When it is your first time buying auto insurance you need to educate yourself with the types of coverage and requirements in your state. Visit our CarInsurance.com Life Stages Learning Center to learn more about this stage of your life. See our interactive map of US auto insurance requirements to find out about your particular state's mandated car insurance coverages.
After you are aware of the basic car insurance requirements go on to determine your personal needs. Visit our Learning Center to get information on the definitions of the main required and optional coverages and use our glossary of insurance terms to look up those items you are unfamiliar with. Try our Car Insurance Calculator. Also, read our Articles such as Tips for First Time Insurance Buyers and Types of Auto Insurance Coverage Explained for help understanding what insurance coverages you may need.
Insurance company guidelines may differ but in general the information you need to provide to an insurance carrier in able to apply for insurance are the same no matter what state you are in. Typically this includes the following items:
- Driver's License Numbers for all drivers
- Social Security Numbers for all drivers (if applicable)
- Credit card/checking account information
You will also need to have answers to questions in these categories:
- General questions
- Drivers/Household Residents
- Violations or Incidents
- Coverage Selection
- Account Setup
A first time auto insurance buyer is likely to be charged a higher premium than a motorist who has had insurance for many years. This can be due to discounts that are not available to you, such as one for renewing with the same company. Many insurance companies will extend customers a renewal discount if they continue to stay with the same company for a number of years.
Even if it is your first insurance policy, factors such as the amount of time you have been licensed will affect your rates. For example, a person that is an inexperienced driver and is buying insurance for the first time will normally pay more than an experienced long time licensed driver that has been under other people's policies and is now buying their own auto insurance policy.
Insurance companies in most states are allowed to use a variety of factors to determine a policyholder's premium rate. The cost of auto insurance for different drivers varies, as the level of risk for the insurance company varies.
The core factors most states allow insurance companies to use when determining rates are:
- Driving record
- Years of driving experience
- Type of Vehicle being insured
- Vehicle Usage
- Geography - where you live and where you drive your vehicle
- Gender
- Age
- Marital Status
- Credit History
- Claims History
- Whether or not you currently have car insurance
Just to give you a general idea of what auto insurance could cost, the Insurance Information Institute released information stating that the average annual cost for auto insurance premiums nationwide for 2007 was estimated at $847 per policy. A new, inexperienced driver may expect to pay about twice their state average.
You can obtain an auto insurance quote here by entering your zip code and some other basic information. There is no limit to the number of quotes you can obtain. So if you are pricing out different types of cars that you may buy and insure you can simply change the vehicle information to determine the different costs for different makes and models.
To get more information on what cars may be best to buy to keep insurance costs down, please refer to our learning center article, Which Car Should You Own To Keep Your Insurance Rates Most Affordable?.
If you need help determining the right coverages for your vehicle, once you have purchased one, use our insurance coverage calculator.
Again, if you are looking to buy an auto insurance policy for the first time you can easily go through our online quoting system to get a quote. If you have additional questions you can call our agents at 1-800-964-4849.
|