Best Cheap Car Insurance for Seniors in West Virginia

I’m sure you’ve seen the catchy commercials from auto insurance companies like Allstate, State Farm, and GEICO that make claims of huge savings, so you should just pick the company with the best ad, right?

It’s just not that easy, however, as there are many unknown elements like if you rent or own your home, if you are claim-free, and deductibles for comprehensive and collision coverage, that all factor into the price you pay. This article will cover the different ways to avoid overpaying and will hopefully give you a good beginning to your quest for cheaper car insurance.

One of the more important factors that car insurance companies take into consideration when calculating the cost of insurance is where you keep your car in West Virginia. Cities with larger populations or higher claim trends like Elkins, Princeton, and Bluefield tend to have higher auto insurance costs, whereas areas with less traffic congestion and claims benefit from lower rates.

The information below rates the more expensive cities in West Virginia for seniors to purchase auto insurance in.

Table data uses estimated as specific West Virginia garaging address can change premium rates noticeably.

Finding decent, cheap insurance is easier said than done, and determining which companies offer the lowest-priced insurance rates for seniors may require even more perseverance. Insurance premiums will most likely be somewhat less expensive than the average price in West Virginia attributed to the lower risk related to offering insurance for senior citizens. Budget-friendly coverage should be attainable without looking to hard.

Each auto insurer uses a little different formula to set premium rates, so we need to take a look at the most affordable insurance companies in West Virginia.

Find Cheaper Auto Insurance for Mature Drivers

Compare Rates and Save

Erie quotes some of the most affordable car insurance rates in West Virginia at around $913 annually. The Hartford, Westfield, State Auto, and USAA also qualify as some of the cheaper West Virginia auto insurance companies.

In the rate table above, if you are a customer of State Auto and switched to The Hartford, you could earn an annual premium reduction of approxmiately $248. West Virginia drivers with USAA might save as much as $295 a year, and Progressive customers might see rate reductions of $461 a year.

These premium estimates are averages for all ages of drivers and types of vehicles and do not factor in a rate discount for seniors. So the insurer that has the cheapest rates for you may not even be shown in the rate chart shown above. That emphasizes why you need to compare rates from multiple companies using your own driver data and vehicle information.

The vehicle driven is probably the largest consideration when consumers are trying to find the cheapest coverage for seniors. Vehicles with higher performance, poor passenger safety features, or a track record of large liability claims will cost significantly more to insure than safer models.

The information below outlines coverage rates for a selection of the most economical automobiles to buy coverage for.

Data based on married male driver age 60, no speeding tickets, no at-fault accidents, $500 deductibles, and West Virginia minimum liability limits. Discounts applied include claim-free, multi-vehicle, multi-policy, safe-driver, and homeowner. Price information does not factor in your specific West Virginia location which can lower or raise coverage prices considerably.

Based upon the rates shown, you can figure that cars like the Chevrolet Traverse, Honda CR-V, Volkswagen Jetta, Ford Escape, and Kia Forte are most likely going to be the most budget-friendly vehicles to insure for senior citizens.

Discount West Virginia insurance rates

Insurers that offer the best cheap auto insurance for seniors in West Virginia may also give you policy discounts that could lower prices by 40% or more if you are eligible. The best insurance companies and some of their more popular discounts are included below.

• GEICO policyholders can earn discounts including emergency military deployment, anti-theft, defensive driver, daytime running lights, anti-lock brakes, and federal employee.
• Travelers offers discounts for home ownership, multi-car, multi-policy, early quote, and continuous insurance.
• Nationwide has discounts for defensive driving, family plan, Farm Bureau membership, easy pay, and anti-theft.
• Farmers Insurance discounts include electronic funds transfer, switch companies, pay in full, bundle discounts, teen driver, mature driver, and business and professional.
• Esurance includes discounts for multi-car, safety device, renters, emergency road assistance, Switch & Save, and good student.
• State Farm may offer discounts for anti-theft, good student, driver’s education, Drive Safe & Save, accident-free, and defensive driving training.
• Progressive may have discounts that include continuous coverage, homeowner, online quote discount, multi-policy, multi-vehicle, and good student.
• Mercury Insurance may include discounts for accident-free, ease of repair, professional/association, good student, anti-theft, type of vehicle, and multi-policy.

