How Much are Car Insurance Quotes for College Students in Maine?

It’s hard to avoid all the commercials from car insurance companies like The General, GEICO, and Liberty Mutual that make promises of big savings. So you just need to choose any one of them, right?

That is not the case, however, as there are a whole slew of unknowns like the liability limit you need, the crash test ratings of your vehicle, and how old you are, that all influence how much you pay for auto insurance. This article will discuss the different scenarios that increase car insurance cost and also should give you a good beginning to your quest for cheaper car insurance.

The vehicle requiring insurance is probably the most important factor that determines whether or not you can buy the most affordable auto insurance for college students. Vehicles with high performance features, a lack of modern safety features, or a high likelihood of having liability claims will cost much more to insure than more modest models. The tables below estimates car insurance costs for a number of the most affordable vehicles to insure in Maine.

Prices above based on single male driver age 20, no speeding tickets, no at-fault accidents, $500 deductibles, and Maine minimum liability limits. Discounts applied include safe-driver, and claim-free. Prices do not factor in vehicle garaging location which can lower or raise prices noticeably.

Price data assumes single male driver age 20, no speeding tickets, no at-fault accidents, $500 deductibles, and Maine minimum liability limits. Discounts applied include safe-driver, and claim-free. Information does not factor in the specific area where the vehicle is garaged which can affect rates significantly.

Data based on single male driver age 20, no speeding tickets, no at-fault accidents, $500 deductibles, and Maine minimum liability limits. Discounts applied include safe-driver, and claim-free. Price information does not factor in vehicle location which can influence insurance rates substantially.

When shopping for cheaper auto insurance for students in college, one of the many factors that helps auto insurance companies calculate car insurance rates is your address in Maine. Areas with more people or even just a higher incidence of claims like Auburn, Ellsworth, and Orono tend to pay slightly more, whereas more rural areas get the luxury of paying less.

The table below sorts the most expensive areas in Maine for college students to purchase car insurance in.

Rates are estimated as the specific geographic location can modify rates noticeably.

Careless Maine drivers pay higher rates

In a perfect world, the best way to get low auto insurance prices in Maine for students in college is to drive safe and avoid traffic citations and accidents. The information below shows how traffic citations and fender-benders can drive up insurance premiums for each age group. Data assumes a single male driver, comp and collision included, $500 deductibles, and no other discounts are factored in.

google.charts.setOnLoadCallback(drawVioqcibChart);function drawVioqcibChart() {var data = google.visualization.arrayToDataTable([[‘Age of Insured’, ‘No Violations or Accidents’, ‘One Speeding Ticket and No Accidents’, ‘One Speeding Ticket and One Accident’],[‘Age 20’, 1805,1939,2311],[‘Age 30’, 951,1081,1455],[‘Age 40’, 935,1069,1441],[‘Age 50’, 855,987,1357],[‘Age 60’, 825,957,1333],[‘Age 70’, 1005,1139,1513]]);var options = {title: ‘Effect of Violations and Accidents on Maine Insurance Cost’,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 Maine’,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 in the chart shows the average cost of a car insurance policy in Maine per year with no accidents or violations is $1,063. Get one speeding ticket and the average cost rises to $1,195, an increase of $133 each year. Now get one accident along with the one speeding ticket and the 12-month cost of auto insurance for college students increases to an average of $1,568. That’s an increase of $506, or $42 per month, just for not keeping your driving record clean!

The illustration below demonstrates how deductibles can change insurance rates when quoting cheap insurance for college students. The premiums assume a married male driver, full coverage, and no discounts are applied to the premium.

google.charts.setOnLoadCallback(drawDfdqcibChart);function drawDfdqcibChart() {var data = google.visualization.arrayToDataTable([[‘Age of Insured’, ‘$100 Deductible’,’$250 Deductible’,’$500 Deductible’,’$1,000 Deductible’],[‘Age 20’, 1939,1761,1561,1373],[‘Age 30’, 1029,933,823,719],[‘Age 40’, 983,895,795,699],[‘Age 50’, 897,817,727,639],[‘Age 60’, 883,805,717,629],[‘Age 70’, 1003,919,825,735]]);var options = {title: ‘Deductibles and Insurance Rates in Maine’,titleTextStyle: {color: ‘#333’,fontSize: 17,bold: true},width: ‘100%’,height: 700,’chartArea’: {left:100,top:50,’width’: ‘100%’,’height’: ‘80%’},legend: {position: ‘bottom’,textStyle: {fontSize: 12}},bar: {groupWidth: ‘80%’},colors: [‘#6791b9′,’#75a8d8′,’#98bee2′,’#bad4ec’],hAxis: {title: ‘Annual Auto Insurance Cost for Average Vehicle’,minValue: 0,format: ‘$###,###’},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);formatter.format(data,4);var chart = new google.visualization.BarChart(document.getElementById(‘qcibdfd’));chart.draw(data, options);}

The chart above illustrates that a 50-year-old driver could save $170 a year by increasing from a $100 deductible to a $500 deductible, or save $258 by selecting a $1,000 deductible. Young drivers, such as the 20-year-old example, can save as much as $566 or more just by using higher deductibles.

If you do make the decision to raise your deductibles, it will now be necessary to have additional funds in a savings account to enable you to pay the extra out-of-pocket expense, which is the main disadvantage of using high deductibles.

Find cheap auto insurance for college students in Maine

It is possible to find better rates, and here are some of the better thrifty solutions that can help drivers find lower-cost car insurance.

• Avoid accidents
• Serious violations like DUI or careless driving can make car insurance unaffordable
• Increase physical damage deductibles
• Assess whether full coverage is needed
• Try paying for small claims out-of-pocket
• Shop around for lower rates once a year

That last piece of advice is extraordinarily valuable, as we discussed in the prior information. Car insurance rates in Maine fluctuate considerably, so drivers shouldn’t hesitate to switch to a new company if you find a better deal.

Having a favorite company is great, but it’s not recommended if that loyalty results in overpaying lots of money. Now is a great time to compare rates and find cheaper auto insurance for college students.

Who has the cheapest insurance quotes for students in college?

Drivers have a lot of different ways to find cheap auto insurance in Maine, but the most frequently used ways are through an independent or non-exclusive agent, an exclusive agency such as State Farm or Auto-Owners, or direct either online or via phone.

They all follow the same basic process, but each is slightly different in how they work.

Independent agents have contracts with many companies and can get policy pricing from each one. These types of agents can quote with many companies and provide you with more rates, which may give you the best chance of finding a lower price. If they find a lower price, your policy is moved internally and you can remain with the same agent.

An exlusive, or captive, agency is only able to quote your policy with one company, two examples are a State Farm or Allstate agent. These agents are not able to quote prices from more than a single company, which necessitates shopping around.

The final way is buying direct, which means you bypass local agents and instead shop from a direct company like Esurance or Progressive. This option can be a good choice for people who do not need complex risk management and understand what coverages, limits, and deductibles they need.

So out of those three methods, which one works best for finding cheap auto insurance for college students in Maine? We wish we could say buying from a direct car insurance company yields the cheapest rates since that prevents the need to pay agent commissions, but that is generally not the case. A valid argument could also be made that using an independent agent is the best way to save since they can quote with many companies, but that assumption is not true either. For the right applicant, exclusive agents have coverage prices that are impossible to beat.

Because there is so much variation in auto insurance prices, really the only way to get the cheapest rates is to get rate quotes and compare. If you have the time, get rate quotes from independent agents, exclusive agents, and direct companies to have a good selection of rates to choose from. For a list of companies with online discounts, click here to view.