Age And How It Changes Your Car Insurance Rates
Have you ever wondered if age and car insurance rates were at all connected? If you suspected this was true, you're right. One of the many factors underwriters take into consideration when determining your risk factor, and consequently the car insurance rates the company will charge you, is your age. Why would age matter, you may wonder.
Age and car insurance rates are related because people in certain age brackets pose more of a risk to themselves and other drivers than people in other age demographics. Your level of risk is partially determined by the statistics surrounding car accidents involving people in your age group.
The Highest Risk Age Group
If you are aged sixteen to nineteen, you are at the highest risk of a car accident, and therefore will be charged by far the highest car insurance rates of any age bracket. On average, most sixteen to 19 year olds pay about $3,000 a year for a one-person policy with both property and bodily injury coverage. Why so high? Because teens are more reckless, less experienced and less mature than most other drivers on the road.
Next Highest Risk Age Group
No surprises here. If you are aged twenty to twenty-four, you're in the next highest car insurance rate category. A typical one-person policy with the same coverage listed above will cost you on average approximately $2,000 a year. That's a full thousand dollars less than the policy for teens. That's because statistics show drivers over age twenty are much safer drivers than teens.
What Happens When You Turn 25?
It's not as dramatic of a drop, but drivers aged twenty-five to sixty usually pay somewhere between $1,200 and $1,700 per year for that same one-person policy. Rates drop slightly as the years pass, but once you hit this age bracket, your rates will be determined more by your actual driving record than by your age group.
Who Gets The Lowest Car Insurance Rates?
Believe it or not, drivers aged sixty to seventy-four usually are charged the lowest rates. There must be something to be said for slow, careful, mature drivers, because insurance companies offer drivers in this age bracket (who have good driving records) rates somewhere around $1,200 for that same one-person policy.
Is Old Age Ever a Disadvantage?
Apparently it is. Once you hit age 75, car insurance rates jump up again.
Now that you understand how age and car insurance rates are related, you know there's not much you can do about it besides celebrate if you're in one of those lower risk demographics.
