Perhaps, motorists know they can reduce their premium but they don’t realize that they can save hundreds or even thousands of dollars. You can economize a lot of money by simply shopping for car insurance. Keep reading to find out how much you can potentially lower cost of coverage in your state.
One of the main reasons why large numbers of motorists fail to shop around for lower auto insurance quotes is that they think prices are similar across the market. Let’s face it; it is not as fun to look for it as buying new shoes. That is why people pay less attention to it and even they may tentatively find excuses not to do it.
The fact of the matter is that every company is different from the others in many ways including price. Knowing only this fact should be enough to convince you that you should always compare rates before buying any product. Carriers vary in size, expertise, underwriting criteria, historical connections, locality and so on that their prices could be substantially different too.
While quite a few companies would hike the premium for someone with a recent accident at least several companies would be more accommodating. Below study might surprise you in the way it demonstrates how widely different each provider can price their policies.
CarInsurance.com carried out an extensive analysis on how rates differentiate between auto insurers. Their astonishing findings are displayed on the table below. Basically, they got at least 6 different quotes for almost every zip code in a state to come up with the average highest and lowest quotes. The first column shows median cost of a full coverage policy. This comprehensive study clearly indicates the price gap between companies in dollars and percentages.
They got the quotations in this study for a typical car and driver and the figures are for full coverage automobile insurance. You may pocket more or less than the figures shown depending on your car, zip code, driving history and coverage requirements.
Table: State by State Average Car Insurance Savings Achieved by Comparing Quotes
| State | Avg. Annual Premium | Avg. Highest Quote | Avg. Lowest Quote | Average $ savings | Average % savings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | $1,313 | $1,895 | $771 | $1,124 | 146% |
| Alaska | $1,114 | $1,305 | $952 | $353 | 37% |
| Arizona | $1,353 | $1,834 | $918 | $916 | 100% |
| Arkansas | $1,383 | $1,849 | $964 | $885 | 92% |
| California | $1,527 | $2,033 | $942 | $1,091 | 116% |
| Colorado | $1,435 | $1,958 | $863 | $1,095 | 127% |
| Connecticut | $1,775 | $2,564 | $924 | $1,640 | 177% |
| DC | $1,722 | $2,876 | $696 | $2,180 | 313% |
| Delaware | $1,655 | $2,422 | $1,107 | $1,315 | 119% |
| Florida | $1,835 | $2,698 | $1,179 | $1,519 | 129% |
| Georgia | $1,348 | $1,795 | $740 | $1,055 | 143% |
| Hawaii | $1,458 | $2,376 | $857 | $1,519 | 177% |
| Idaho | $946 | $1,581 | $694 | $887 | 128% |
| Illinois | $1,009 | $1,393 | $593 | $800 | 135% |
| Indiana | $965 | $1,553 | $650 | $903 | 139% |
| Iowa | $1,024 | $1,625 | $630 | $995 | 158% |
| Kansas | $1,245 | $1,794 | $766 | $1,028 | 134% |
| Kentucky | $1,771 | $2,894 | $880 | $2,014 | 229% |
| Louisiana | $2,190 | $2,984 | $1,445 | $1,539 | 107% |
| Maine | $920 | $1,203 | $503 | $700 | 139% |
| Maryland | $1,396 | $2,223 | $1,071 | $1,152 | 108% |
| Massachusetts | $1,191 | $1,757 | $851 | $906 | 106% |
| Michigan | $2,490 | $4,025 | $1,013 | $3,012 | 297% |
| Minnesota | $1,200 | $1,517 | $899 | $618 | 69% |
| Mississippi | $1,330 | $1,960 | $871 | $1,089 | 125% |
| Missouri | $1,158 | $1,805 | $705 | $1,100 | 156% |
| Montana | $1,224 | $1,753 | $848 | $905 | 107% |
| Nebraska | $1,117 | $1,481 | $697 | $784 | 112% |
| Nevada | $1,750 | $2,284 | $1,279 | $1,005 | 79% |
