Who Has Cheap Car Insurance Quotes for 17 Year Olds in West Virginia?

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could just give you the name of that one special company that has the lowest car insurance rates for 17 year olds? It’s just not that easy, however, as there are a ton of unknown aspects such as if you own the home you live in, whether or not your vehicle has good safety ratings, your credit score, and the amount of liability coverage you want, that all have an effect on the price. Car insurance is kind of a dry topic, but this article will explain some of these criteria and will give you a good start in finding the cheapest car insurance in West Virginia.

The make and model of vehicle needing coverage is one of the primary factors when comparing quotes for cheap car insurance for 17 year olds in West Virginia. Vehicles with lower performance, modern passenger safety features, or a low likelihood of liability claims will cost much less to insure than higher performance models.

The list below ranks car insurance rates for the most cost-effective automobiles to insure.

Price data assumes single female driver age 17, no speeding tickets, no at-fault accidents, $1,000 deductibles, and West Virginia minimum liability limits. Discounts applied include claim-free, and safe-driver. Estimates do not factor in specific location information which can raise or lower premium rates considerably.

Looking at the rates, we can conclude that models like the Honda CR-V, Ford Escape, Chevrolet Traverse, Toyota Prius, and Subaru Forester are most likely to be a few of the cheaper vehicles to insure for teen drivers. Car insurance rates will tend to be higher just due to the fact that there is more claim exposure for 17 year olds, but generally speaking those makes and models will tend to have the best insurance prices available.

When shopping for cheaper auto insurance for teen drivers, one of the many factors that determine the price you pay for insurance is where you keep your car. Regions with larger populations or more claims like Oak Hill, Bluefield, and Dunbar tend to pay higher rates, whereas more rural areas generally benefit from lower auto insurance rates.

The next table ranks the more expensive cities in West Virginia for 17 year olds to buy an auto insurance policy in.

Information shown are comparative as the specific West Virginia residence address can change insurance rates significantly.

Deciphering which companies offer the cheapest auto insurance rates for 17 year olds will take a tad more effort in order to find the most economical policy.

Every car insurance company has their own formula to set premium rates, so we will examine the most budget-friendly auto insurance companies in West Virginia.

Find Cheaper Car Insurance for Teens

Click to Compare Rates Now

Erie normally has some of the most affordable car insurance rates in West Virginia at around $913 per year. The Hartford, State Auto, USAA, and Westfield would also be considered some of the more affordable West Virginia insurance companies.

As shown in the rates above, if you are insured with USAA and switched to The Hartford, you may realize a yearly price reduction of in the neighborhood of $253. Insureds with Westfield could save as much as $254 a year, and Progressive insureds might cut rates by $434 a year.

Be aware that those policy rates are averaged across all insureds and vehicles and do not take into consideration a rate surcharge for 17 year olds. So the auto insurance company that is best suited for you may not even be shown in the above rate chart. That is why you need to quote rates from many companies using your own specific driver information and vehicle.

Should you buy full coverage?

Finding cheap car insurance for 17 year olds in West Virginia is probably important to the majority of vehicle owners, and one common way to find cheaper insurance is to not insure for full coverage. The example below illustrates the difference between insurance prices with full physical damage coverage compared to only buying the minimum liability limits required in West Virginia. The costs are based on no accidents or driving violations, $250 deductibles, single marital status, and no additional discounts are factored in.

google.charts.setOnLoadCallback(drawFclqcibChart);function drawFclqcibChart() {var data = google.visualization.arrayToDataTable([[‘Age of Insured’, ‘Full Coverage with $250 Deductibles’, ‘Liability Only’],[‘Age 20’, 3649,1111],[‘Age 30’, 1899,611],[‘Age 40’, 1881,567],[‘Age 50’, 1709,531],[‘Age 60’, 1649,521],[‘Age 70’, 1999,697]]);var options = {title: ‘Full Coverage Rates Compared to Liability Only Rates’,titleTextStyle: {color: ‘#333’,fontSize: 17,bold: true},width: ‘100%’,height: 500,’chartArea’: {left:100,top:50,’width’: ‘100%’, ‘height’: ‘70%’},legend: {position: ‘bottom’},colors: [‘#6791b9′,’#98bee2’],hAxis: {title: ‘Annual Auto Insurance Cost for Average Vehicle in West Virginia’,minValue: 0,format: ‘$###,###’},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);}

As an average, full coverage on your policy costs $2,131 per year over and above liability only. A very common question is if buying full coverage is worth the money. There is no definitive guideline to eliminate full coverage, but there is a general convention. If the yearly cost of comp and collision coverage is more than about 10% of the vehicle’s replacement cost less your deductible, then it might be time to consider dropping full coverage.

