Who Has Cheap Car Insurance for College Graduates in North Carolina?

You have most likely seen the ads from auto insurance companies like Nationwide, State Farm, and The General that say if you switch you’ll get the cheapest price. So drivers just need to select the one with the best jingle, right?

It’s not quite that easy, unfortunately, as there are a ton of unknown aspects such as if you have a lapse in coverage, the safety features built into your vehicle, which neighborhood you live in, and if you are claim-free. We know insurance is not everyone’s favorite topic, but in this article we will cover the types of situations that result in high rates and will hopefully give you a good start to your coverage search.

When shopping for insurance for college grads, one of the many factors that helps insurance companies calculate the amount you pay for auto insurance is where your car is garaged in North Carolina. Areas with more people or even just a higher incidence of claims like Fayetteville, Charlotte, and Wilmington are more likely to have higher rates, whereas areas with less congestion have the gratification of cheap car insurance for college graduates in North Carolina.

The next table displays the more expensive cities in North Carolina for college graduates in which to buy car insurance.

Rate information is estimated as the specific garaging location can alter insurance rates substantially.

The vehicle you are insuring is one of the biggest factors when shopping for cheap car insurance for college graduates in North Carolina. Vehicles with average performance, a great safety record, or a positive history of liability claims will cost quite a bit less to insure than high performance models. The information below outlines coverage premiums for a selection of the most economical vehicles to insure in North Carolina.

Data based on single male driver age 30, no speeding tickets, no at-fault accidents, $1,000 deductibles, and North Carolina minimum liability limits. Discounts applied include safe-driver, multi-policy, claim-free, multi-vehicle, and homeowner. Estimates do not factor in specific location which can revise premium rates significantly.

Based upon the table data, you can figure that cars like the Honda CR-V, Ford F-150, and Honda Odyssey will definitely be some of the more affordable vehicles to insure for college grads.

Finding reliable, cheap insurance is tough enough, and figuring out which company has the cheapest insurance rates for college graduates will require even more rate comparisons. Each auto insurance company uses different criteria to establish rates, so first let’s look at the rankings for the lowest cost insurance companies in North Carolina.

It’s important that you understand North Carolina insurance rates are calculated based on many things which can substantially change the price you have to pay for coverage. That is why consumers need to compare rates when trying to get the best insurance rates for college graduates. Rates can be altered by many different factors and change dramatically, so the cheapest option the last time you checked may now be quite expensive.

Find the Cheapest Auto Insurance for Grads

Compare Rates Today

google.charts.setOnLoadCallback(drawNCT5qcibChart);function drawNCT5qcibChart() {var data = google.visualization.arrayToDataTable([[‘Company’, ‘Rate’, { role: ‘style’ }], [‘Progressive’, 639, ‘#F08550’], [‘Utica National’, 655, ‘#C86E42’], [‘Liberty Mutual’, 707, ‘#A65B37’], [‘NC Farm Bureau’, 709, ‘#8A4B2D’], [‘Penn National’, 717, ‘#733E25’]]);var options = {title: ‘Low-Cost Car Insurance Companies in North Carolina’,titleTextStyle: {color: ‘#333’, fontSize: 17, bold: true},width: ‘100%’,height: 300,’chartArea’: {left:0,top:50,’width’: ‘100%’, ‘height’: ‘70%’},bar: {groupWidth: “90%”},legend: {position: ‘none’},vAxis: {viewWindowMode:’explicit’,viewWindow:{max:817,min:0}}};var formatter = new google.visualization.NumberFormat({fractionDigits: 0,prefix: ‘$’});var view = new google.visualization.DataView(data);view.setColumns([0, 1,{ calc: “stringify”,sourceColumn: 1,type: “string”,role: “annotation” },2]);formatter.format(data,1);formatter.format(data,2);var chart = new google.visualization.ColumnChart(document.getElementById(‘qcibt5cic’));chart.draw(view, options);}

Progressive has some of the most affordable car insurance rates in North Carolina at around $639 each year. Utica National, Liberty Mutual, NC Farm Bureau, and Penn National also are some of the best North Carolina insurance companies.

As shown above, if you buy coverage from NC Farm Bureau and switched to Utica National, you might see an annual savings of approxmiately $54. Drivers with Penn National could save as much as $62 a year, and State Farm insureds might reduce rates by $94 a year.

