Want to Save on Car Insurance? Get Married!

News provided by

Mar 26, 2015, 09:05 ET

SAN FRANCISCO, March 26, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Marital status, gender and age significantly affect how much Americans pay for car insurance, according to a new insuranceQuotes.com report. For instance:

Marital Status

Getting married young can save a lot of money on car insurance; a married 20-year-old pays 21% less than a single 20-year-old for the same policy.
At age 25, the average marriage savings is down to 7%, and it falls to around 2% at age 30 and beyond.
Hawaii is the only state where insurance companies are not allowed to factor marital status into their rate calculations.

Gender

20-year-old men pay 22% more than 20-year-old women for the same coverage.
The gap narrows to just 3% at age 25.
From ages 30 to 55, average premiums are actually slightly lower for men.
It flips after age 55, when women pay slightly less than men.
Three states do not allow insurance companies to factor gender into their rate calculations (Hawaii, Massachusetts and North Carolina).
insuranceQuotes.com did not observe any cost differences between male and female drivers in Pennsylvania and Montana, even though using gender to calculate premiums is technically allowed in both states.

Age

Car insurance costs decrease every year until age 60.
The sharpest drop is from age 20 to age 25, when rates decrease 41%.
From age 25 to age 60, rates drop another 18%.
There isn't much of a penalty for senior citizens. 75-year-old drivers only pay 17% more than 60-year-olds. Put differently, 75-year-olds pay 43% less than 20-year-olds.
Hawaii is the only state where insurance companies are not allowed to factor age into their rate calculations. In California, age cannot be explicitly included, but years of driving experience can be included.

Summary
"Plenty of families worry about when grandma or grandpa should stop driving, but the data shows that drivers in their teens and early 20s are much more risky," said Laura Adams, insuranceQuotes.com's senior analyst. "Young drivers, in particular, can save money by qualifying for good student discounts, signing up for pay-as-you-drive programs and competing driver safety courses."

Click here for more information: http://insurancequotes.com/auto

insuranceQuotes.com commissioned Quadrant Information Services to measure the impacts of gender, age and marital status on car insurance premiums using data from the largest carriers (representing 60-70% of market share) in each U.S. state and the District of Columbia.

Assumptions included: driver is employed, drives a 2012 sedan, has a bachelor's degree, a clean driving record, an excellent credit score and no lapse in coverage with the following limits: $100,000 (bodily injury per person) / $300,000 (bodily injury per accident) / $100,000 (property damage per accident), $10,000 (personal injury protection or medical payments) and a $500 deductible for comprehensive and collision.

About insuranceQuotes.com:

insuranceQuotes.com is the complete insurance comparison shopping site for consumers and the premier customer acquisition platform for insurance agents and carriers. Offering best-in-class research and access to the widest network of carriers and agents in the industry, we make the process of finding the right insurance policy simple and personal. Get unbiased information as you shop for coverage options, make smart comparisons on the plans that best suit your needs, and get connected with providers through one go-to site.

For More Information:
Ted Rossman
Public Relations Director
[email protected]
917-368-8635

SOURCE insuranceQuotes.com