| N. Hampshire | $1,102 | $1,583 | $557 | $1,026 | 184% |
| New Jersey | $1,353 | $1,887 | $745 | $1,142 | 153% |
| New Mexico | $1,257 | $1,946 | $870 | $1,076 | 124% |
| New York | $1,782 | $2,893 | $992 | $1,901 | 192% |
| North Carolina | $963 | $1,241 | $620 | $621 | 100% |
| North Dakota | $1,311 | $2,560 | $743 | $1,817 | 245% |
| Ohio | $957 | $1,312 | $626 | $686 | 110% |
| Oklahoma | $1,655 | $2,593 | $1,006 | $1,587 | 158% |
| Oregon | $1,292 | $1,732 | $944 | $788 | 83% |
| Pennsylvania | $1,532 | $3,183 | $686 | $2,497 | 364% |
| Rhode Island | $1,693 | $2,362 | $1,106 | $1,256 | 114% |
| South Carolina | $1,263 | $1,528 | $1,030 | $498 | 48% |
| South Dakota | $1,052 | $1,548 | $685 | $863 | 126% |
| Tennessee | $1,223 | $1,838 | $744 | $1,094 | 147% |
| Texas | $1,308 | $1,947 | $889 | $1,058 | 119% |
| Utah | $1,212 | $1,591 | $653 | $938 | 144% |
| Vermont | $967 | $1,269 | $472 | $797 | 169% |
| Virginia | $979 | $1,192 | $742 | $450 | 61% |
| Washington | $1,197 | $1,498 | $994 | $504 | 51% |
| West Virginia | $1,387 | $1,921 | $1,110 | $811 | 73% |
| Wisconsin | $1,327 | $2,743 | $632 | $2,111 | 334% |
| Wyoming | $1,472 | $1,830 | $1,126 | $704 | 63% |
The table shows that the amount you may be able to economize on the premium depends on where you live in. While the price gap can be huge in some places you may not be able to save as much dollars in others. There are several factors that explain these disparities.
It appears that you can reduce costs more in regions where vehicle insurance prices are higher, in comparison to reasonably cheap ones. This is only a logical explanation. When the ticket of an item is higher haggling or checking a few more suppliers has a better chance of yielding a few more dollars.
Here are the top 5 states where motorists are most likely to save the largest amounts on average per annum simply by getting a few estimates and comparing them side by side.
- Michigan: $3,012 – 297%
- Pennsylvania: $2,497 – 364%
- D.C.: $2,180 – 313%
- Wisconsin: $2,111 – 334%
- Kentucky: $2,014 – 229%
And these are the states where drivers are likely to economize the least on their yearly premium on average.
- Alaska: $353 – 37%
- Virginia: $450 – 61%
- South Carolina: $498 – 48%
- Washington: $504 – 51%
- Minnesota: $618 – 69%
In addition, the higher the competition the more likely policyholders can shave off larger sums due to wide spectrum of companies covering different segments of the market. When there are only few of them in a region like Alaska the choices are clearly limited and this reflects negatively on prices. In other words, 20 or so companies in Alaska can dictate their terms more easily than it is in Pennsylvania where there are over 200.
Even in a state where you can reduce costs the least (Alaska) it can still be around $350 pa. In other words, you can reduce the premium by 37%. But it is astounding to see that you can save as much as $3,000 or nearly 300% in places like Michigan.
So it is perhaps time to make sure that you are getting the best deal available in your zip code when it comes to insuring cars. You can check rates by entering details above pretty quickly and enjoy the discounts.
There are many reasons why you should check the competition at next renewal no matter what the circumstances are. If you are a good driver you would want to get the best rates possible because everyone would love to insure a driver who never makes a claim. That is why you should get the lowest possible deal.
You would still search for affordable policies even if you are a high risk driver. That is why you probably have more reason to look around harder for deals when you are not a preferred risk. At least they are higher than a typical driver and therefore you can aim for more in terms of dollars.