelihood of accidents will be greater. Denser areas also lend themselves to higher crime rates and may report more break-ins and thefts, and therefore more claims. If you park your car on a street you may have to pay higher rates as damage is more likely than parking in a garage.
Areas with high speed limits may also impose higher insurance rates, as speeding is a major contributor to car accidents. Insurers can also take into account localized extreme weather situations that can cause many damages to cars, such as floods, hail, extreme snowfall, ice and wildfires.
Driving record
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If you’ve been ticketed for a travel violation like speeding or caused an accident, your insurance premium will likely increase. Price increases will depend on the number and severity of incidents and policies from your insurance company. Insurers typically keep track of violations and claims for three years. Rack up too many violations or accident claims — or get arrested for drunk driving — and your insurer may choose to cancel or not renew your policy.
Some insurance companies offer discounts for safer driving. Many of them are app-based telematics programs that track how much and how smoothly you drive to gauge the level of discount.
Make and model of car
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The type of car you have is important in determining insurance costs. Cars that have higher sticker prices and more premium features cost more to insure because they are more expensive to repair or replace. If a luxury car has an accident, repairs usually involve specialized parts that can be hard to find. A lower-end, more common car can often be repaired with parts that are easier for repair shops to find, so it’s a lower and cheaper insurance risk.
Insurance costs can vary even between cars of the same make and model depending on the age of the car. Older cars (until they become antiques) are generally cheaper to insure than newer models.
Mileage
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The more you drive, the higher the likelihood of being involved in an accident. Insurers therefore look at how much you drive in a given year. According to the Federal Highway Administration, Americans on average 14,263 miles on the road in 2019, or about 39 miles a day. The pandemic has held back many drivers off the roads in 2020, but driving has made a back in 2021.
If you don’t drive a lot, especially if you drive less than 15 miles a day, your insurer may offer you a lower rate. On the other end of the spectrum, if you drive more than 41 miles per day, or around 15,000 miles per year, you could be considered a high mileage driver and charged more.
Credit score
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In 2007, the Federal Trade Commission published a report showing that a driver’s credit score could be directly linked to the number and cost of auto claims. For this reason, many insurers look at a person’s credit score (an indicator of possible late payments) or an insurance score (an indicator of whether a person will file a claim) to help calculate a premium. ‘car insurance. The better your score, the better the rate you will get because you are not as risky as someone with a bad credit score.
The Consumer Federation of America maintains that the use of credit scores discriminates against good drivers who have fair or poor credit. Those who live in California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, or Michigan need not worry because those states prohibit auto insurers from looking at a person’s credit when calculating rates. Washington also had a credit score ban, but that was reversed in July 2022.
This story originally appeared on Cheap Insurance and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio.
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