Who Has Cheap Insurance for Used Cars in Washington?

The make and model of vehicle that needs insurance is one of the primary factors when comparison shopping for affordable car insurance for used cars. Vehicles with high performance engines, a lack of safety features, or an increased likelihood of liability claims will cost much more to insure than more modest models. The next list shows insurance costs for a selection of the more afforable automobiles to insure.

Premium data assumes single male driver age 50, no speeding tickets, no at-fault accidents, $500 deductibles, and Washington minimum liability limits. Discounts applied include multi-policy, multi-vehicle, claim-free, homeowner, and safe-driver. Estimates do not factor in specific location which can influence premium rates greatly.

Based upon these rates, models like the Ford Escape, Honda CR-V, and Chevrolet Traverse are some of the less-costly vehicles to insure for pre-owned vehicles.

Figuring out which companies quote the best car insurance rates for used cars will involve a bit more work than just quoting one company’s rates. Every insurance provider uses their own method to determine rates, so let’s take a look at the car insurance companies with the most affordable rates in Washington.

Find the Cheapest Auto Insurance for Used Cars

Click Here to Start Your Quote

Capital has some of the most affordable car insurance rates in Washington at around $761 annually. Grange, Nationwide, PEMCO, and Travelers also qualify as some of the best Washington car insurance companies.

In this example, if you are insured with Grange and switched to Capital, you might achieve savings of roughly $52. Washington drivers with Nationwide could save as much as $229 a year, and PEMCO policyholders might lower prices by up to $233 a year.

Remember that these premium estimates are averaged across all ages of drivers and types of vehicles and and are not calculated with a rate discount for used cars. So the car insurance company that can offer you the best rate may not even be included in the rate chart shown above. That illustrates why you need to get car insurance quotes using your own specific driver and vehicle information.

When shopping for car insurance for pre-owned vehicles, one of the many criteria that affect the price you pay for insurance is where your home is located in Washington. Areas that are densely populated or have higher claim frequency like Lakewood, Seattle, and Federal Way tend to have more expensive auto insurance rates, whereas areas with lower crime rates and fewer weather claims benefit from lower rates.

The illustration below rates the most expensive places in Washington for used cars to buy an auto insurance policy in.

Price information shown is approximated as specific Washington zip code can influence auto insurance rates significantly.

Full coverage rates compared to liability-only

Finding cheap insurance for used cars in Washington is probably important to the majority of vehicle owners, and one of the fastest ways to find cheap insurance is to not pay for full coverage. The illustration below shows the comparison of auto insurance costs with full phyical damage coverage and with liability coverage only. Data assumes no tickets, no at-fault accidents, $500 deductibles, drivers are not married, and no other discounts are factored in.

google.charts.setOnLoadCallback(drawFclqcibChart);function drawFclqcibChart() {var data = google.visualization.arrayToDataTable([[‘Age of Insured’, ‘Full Coverage with $500 Deductibles’, ‘Liability Only’],[‘Age 20’, 2365,897],[‘Age 30’, 1249,495],[‘Age 40’, 1223,459],[‘Age 50’, 1117,431],[‘Age 60’, 1081,423],[‘Age 70’, 1327,563]]);var options = {title: ‘Full Versus Liability Only Rates’,titleTextStyle: {color: ‘#333’,fontSize: 17,bold: true},width: ‘100%’,height: 500,’chartArea’: {left:100,top:50,’width’: ‘100%’, ‘height’: ‘70%’},legend: {position: ‘bottom’},colors: [‘#6791b9′,’#98bee2’],hAxis: {title: ‘Annual Auto Insurance Cost for Average Vehicle in Washington’,minValue: 0,format: ‘$###,###’},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 averaged for all ages, physical damage coverage on your policy costs an extra $1,394 per year more than buying just liability insurance. At some point, every insured wonders if full coverage is worth the money. There is no definitive guideline of when to exclude physical damage coverage on your policy, but there is a general school of thought. If the annual cost of coverage is 10% or more of any settlement you would receive from your insurance company, then it might be time to buy liability only.

For example, let’s pretend your vehicle’s claim settlement value is $3,000 and you have $1,000 physical damage deductibles. If your vehicle is severely damaged, the most your company would pay you is $2,000 after the policy deductible has been paid. If it’s costing in excess of $200 a year to have full coverage, then you might want to think about dropping full coverage.

There are some situations where only buying liability is not a good idea. If you still owe a portion of the original loan, you have to maintain full coverage to protect the lienholder’s interest in the vehicle. Also, if your savings is not enough to buy a different vehicle if your current one is damaged, you should not buy liability only.

Best rates: State Farm, Allstate, Geico, or Progressive

When comparing car insurance, four companies to definitely compare rates with are State Farm, Allstate, Geico, and Progressive. They all have your normal coverages like liability, comprehensive, and collision, but each one offers slightly different coverages and options that may steer you one way or another. The next table compares some of the ratings and options that are available for policyholders.