Car insurance may be really cheap or very expensive, and at times, it may seem like a small thing is able to make a great difference in a premium cost. The auto insurance premium holds a national average of $927.58 per year. If an individual is lucky enough to reside in one of the 10 states of the U.S. in the following slideshow, then they are enjoying the cheapest insurance premiums facilities and services in the country. The factors which make a state to have cheaper car insurance premiums include; the number large of urban areas in the state which in turn account for generally lighter traffic flow, a low percentage of uninsured drivers. Even one’s credit history may make the insurance of one’s car more expensive. In some states insurance matters more than in other states. However, before shopping around for the rates of car insurance, it might be greatly helpful to be knowledgeable of the standings of personal credit. Unless one looks at credit reports, they will not know if any errors are dragging down their scores or even if there are small things that can be fixed in order to improve the scores in the short-term. The following list shows the 10 states with the cheapest car insurance programs in the US.
10. Arizona
The average annual Premium for Arizona is $1,227. The state has an average commuting distance of 12 miles to work every day. The policy limits are set at $100,000 for the injury liability for a single person, and $300,000 for all injuries, and also $50,000 for property damage. These rates are available assuming that the driver has a clean record as well as a good credit score and also includes the uninsured motorist coverage that has a $500 deductible in case of a collision as well as comprehensive coverage.
9. Washington
Washington State features an average annual premium of $1,226 which is good enough to appear in this list of states with the cheapest insurance. The population of Washington is just over 7 million, though about 60 percent of the residents live in the Seattle metropolitan area. The state is one of the main producers of the lumber supplies for the country. Washington is a home to the biggest ferry system in the country as well.
8. Indiana
Indiana has an average premium of $1,183 per year. It has a population of over 6.5 million, while the automotive fanatics certainly know it for the famous Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400 races. It includes 4 major cities with over 100,000 residents in each: The cities are Indianapolis, Fort Wayn, Evansville and the South Bend.
7. Vermont
The annual insurance premium of Vermont is $1,176. Vermont is known as the 2nd least populated state in the U.S. with resident numbers only reaching slightly over 620,000. The state is popular for its maple syrup production and is known as the’Green Mountain State’. Its capital, Montpelier, is a home to under only 8,000 people which makes it the state capital with the smallest population in the whole country. The lack of traffic and therefore accidents means that car insurance premiums are incredibly low here!
6. Idaho
The state of Idaho has a average annual insurance premium of $1,133. It has a population close to 1.6 million people with the biggest city being Boise, its capital. Idaho is certainly well known in the United States for its production of potatoes, which means it is often termed the “Potato State”. It is among the few states in the country that lacks a major freeway linking its 2 biggest metropolitan areas; Coeur d’Alene and Boise. Without a freeway, speed limits within the state are much lower than other states and there are therefore a lot fewer speed-related accidents meaning that insurance policies are much lower.
5. New Hampshire
With roughly over 1.3-million residents living in New Hampshire, the rates of insurance are relatively cheap at an average premium of $1,112 per year. New Hampshire is the 5th smallest state in the country and features a well-maintained and well-signed highway network. The state has eleven public transit authorities which operate the local and the regional bus services in the state – with this level of catering for public transit, more people are encouraged to commute to work rather than drive. This lowers the average of accidents considerably, and therefore insurance policies follow suit.
4. Ohio
The state of Ohio has an average insurance premium of $1,106 per annum. The state is ranked as number 7 in the most populated states in America with more than 11.5-million people residing in the state. The major cities of Ohio include; Akron and also Canton which is a home to the Pro Football Hall of Fame and Columbus, its capital, where Ohio State University is situated. For the automotive fanatics, Ohio is has a 228-mile Historic National Road which is currently known as the U.S. Route 40.
3. North Carolina
North Carolina Features an average premium of $1,085 annually. It has a population of over 9.75 million. The state has 100 counties with the largest city being Charlotte. North Carolina features the second biggest state highway in the U.S. as well as the largest ferry system found on the eastern coast. The state has been awarded in the past for having the cleanest public spaces and highways in the US.
2. Iowa
Iowa lands 2nd place in the US with an average annual insurance premium cost of $1,028. It is mostly a rural state and the biggest city is Des Moines. The city has a population of nearly 200,000. The state mostly features small towns which are located throughout. The residents often joke that they would probably know someone if they were to accidentally hit them with their car and are therefore less likely to sue each other over accidents! With a population of just over 3 million people, it seems unlikely that residents know everyone, but all the same, their unwillingness to sue each other means that their premiums are much lower than most of the country!
1. Maine
It has been termed the cheapest state in the US in terms of car insurance. Maine has an average insurance premium of only $934 per year. One of the major factors to the low insurance rates of Maine is because of it being very rural with very few people driving in the city. Other factors that contribute to these cheap premiums of insurance are the tight restrictions of the state on their young drivers and the graduated licensing program in the state – those under 18 have restrictions on when they can drive and who they can transport in their cars and there is zero tolerance for driving after consuming alcohol for those under 21. The rules seem to work though as Maine’s 1.3 million residents enjoy the smallest premiums in the entire country!
Featured Image: depositphotos/monkeybusiness
