You’ve seen the captivating commercials from auto insurance companies like The General, Progressive, and Liberty Mutual that make promises of huge savings, so drivers should just pick the company with the catchiest ad, right?
It’s just not that easy, however, as there are a ton of unknowns such as the miles you drive each year, whether you are a man or a woman, and your prior traffic citations. This article will detail the causes of high insurance rates and will hopefully give the reader a good start to your coverage search.
Deciphering which companies offer the cheapest insurance rates for good students calls for a little more sweat in order to find the most economical policy. Each insurance company has a proprietary formula for determining rates, so to begin we’ll rank the insurance companies with the overall best prices in Vermont.
It’s important to understand that Vermont insurance rates are calculated based on many things that can increase the cost of having a policy. Simply having a birthday, having a teenage driver, or getting a speeding ticket may prompt premium changes that may make certain companies more affordable than the competition.
Cheap Insurance Rates for Students
Rank | Company | Cost Per Year |
---|---|---|
1 | Safeco | $463 |
2 | California Casualty | $514 |
3 | USAA | $626 |
4 | The Hartford | $627 |
5 | Travelers | $736 |
6 | Unitrin | $738 |
7 | Co-Operative Insurance | $791 |
8 | GEICO | $883 |
9 | Concord | $891 |
10 | MMG Insurance | $1,032 |
11 | MetLife | $1,084 |
12 | National Grange Mutual | $1,168 |
13 | Progressive | $1,199 |
14 | Nationwide | $1,200 |
15 | State Farm | $1,263 |
16 | Liberty Mutual | $1,380 |
17 | Allstate | $1,536 |
18 | Vermont Mutual | $1,564 |
19 | Sentry | $1,902 |
20 | Union Mutual | $1,997 |
Find Your Rate Go |
Safeco may offer some of the lowest car insurance rates in Vermont at around $463 per year. California Casualty, USAA, The Hartford, and Travelers would also be considered some of the cheapest Vermont auto insurance companies.
In the above rates, if you have coverage with The Hartford and switched to Safeco, you may realize savings of upwards of $164. Insureds with Travelers might save as much as $273 a year, and Unitrin insureds might lower prices by $275 a year.
These estimates are averages for all drivers and vehicles and do not take into consideration a price discount for good students. So the insurer that can offer you the lowest price may not even be in the rate chart shown above. That underscores the importance of why you need to get rate quotes using your own personalized driver profile and vehicle information.
One of the key criteria that is looked at to help calculate the amount you pay each year for auto insurance is where you call home in Vermont. More densely populated places like Newport, Manchester Center, and Swanton are more likely to pay higher prices, whereas areas that tend to be more rural have the benefit of cheaper auto insurance prices.
The next table sorts the highest-priced areas in Vermont for good students to buy car insurance in.
Rank | City | Annual Rate |
---|---|---|
1 | Newport | $1,041 |
2 | West Brattleboro | $1,025 |
3 | Manchester Center | $1,024 |
4 | Bennington | $1,011 |
5 | Swanton | $1,010 |
6 | Saint Johnsbury | $1,009 |
7 | Springfield | $1,008 |
8 | Saint Albans | $1,006 |
9 | Northfield | $1,006 |
10 | Bellows Falls | $1,001 |
11 | Brattleboro | $993 |
12 | White River Junction | $986 |
13 | Bristol | $985 |
14 | Vergennes | $976 |
15 | Middlebury | $970 |
16 | South Burlington | $969 |
17 | Montpelier | $968 |
18 | Rutland | $964 |
19 | Fair Haven | $962 |
20 | Barre | $956 |
Start a Quote Go |
Premium amounts are estimated as the garaging address in Vermont can affect auto insurance rates significantly.
The recommended way to enjoy low insurance prices for student drivers is to drive carefully and avoid accidents and keep your driving record clean. The example below shows how violations and at-fault accidents can drive up car insurance rates for different age categories. The rates are based on a single female driver, comp and collision included, $1,000 deductibles, and no discounts are applied to the premium.
google.charts.setOnLoadCallback(drawVioqcibChart);function drawVioqcibChart() {var data = google.visualization.arrayToDataTable([[‘Age of Insured’, ‘No Violations or Accidents’, ‘Two Speeding Tickets and No Accidents’, ‘Two Speeding Tickets and One Accident’],[‘Age 20’, 1931,2359,2797],[‘Age 30’, 1301,1731,2167],[‘Age 40’, 1217,1647,2085],[‘Age 50’, 1069,1493,1931],[‘Age 60’, 1031,1461,1899],[‘Age 70’, 1219,1649,2087]]);var options = {title: ‘Violations, Accidents, and Vermont Insurance Premiums’,titleTextStyle: {color: ‘#333’, fontSize: 17, bold: true},width: ‘100%’,height: 600,’chartArea’: {left:100,top:50,’width’: ‘100%’, ‘height’: ‘70%’},legend: {position: ‘bottom’,textStyle: {fontSize: 12}},colors:[‘#b2da64′,’#eed355′,’#e39e71’],hAxis: {title: ‘Annual Auto Insurance Cost for Average Vehicle in Vermont’,minValue: 0,format: ‘$###,###’},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 above shows the average cost of car insurance in Vermont per year with no accidents and a clean driving record is $1,295. Receive two speeding tickets and the average cost hikes up to $1,723, an increase of $429 each year. Now include one accident along with the two speeding tickets and the annual cost of insurance for good students jumps again to an average of $2,161. That’s an increase of $866, or $72 per month, just for being a less-than-perfect driver!
Below you’ll find some of the better money-saving ideas that can help drivers locate cheap coverage.
That final tip is extremely important, as we pointed out in the article above. Prices charged by auto insurers in Vermont can change considerably based on profitability, so drivers shouldn’t be resistant to buy a policy from a new company if a lower-cost policy is available.
We understand brand loyalty, but is isn’t recommended if that inflexibility results in costing you lots of money. Take a couple minutes and compare prices and find cheaper auto insurance for good students.
There are many different ways to compare insurance quotes in Vermont, but the most common methods are using an independent or non-exclusive agent, an exclusive insurance agency such as Liberty Mutual or Allstate, or from a direct company like Geico.
They all follow the same basic process, but they are slightly different in how they price policies.
Independent insurance agencies are appointed by several companies and can get rate quotes from every one. These agents are not employed by one specific company and can provide you with more rates, which may provide you with the best chance of saving money. If premiums increase, the agent simply finds a different carrier which prevents you from having to find a new agency.
An agent who is captive is only able to place business with one company, two of the more popular are an Auto-Owners or Allstate agent. Exclusive agents cannot shop your coverage around, so if finding the cheapest coverage is your goal, you will need to shop around.
The final way is buying direct, which means you forego a local agent and instead buy from a direct company like Esurance. This insurance option is a good choice for drivers who do not have a lot of assets and know the limitations of insurance.
So what is the best way to find the cheapest auto insurance for good students in Vermont? It would be premature to say buying from a direct company results in the cheapest price because there is no agent taking a commission, but unfortunately, that is not always true. A valid argument could also be made that an independent agency is the best way to save because you have more choices, but that idea is not necessarily true either. In many circumstances, exclusive agents have really good rates that cannot be met by either independent or direct companies.
Since insurance rates vary so much, really the best method to get the cheapest rates is to compare rate quotes from as many companies as possible. To find the best rates, be sure to get prices from all three to get an idea of which is cheapest. For a list of companies with online discounts, click here to view.