Who Has the Cheapest Car Insurance for College Graduates in Ohio?

When buying auto insurance for college grads, one of the key considerations that help determine rate quotes is your zip code in Ohio. Areas with increased crime or more people like Toledo, Youngstown, and Columbus tend to have higher rates, whereas more rural areas benefit from lower coverage costs.

The next table sorts the priciest cities in Ohio for college graduates in which to purchase auto insurance.

Information shown are comparative as the specific geographic location can alter rates significantly.

The type of vehicle that is being insured is one of the largest factors that determines the availablility of affordable insurance for college graduates. Vehicles with limited speed and performance, an excellent safety record, or a low likelihood of having liability claims will cost significantly less to insure than adrenaline junky models.

The information below illustrates coverage premiums for some of the cheapest vehicles to buy coverage for.

Above prices assume single male driver age 40, no speeding tickets, no at-fault accidents, $500 deductibles, and Ohio minimum liability limits. Discounts applied include multi-policy, homeowner, multi-vehicle, safe-driver, and claim-free. Prices do not factor in specific zip code location which can modify auto insurance rates significantly.

Based upon the rates shown, you can conclude that models like the Honda CR-V, Jeep Wrangler, Hyundai Tucson, and Ford Escape are some of the less-costly vehicles to insure for college grads.

Drive responsibly or pay higher rates

The ideal way to receive the cheapest car insurance rates for college grads is to drive cautiously and not receive tickets or have accidents. The illustration below illustrates how traffic citations and accident claims can influence car insurance costs for different age groups. The rate quotes are based on a married male driver, comprehensive and collision coverage, $1,000 deductibles, and no discounts are applied.

google.charts.setOnLoadCallback(drawVioqcibChart);function drawVioqcibChart() {var data = google.visualization.arrayToDataTable([[‘Age of Insured’, ‘No Violations or Accidents’, ‘Two Speeding Tickets and No Accidents’, ‘Two Speeding Tickets and One Accident’],[‘Age 20’, 1879,2283,2699],[‘Age 30’, 965,1367,1787],[‘Age 40’, 941,1345,1759],[‘Age 50’, 865,1271,1689],[‘Age 60’, 853,1255,1673],[‘Age 70’, 1009,1409,1827]]);var options = {title: ‘Effect of Tickets and Claims on Ohio Insurance Prices’,titleTextStyle: {color: ‘#333’, fontSize: 17, bold: true},width: ‘100%’,height: 600,’chartArea’: {left:100,top:50,’width’: ‘100%’, ‘height’: ‘70%’},legend: {position: ‘bottom’,textStyle: {fontSize: 12}},colors:[‘#b2da64′,’#eed355′,’#e39e71’],hAxis: {title: ‘Annual Auto Insurance Cost for Average Vehicle in Ohio’,minValue: 0,format: ‘$###,###’},vAxis: {title: ‘Age of Insured’}};var formatter = new google.visualization.NumberFormat({fractionDigits: 0,prefix: ‘$’});formatter.format(data,1);formatter.format(data,2);formatter.format(data,3);var chart = new google.visualization.BarChart(document.getElementById(‘qcibvio’));chart.draw(data, options);}

The data above shows the average cost of a car insurance policy per year with no violations or accidents is $1,085. Receive two speeding tickets and the average cost surges to $1,488, an increase of $403 each year. Next add one accident along with the two speeding tickets and the 12-month cost of car insurance for college graduates goes up to an average of $1,906. That’s an increase of $820, or $68 per month, just for not paying attention while driving!

Discounts on the cheapest car insurance for college graduates in Ohio

Insurance companies that offer quotes for college graduates may additionally offer policy discounts that could reduce prices by as much as 40% or more if you are eligible to receive them. Larger car insurance companies and their offered discounts include:

• Progressive offers discounts for homeowner, online signing, multi-policy, online quote discount, and continuous coverage.
• SAFECO may offer discounts for accident prevention training, bundle discounts, drive less, anti-lock brakes, safe driver, and multi-car.
• American Family has savings for multi-vehicle, air bags, bundled insurance, early bird, defensive driver, TimeAway discount, and accident-free.
• MetLife offers premium reductions for good student, accident-free, good driver, defensive driver, multi-policy, and claim-free.
• GEICO has discounts for air bags, seat belt use, multi-vehicle, multi-policy, military active duty, and daytime running lights.
• The Hartford offers discounts including bundle, vehicle fuel type, air bag, defensive driver, good student, anti-theft, and driver training.