Remember that these rates are averaged for all types of insureds and vehicles and do not factor in a rate discount for college graduates. So the insurer that can offer you the lowest price may not even be included in the rate chart shown above. That points out the importance of why you need to get rate quotes from many companies using your own driver data and vehicle information.

The diagram below shows how choosing a deductible can influence insurance costs when searching for cheap insurance for college graduates. The prices are based on a single male driver, full coverage, and no policy discounts are applied.

google.charts.setOnLoadCallback(drawDfdqcibChart);function drawDfdqcibChart() {var data = google.visualization.arrayToDataTable([[‘Age of Insured’, ‘$100 Deductible’,’$250 Deductible’,’$500 Deductible’,’$1,000 Deductible’],[‘Age 20’, 2449,2235,1999,1779],[‘Age 30’, 1279,1179,1061,945],[‘Age 40’, 1267,1161,1037,919],[‘Age 50’, 1151,1055,945,841],[‘Age 60’, 1113,1021,917,817],[‘Age 70’, 1347,1243,1125,1015]]);var options = {title: ‘Impact of Deductibles on Insurance Cost in North Carolina’,titleTextStyle: {color: ‘#333’,fontSize: 17,bold: true},width: ‘100%’,height: 700,’chartArea’: {left:100,top:50,’width’: ‘100%’,’height’: ‘80%’},legend: {position: ‘bottom’,textStyle: {fontSize: 12}},bar: {groupWidth: ‘80%’},colors: [‘#6791b9′,’#75a8d8′,’#98bee2′,’#bad4ec’],hAxis: {title: ‘Annual Auto Insurance Cost for Average Vehicle’,minValue: 0,format: ‘$###,###’},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);}

As shown above, a 30-year-old driver could lower rates by $230 a year by changing from a $100 deductible up to a $500 deductible, or save $348 by choosing a $1,000 deductible. Even younger drivers, such as the Age 20 example, could drop their prices as much as $670 or even more just by using higher deductibles.

If you do raise deductibles, it’s a good idea to have plenty of savings on hand to pay the extra out-of-pocket expense, which is the main inconvenience of larger deductibles.

Discounts on cheap car insurance for college graduates in North Carolina

Car insurance companies that provide coverage for college graduates may also offer discounts that could reduce prices by 25% or more if you meet certain criteria. A few of the larger companies and their offered discounts are detailed below.

• State Farm may have discounts that include defensive driving training, driver’s education, anti-theft, safe vehicle, and good student.
• American Family has discounts for mySafetyValet, bundled insurance, multi-vehicle, early bird, air bags, good student, and accident-free.
• GEICO includes discounts for defensive driver, air bags, multi-policy, membership and employees, multi-vehicle, daytime running lights, and federal employee.
• 21st Century has savings for theft prevention, driver training, defensive driver, automatic seat belts, 55 and older, student driver, and good student.
• Progressive discounts include continuous coverage, multi-vehicle, online signing, online quote discount, multi-policy, homeowner, and good student.

The illustration below illustrates the difference between auto insurance costs with and without discounts. The premium estimates are based on a male driver, no claims or driving violations, North Carolina state minimum liability limits, full physical damage coverage, and $250 deductibles.

The first bar for each age group shows insurance cost with no discounts. The second bar shows the rates with anti-theft, marriage, multiple policy, claim-free, accident-free, and defensive driving course discounts applied. When these discounts are applied to the policy premium, the average savings per year on insurance for college graduates is 27% or $361.

google.charts.setOnLoadCallback(drawDiscqcibChart);function drawDiscqcibChart() {var data = google.visualization.arrayToDataTable([[‘Age of Insured’, ‘Male Driver No Discounts’, ‘Male Driver with Discounts’],[‘Age 20’, 2235,1613],[‘Age 30’, 1179,861],[‘Age 40’, 1161,843],[‘Age 50’, 1055,769],[‘Age 60’, 1021,741],[‘Age 70’, 1243,899]]);var options = {title: ‘Insurance Rate Comparison with Discounts for College Graduates’,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 North Carolina’,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);}

State Farm, Geico, Progressive, and Allstate: Who is best?

When comparing rates for car insurance for college grads in North Carolina, four of the best places to start are State Farm, Geico, Progressive, and Allstate. The table below points out ratings for price and service, as well as some optional coverages that are available from each company.