Utah Car Insurance Rates
When shopping car insurance in Utah, it is important to price the cost for coverage with several different insurers so that you can find the best policy at the best price.
The average auto insurance expenditures in Utah are $712.79 per year, but consumers should not rely on this information to determine if a car insurance quote is fair or overpriced.
Rather than comparing your quotes to averages reported in the state, it is important to learn how Utah car insurance rates are determined.
Read on, and learn how your personal information can affect the base rate of insurance positively or negatively. And be sure to use the FREE comparison tool above to start searching for auto insurance policies.
How are insurance premiums calculated in Utah?
It is only natural to wonder why your insurance premiums are significantly higher than your sister's premiums. If you are comparing your Utah auto insurance declarations page with the declarations page of someone you know in the state, you cannot compare cost by simply looking at the coverage that you carry.
You have to understand how the industry works and how each company rating system is created before you can truly start comparing policies and quotations.
Auto insurance companies set their own unique rating systems in Utah, and they all use a risk based rating system to calculate premiums. Once a company establishes a base rate, they will then assign weight to specific types of risks to adjust the premiums based on their exposure to a claim that is presented by the household.
Your premiums will be higher or lower than the state average based on your personal factors and the risk that you present, not based on the base rate charged by the insurer.
How are Utah car insurance rates regulated?
The base rate and the other rating factors must all be approved by the Utah Insurance Department when the company is licensed to sell products in the state. The Department of Insurance, which is overseen by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, is the state's regulation agency that sets standards to protect consumers buying insurance.
If the regulation agency did not review ratings and oversee companies, companies could easily discriminate or deny claims without any right to.
Once approved, the company will give quotes, accept applications, and then underwrite the application to verify the information is correct. If the information provided is found to be inaccurate and you are misquoted, your rates may go up when the policy is issued.
This is completely legal in Utah based on Department standards as long as the misquote was not intentional.
What rating factors affect Utah car insurance premiums?
Your personal rating factors and the coverage that you select will affect the base rates that a company charges. You have no control over the base rates and the rating formula the company uses, but you can be an educated consumer by learning about the personal factors that can affect how much you pay for Utah car insurance.
Some personal factors cannot be changed, and others will change with time. Here is a list of the personal factors that may work for you or against you:
Your Age and Gender
Age and gender are two personal factors that cannot be changed but can dramatically impact your premiums in Utah. Risk ratings are all based on what the statistics say, and the statistics show that males and individuals who are young are more risky behind-the-wheel.
Age plays role in risk because mature drivers tend to get in less accidents than young drivers with less experience. Gender plays a role, because the statistics show that females typically have fewer minor accidents, serious accidents and DUIs than men. If you are a young male, you are technically in the most risky rating group that exists as far as age and gender is concerned.
Driving Experience
Not only does your age affect your premium, so does the number of years you have been licensed. Just because you are 25 years of age does not mean that you have been driving for 9 years. Some individuals do not test to earn their driving privileges in Utah until later in life.
Most companies will offer credits for individuals who have several years of driving experience because they statistically are better drivers. If you are a youthful or inexperienced driver, it is important to look for Good Student discounts or discounts for taking voluntary driver education courses so that you can get discounts to lower your high rating.
If you earned a driver license in a state other than Utah, be sure to tell your insurer so that you can receive the credits that you deserve.
Driving Record and Claims History
Perhaps the most well known rating factor is the driving record. This is a major reason why so many drivers in Utah strive to keep their records clean by driving safe and taking traffic courses to erase tickets off of their records.
While a moving violation does not cost an auto insurer money, statistics show that someone with a moving violation is more likely to file a claim than someone with no convictions.
Your claims history can also affect your premiums. While not-at-fault accidents and comprehensive claims will not affect your premiums, you can be surcharged a specific percentage when you file an at-fault claim. A chargeable claim must be above $750 before it will affect your rates, but any at-fault accident can affect your accident-free discounts. You can be surcharged for any chargeable for accidents for 3 years.
If you do not know if anything is on your record, you should check before requesting quotes. You can request a driver abstract through the Department of Motor Vehicles if you are unsure of your driving record. You can also request a Letter of Experience or Claims History Letter through your current insurer to see if you have any chargeable claims within the last 36 months.
Vehicle Type of Features
You will pay much less for your insurance if you are insuring a safe car. If you already own a vehicle, the company will use its VIN to locate its classification.
A vehicle's classification will use its crash worthiness, safety record, structural design details, size and weight to determine how much to charge. If you are shopping for a new car, you should always check the classification of a vehicle first. Premiums are not based on the value of cars but rather their safety standards.
You may receive credits if the car has specific safety features like anti-lock breaks, dual airbags or special restraint systems.
How the Vehicle is Used and How Often It Is Used
If you drive around town to run errands, you will pay lower rates than someone who primarily uses their vehicle to commute to and from work. How your vehicle is used and how often are two questions you will be asked. There are three usage classifications: pleasure, commute and business. Pleasure users pay the lowest rates and business users pay the highest. This is because use can affect your stress levels and raise accident exposure.
Another factor that raises a driver's exposure to accidents is how often they drive. This is why an agent will ask you how many miles you drive per week, month or year on average. This may be an estimate or a prediction, but it is an estimate that can affect your future Utah car insurance rates.
There are typically three different rating bands or brackets: low mileage, average mileage and high mileage. If you qualify for low mileage ratings, you can receive credits or discounts off of your premiums because you are a lower risk than people who are on the road more often. The more you drive, the more you pay.
Geographical Area
Your region or territory can also affect your rates. There are base rates in Utah, and then there are geographic areas where the premiums in Utah are higher than average. The increased premiums are higher in some zip codes because there are more accidents and auto thefts in the area.
Metropolitan areas tend to have higher premiums because the rates of auto thefts in metropolitan areas are higher than the rates of theft in the suburbs. If you live in a highly populated area with a high claims index, it is normal for your rates to be higher than average.
If you would like to save money on your car insurance, it is important to comparison shop in Utah to select the best insurer. When you do this, you can see which rating system is designed to target Utah residents in your targeted niche. Some companies want to attract risky drivers and others prefer experienced drivers with clean driving records.
By shopping around, you can narrow down the long list of options available to you. Use the FREE tool that gives you access to the rates of several different Utah insurers, and save money from your own home.