The chart below shows the comparison of premium costs with and without discounts applied to the policy premium. The costs are based on a male driver, no claims or driving citations, Ohio state minimum liability limits, comp and collision included, and $500 deductibles.

The first bar for each age group shows the average annual price with no discounts. The second shows the rates with accident-free, vehicle safety, safe-driver, multiple policy, claim-free, and marriage discounts applied. With discounts applied, the the amount saved on car insurance for college graduates is 27% or $323.

google.charts.setOnLoadCallback(drawDiscqcibChart);function drawDiscqcibChart() {var data = google.visualization.arrayToDataTable([[‘Age of Insured’, ‘Male Driver No Discounts’, ‘Male Driver with Discounts’],[‘Age 20’, 2007,1447],[‘Age 30’, 1053,767],[‘Age 40’, 1037,757],[‘Age 50’, 945,689],[‘Age 60’, 913,665],[‘Age 70’, 1115,809]]);var options = {title: ‘Comparison of Insurance Rates for College Graduates’,titleTextStyle: {color: ‘#333’,fontSize: 17,bold: true},width: ‘100%’,height: 500,’chartArea’:{left:100,top:50,’width’: ‘100%’, ‘height’: ‘70%’},legend: {position: ‘bottom’},colors: [‘#6791b9’, ‘#98bee2’],hAxis: {title: ‘Annual Auto Insurance Cost for Average Vehicle in Ohio’,minValue: 0,format: ‘$###,###’},vAxis: {title: ‘Age of Insured’}};var formatter = new google.visualization.NumberFormat({fractionDigits: 0,prefix: ‘$’});formatter.format(data,1);formatter.format(data,2);var chart = new google.visualization.BarChart(document.getElementById(‘qcibdisc’));chart.draw(data, options);}

How to get the cheapest car insurance for college graduates in Ohio

The list below summarizes some of the better penny-pinching suggestions that can help you buy low-cost car insurance.

• Raise your physical damage coverage deductibles
• Drive safe vehicles
• Maintain a safe distance and avoid accidents
• Improve your credit
• Serious violations like DUI or careless driving can make car insurance unaffordable
• Shop around for lower rates once a year

That last tip is especially important, as was pointed out in this piece. Prices in Ohio can be modified anytime, so don’t be hesitant to buy a policy from a new company if a more affordable price is available. Having a favorite company is great, but is isn’t recommended if that dedication is costing a fortune every year. It takes less than five minutes to compare prices to find cheaper car insurance for college graduates.

Who has the cheapest insurance quotes for college grads?

There are many different ways to compare cheaper car insurance rates in Ohio, but the most prevalent are through an exclusive insurance agent like Liberty Mutual or Allstate, an independent or non-exclusive agent, or direct either online or via phone. You can use whichever you prefer, but car insurance shoppers should know the differences in how they provide price quotes.

Independent agents have contracts with many companies and can get policy pricing from all of them. Independent agents are not employed by only one company and can quote rates with many companies, which may give you improved odds of finding cheaper coverage. If they quote lower rates, the business is moved internally and you don’t have to find a new agent.

Exclusive agencies are only able to give rates for a single company, two of the more popular are an Allstate or Liberty Mutual agent. They are unable to provide rate quotes from other companies, so keep that in mind.

The last way is buying direct, which means you do not use an exlusive or independent agent and instead shop buying direct from a company like Progressive or Geico. Buying car insurance direct may be good for people who have fewer assets and have an above average understanding of what car insurance covers and what it doesn’t.

So what is the best way to buy the cheapest car insurance for college graduates in Ohio? It would be simple to say shopping direct saves money since it doesn’t require paying agent commissions, but that turns out to not be true. We could also say that buying car insurance from an independent agent guarantees the lowest rates due to having more companies to select from, but that is not accurate either. And often times, exclusive agencies have very competitive rates that cannot be met by either independent or direct companies.

Because there are so many factors that make up car insurance rates, the one way to ensure you are not overpaying is to get quotes and compare. Be sure to get price quotes from all three in order to have the best selection to choose from. For a list of companies with online discounts, click here to view.