The example below visualizes the comparison of insurance rates with and without discounts. The costs are based on a female driver, no accidents or driving violations, West Virginia state minimum liability limits, full physical damage coverage, and $100 deductibles. The first bar for each age group shows insurance cost with no discounts. The second shows the rates with accident-free, vehicle safety, safe-driver, claim-free, anti-theft, and marriage discounts applied. When discounts are applied, the average savings per year on insurance for seniors is 29% or $785.

google.charts.setOnLoadCallback(drawDiscqcibChart);function drawDiscqcibChart() {var data = google.visualization.arrayToDataTable([[‘Age of Insured’, ‘Female Driver No Discounts’, ‘Female Driver with Discounts’],[‘Age 20’, 3951,1541],[‘Age 30’, 2717,2839],[‘Age 40’, 2521,1965],[‘Age 50’, 2201,1823],[‘Age 60’, 2133,1595],[‘Age 70’, 2493,1541]]);var options = {title: ‘Effect of Discounts on Insurance Price for Seniors’,titleTextStyle: {color: ‘#333’,fontSize: 17,bold: true},width: ‘100%’,height: 500,’chartArea’:{left:100,top:50,’width’: ‘100%’, ‘height’: ‘70%’},legend: {position: ‘bottom’},colors: [‘#c096ca’, ‘#e1b7ec’],hAxis: {title: ‘Annual Auto Insurance Cost for Average Vehicle in West Virginia’,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);}

Full coverage rates compared to liability-only

Finding the best cheap auto insurance for seniors in West Virginia is important to most drivers, and an easy way to pay less for insurance is to buy liability only. The diagram below compares insurance prices with and without full coverage. The data is based on no accidents or driving violations, $100 deductibles, drivers are single, and no discounts are taken into consideration.

google.charts.setOnLoadCallback(drawFclqcibChart);function drawFclqcibChart() {var data = google.visualization.arrayToDataTable([[‘Age of Insured’, ‘Full Coverage with $100 Deductibles’, ‘Liability Only’],[‘Age 20’, 4943,1469],[‘Age 30’, 2539,805],[‘Age 40’, 2525,745],[‘Age 50’, 2293,697],[‘Age 60’, 2217,685],[‘Age 70’, 2689,917]]);var options = {title: ‘Price Comparison of Full Coverage Versus Liability Only’,titleTextStyle: {color: ‘#333’,fontSize: 17,bold: true},width: ‘100%’,height: 500,’chartArea’: {left:100,top:50,’width’: ‘100%’, ‘height’: ‘70%’},legend: {position: ‘bottom’},colors: [‘#6791b9′,’#98bee2’],hAxis: {title: ‘Annual Auto Insurance Cost for Average Vehicle in West Virginia’,minValue: 0,format: ‘$###,###’},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(‘qcibfcl’));chart.draw(data, options);}

If we average all the age groups together, full coverage on your policy costs an additional $2,868 per year more than just buying liability only. That amount may make you wonder if buying full coverage is worth the expense. There isn’t a written rule for dropping physical damage coverage, but there is a guideline you can use. If the annual cost of your full coverage insurance is more than around 10% of replacement cost minus your deductible, then you may need to consider dropping full coverage.

For example, let’s pretend your vehicle’s settlement value is $9,500 and you have $1,000 physical damage deductibles. If your vehicle is totaled in an accident, the most you would get paid by your company is $8,500 after the deductible is paid. If it’s costing in excess of $850 a year for full coverage, then it could be time to drop full coverage.

How to get the best cheap auto insurance for seniors in West Virginia

Lowering your rates is not difficult, and here are some of the recommended penny-pinching solutions that can help West Virginia drivers locate cheap car insurance.

• Serious violations like DUI or careless driving can make car insurance unaffordable
• Buy vehicles with five-star safety ratings
• Full coverage is expensive so only insure older vehicles for liability only
• Increase deductibles to save money
• Staying accident-free helps keep rates low
• Better credit rating means better rates
• Comparison shop at least once a year

The last tip in the list is notably vital, as we hit on in the article above. Coverage rates fluctuate constantly, so drivers shouldn’t be reluctant to change to a new company if a cheaper price is available.

Having brand loyalty is commendable, but it’s not a good idea if that inflexibility results in costing you a small fortune. It only takes a couple minutes to compare rates and find cheaper insurance for seniors.