Who Has the Cheapest Auto Insurance for Drivers Over Age 60 in Iowa?

When buying car insurance for older drivers, one of the key factors that aid in calculating the cost of insurance is where your home is located in Iowa. Areas that are more densely populated or have higher claim rates like Council Bluffs, Davenport, and Waterloo will most likely have higher rates, whereas cities that are not as densely populated can boast about having cheaper rates.

The table below shows the most expensive cities in Iowa for drivers over age 60 to purchase auto insurance in.

Rate quotes are comparative as the vehicle garaging location can lower or raise coverage rates considerably.

The make and model of vehicle you are buying coverage for is a large factor when trying to find affordable auto insurance for drivers over age 60. Vehicles with reasonable performance levels, good crash test ratings, or low incidents of liability claims will cost substantially less to insure than adrenaline junky models. The next list showcases auto insurance costs for a handful of the cheapest vehicles to buy coverage for.

Table data represents married female driver age 60, no speeding tickets, no at-fault accidents, $500 deductibles, and Iowa minimum liability limits. Discounts applied include multi-vehicle, claim-free, multi-policy, safe-driver, and homeowner. Premium costs do not factor in garaging location in Iowa which can lower or raise auto insurance rates greatly.

Looking at the data, you can figure that vehicles like the Ford Escape, Hyundai Elantra, Honda CR-V, Chevrolet Traverse, and Ford F-150 are a few of the most economical vehicles to insure for older drivers.

Buying low-cost insurance is tough enough, and deciding which insurers offer the lowest-priced insurance rates for drivers over age 60 calls for more quotes for comparison. Insurance prices should be somewhat better than the average policy in Iowa, with the lower cost attributed to the potentially lower risk that comes with offering coverage for older drivers. Economical coverage should be easily found without having to search too hard.
Every auto insurer uses their own formula for establishing rates, so we need to take a look at the insurance companies with the overall cheapest rates in Iowa.

It’s a good idea to know that Iowa insurance rates are impacted by many things that may substantially change the price you have to pay. This is why Iowa drivers need to spend some time comparing rates when trying to get cheap car insurance quotes for drivers over age 60. Auto insurance prices consist of many factors and can increase or decrease at any time, so the best company the last time you checked may now be one of the higher cost companies.

Compare Cheap Insurance Quotes for Age 60+

Click to Compare Rates Now

Partners Mutual quotes some of the cheapest car insurance rates in Iowa at around $684 per year. USAA, Western National, Allied, and Hastings Mutual are also some of the cheaper Iowa auto insurance companies.

As the example above demonstrates, if you are insured with Western National and switched to Partners Mutual, you might achieve an annual savings of in the neighborhood of $93. Iowa drivers with Allied could save as much as $127 a year, and Hastings Mutual insureds might reduce rates by $223 a year.

If you want to see how much you could save, click here to begin a quote or quote prices from the following companies.

Remember that these policy prices are averaged across all types of drivers and the different vehicles they drive and and are not calculated with a rate discount for drivers over age 60. So the car insurance company that can offer you the best price may not even be shown in the rate chart shown above. That’s why you need to compare prices as often as possible using your own driver and vehicle profiles.

Impact of speeding/accidents on insurance rates

In a perfect world, the best way to score affordable insurance rates for older drivers is to drive carefully and avoid accidents and traffic violations. The information below shows how speeding tickets and accident claims can influence premium costs for each age group. The premiums assume a married female driver, full coverage, $100 deductibles, and no additional 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’, 1581,1763,2267],[‘Age 30’, 1113,1293,1799],[‘Age 40’, 1099,1277,1783],[‘Age 50’, 965,1145,1653],[‘Age 60’, 919,1097,1609],[‘Age 70’, 987,1167,1673]]);var options = {title: ‘Accidents, Violations, and Iowa Car Insurance Rates’,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 Iowa’,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 charted above shows the average cost of car insurance in Iowa per year with no accidents and a clean driving record is $1,111. Receive one speeding ticket and the average cost jumps to $1,290, an increase of $180 each year. Then include one accident along with the one speeding ticket and the annual cost of insurance for drivers over age 60 increases to an average of $1,797. That’s an increase of $687, or $57 per month, just for not keeping your driving record clean!