For example, let’s pretend your vehicle’s replacement value is $11,000 and you have $1,000 deductibles. If your vehicle is totaled, the most your company would pay you is $10,000 after paying your policy deductible. If it’s costing you more than $1,000 a year for your policy with full coverage, then you may need to consider dropping full coverage.

There are some circumstances where removing full coverage is not a good idea. If you haven’t satisfied your loan, you must maintain physical damage coverage in order to keep the loan. Also, if your savings is not enough to buy a different vehicle in the even your car is totaled, you should maintain full coverage.

Accidents and violations increase rates

One of the best ways to snag the cheapest auto insurance rates for teen drivers is to be a cautious driver and avoid getting tickets or having accidents. The diagram below demonstrates how citations and at-fault collisions raise premium costs for different ages of insureds. The information is based on a married male driver, full physical damage coverage, $500 deductibles, and no discounts are factored in.

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’, 3461,4217,4981],[‘Age 30’, 1797,2553,3319],[‘Age 40’, 1737,2497,3263],[‘Age 50’, 1597,2353,3117],[‘Age 60’, 1567,2321,3087],[‘Age 70’, 1823,2577,3347]]);var options = {title: ‘Violations, Accidents, and West Virginia Auto 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 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);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 auto insurance per year with a clean driving record and no accidents is $1,997. Factor in two speeding tickets and the average cost swells to $2,753, an increase of $756 each year. Then add one accident along with the two speeding tickets and the annual cost of auto insurance for 17 year olds jumps again to an average of $3,519. That’s an increase of $1,522, or $127 per month, just for not keeping your driving record clean!

Find cheap car insurance for 17 year olds in West Virginia

It’s not impossible to find cheaper rates, and here are some money-saving suggestions that can help West Virginia drivers buy lower-cost car insurance.

• Increase your comprehensive and collision deductibles
• Tickets and violations raise rates
• Staying accident-free helps keep rates low
• Do not insure for full coverage
• Improve your credit score
• Safer vehicles cost less to insure
• Keep rates low by comparing prices once a year

The last tip in the list is remarkably critical, as we emphasized in the prior article. Rates in West Virginia change a lot, so you should be ready to change to a new company if a better deal can be had.

Sticking with a specific company is fine, but it’s not recommended if that inflexibility results in costing you thousands of dollars over the life of your policy. Spend a few minutes and compare rates to find cheaper insurance for 17 year olds.

Best cheap insurance quotes for teen drivers

Consumers have many ways to find cheaper auto insurance in West Virginia, but the most prevalent are either through an independent insurance agent, an exlusive agent such as State Farm or Liberty Mutual, or buying direct from a company like Progressive or Geico.

Each way has the same basic process, but buyers should know the differences in how they work.

Independent insurance agents have contracts with multiple insurance companies and can get rate quotes from each one. These types of agents can sell policies from many different companies and can provide you with more rate quotes, which can give you the best chance of saving money. If they find a cheaper price, the agent simply finds a different carrier and you don’t have to find a new agent.

An exclusive agent is only able to give prices for a single insurance company, examples being a State Farm or Allstate agent. This type of agents cannot quote prices from more than just one company, so if their prices are high, they cannot shop around.

Direct auto insurance buyers bypass local insurance agents and instead buy buying direct from a company like Geico or Esurance. This option may be a decent choice drivers who do not need advice for risk management and understand the limitations of auto insurance.

So which method is best for finding cheap car insurance for 17 year olds in West Virginia? Most drivers assume that buying from a direct car insurance company results in the best prices since there isn’t an agent involved, but unfortunately, that is not always true. It would also be easy to say using an independent agent is the best way to save due to having more companies to select from, but that assumption is also not accurate. And sometimes, exclusive agencies have price quotes that other companies cannot beat.

Since auto insurance companies use so many rating factors, the best method to get rock-bottom rates is to get rate quotes and compare. It’s a good idea to get quotes from all three types to have the best selection of rates to choose from. For a list of companies with some of the cheapest West Virginia auto insurance rates, click here to view.