Does it make sense to buy full coverage?

Finding the cheapest auto insurance for drivers over age 60 in Iowa is important to most vehicle owners, and a great way to find cheap insurance is to not pay for full coverage. The illustration below illustrates the comparison of insurance rates with liability coverage only compared to full coverage. The data is based on no accidents, no driving violations, $500 deductibles, marital status is single, and no other discounts are factored in.

google.charts.setOnLoadCallback(drawFclqcibChart);function drawFclqcibChart() {var data = google.visualization.arrayToDataTable([[‘Age of Insured’, ‘Full Coverage with $500 Deductibles’, ‘Liability Only’],[‘Age 20’, 2727,1005],[‘Age 30’, 1429,555],[‘Age 40’, 1401,513],[‘Age 50’, 1279,481],[‘Age 60’, 1239,473],[‘Age 70’, 1525,631]]);var options = {title: ‘Rate Comparison of Full Coverage and Liability Only’,titleTextStyle: {color: ‘#333’,fontSize: 17,bold: true},width: ‘100%’,height: 500,’chartArea’: {left:100,top:50,’width’: ‘100%’, ‘height’: ‘70%’},legend: {position: ‘bottom’},colors: [‘#6791b9′,’#98bee2’],hAxis: {title: ‘Annual Auto Insurance Cost for Average Vehicle in Iowa’,minValue: 0,format: ‘$###,###’},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);}

Averaged for all age groups, physical damage coverage costs $1,600 per year more than insuring for liability only. That touches on the question if full coverage is worth the money. There isn’t a steadfast formula to stop paying for physical damage coverage on your policy, but there is a guideline you can use. If the annual cost of your full coverage insurance is 10% or more of the replacement cost of your vehicle minus the policy deductible, then it could be time to drop full coverage.

For example, let’s say your vehicle’s replacement cost is $8,000 and you have $1,000 deductibles. If your vehicle is totaled in an accident, the most you would receive is $7,000 after the deductible is paid. If premium cost is more than $700 annually for full coverage, then you may want to consider only buying liability coverage.

Cheap insurance quotes for older drivers

You have many ways to find affordable insurance in Iowa, but the most preferred methods are using an exclusive insurance agency like State Farm or Auto-Owners, an independent agent, or direct either online or via phone. They all have the same end result, but insurance shoppers should know the differences in how they give price quotes.

Independent insurance agents work with multiple companies and can compare rates with every one. These agents have the ability to get prices from more than one company, which may give you a better comparison. If they quote lower rates, it’s simple to move the policy which makes it easier to save money.

A captive or exclusive agent is only able to quote rates with a single insurance company like a Farmers or Allstate agent. Exclusive agents cannot provide rate quotes from other companies, so if rates are high, they cannot give you alternative choices.

Buying from a direct company means bypass a local insurance agent and instead buy from a direct company like Progressive or Geico. Shopping direct can be a good choice for people who do not have a complex risk profile and have some degree of understanding of what insurance covers.

So out of those three methods, which one works best for finding the cheapest auto insurance for drivers over age 60 in Iowa? It would be simple to say buying direct saves the most money because you bypass the middleman, but that is generally not the case. We could also assume that using an independent agent is the best way since they have more companies to choose from, but that’s not always true, either. In the right set of circumstances, exclusive agencies have coverage prices that are well below what direct and independents offer.

Since insurance rates vary so much, really the only way to ensure you are not overpaying is to get rate quotes and compare. If you have the time, get rate quotes from all three to have enough rates to compare. For a list of insurance companies with low rates, click here to view.