What Auto Insurance is Cheapest for State Employees in Durham?

Wouldn’t it be great if we could just tell you the best company in Durham that has the best auto insurance prices for state employees? It’s not that easy, however, as there are many unknowns such as the safety ratings of your vehicle, your financial stability, whether you are male or female, and your marital status. This article will discuss the different ways to avoid overpaying and also should give you a jump start in finding the best auto insurance in Durham.

For state workers, one of the largest things that determine insurance cost is where you keep your car in Durham. Cities with larger populations or higher claim trends tend to pay more, whereas areas with less crime or weather claims benefit from lower coverage costs.

The illustration below rates the most expensive areas in North Carolina for state employees in which to buy car insurance. Durham is listed at #5 with an annual cost of $797 for the average insurance policy, which is approximately $66 per month.

Information shown are approximated as vehicle location can influence prices substantially.

Finding low-cost auto insurance is not the easiest thing to accomplish, and finding out which insurers offer the most affordable car insurance rates for state employees calls for even more work. Each auto insurance company uses their own calculation to determine premium rates, so we need to take a look at the car insurance companies that tend to be cheaper in Durham, NC.

We do need to point out that Durham car insurance rates are calculated based on many things which can substantially decrease or increase your annual premium. This is why it is critical to take the time to shop around to get affordable insurance rates for state employees. Insurance rates are influenced by many things and change substantially, so the most economical option a year ago may now be an over-priced policy.

Best Insurance Companies in North Carolina

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Progressive offers some of the cheapest car insurance rates in Durham at around $632 each year. Utica National, Liberty Mutual, NC Farm Bureau, and Titan also qualify as some of the best Durham, NC car insurance companies.

In the above rates, if you currently have coverage with Titan and switched to Utica National, you could earn yearly savings of around $94. Customers with GEICO might save as much as $99 a year, and Penn National policyholders might cut rates by $104 a year.

To discover how much you can save, click here to get quotes or quote rates from the companies below.

Be aware that those premiums are averages across all drivers and vehicles in North Carolina and are not factoring in an exact zip code location for state employees. So the car insurance company that has the lowest price for you may not even be in the list above. That point stresses why you need to get quotes using your own specific driver and vehicle information.

The vehicle that is being insured is probably the most important factor when comparing quotes for the lowest-priced car insurance for state employees. Vehicles with more horsepower, a lack of safety features, or high incidents of liability claims will cost substantially more to insure than more economical and safe models. The information below shows car insurance rates for some of the most affordable automobiles to insure.

Table data represents single male driver age 40, no speeding tickets, no at-fault accidents, $1,000 deductibles, and North Carolina minimum liability limits. Discounts applied include multi-policy, safe-driver, claim-free, multi-vehicle, and homeowner. Premium amounts do not factor in specific location which can affect prices significantly.

Based upon these rates, we can infer that makes and models like the Ford Escape, Jeep Wrangler, and Toyota Prius will be some of the more affordable vehicles to insure for state workers.

Cost comparison with and without full coverage

Saving money when shopping for car insurance is important to most drivers, and one of the best ways to find cheap insurance for state employees is to buy liability only. The information below shows the difference between auto insurance rates when comparing full coverage to liability only. The prices are based on no claims, a clean driving record, $100 deductibles, drivers are single, and no discounts are taken into consideration.

On average, full coverage costs an additional $1,596 per year over and above liability only. Many people question if physical damage coverage is worth the money. There is no clear-cut formula of when to drop full coverage on your policy, but there is a general guideline you can use. If the annual cost of comprehensive and collision coverage is more than 10% of the replacement cost of your vehicle minus the policy deductible, then it may be the right time to buy liability only.

For example, let’s say your vehicle’s claim settlement value is $5,000 and you have $1,000 full coverage deductibles. If your vehicle is totaled in an accident, the most you would receive is $4,000 after paying the physical damage deductible. If you are currently paying more than $400 annually to have full coverage, then you might want to think about dropping full coverage.

There are a few situations where dropping full coverage is not advised. If you haven’t satisfied your loan, you have to keep full coverage as part of the loan conditions. Also, if your savings is not enough to buy a different vehicle in the even your car is totaled, you should keep full coverage on your policy.

Get discounts on Durham insurance

Auto insurance companies that offer coverage for state employees may also offer special discounts that can lower rates by as much as 35% if you can meet the requirements. A few of the larger companies and some of the premium reductions they offer are outlined below.

• GEICO has discounts for membership and employees, defensive driver, federal employee, emergency military deployment, daytime running lights, and good student.
• SAFECO offers discounts for teen safety rewards, anti-lock brakes, homeowner, safe driver, multi-car, drive less, and bundle discounts.
• State Farm may offer discounts for passive restraint, good driver, multiple autos, multiple policy, and anti-theft.
• MetLife may have discounts that include accident-free, multi-policy, defensive driver, good student, good driver, and claim-free.
• 21st Century includes discounts for student driver, automatic seat belts, 55 and older, teen driver, theft prevention, air bags, and anti-lock brakes.
• Progressive offers premium reductions for multi-policy, good student, multi-vehicle, homeowner, online quote discount, and continuous coverage.

The chart below shows the comparison of insurance costs with and without discounts applied to the premium. The premiums are based on a female driver, no claims or violations, North Carolina state minimum liability limits, full coverage, and $100 deductibles. The first bar for each age group shows the average annual price with no discounts. The lower bar shows the rates with passive restraint, vehicle safety, defensive driving course, multiple policy, homeowner, and anti-theft discounts applied. In this example, the average savings per year on car insurance for state employees is 27% or $413.

Last year’s bargain might be this year’s rip off

North Carolina car insurance rates are impacted by many factors which can significantly increase or decrease the cost of a policy. Improving your credit rating, becoming a homeowner, or getting a driving violation can produce rate changes resulting in some companies being much cheaper than others.

And not only may your rating factors change, but auto insurance companies amend pricing as needed in order to maintain liquidity for claims. A period of higher than normal claims can result in high rates, while a better loss history can produce cheaper Durham car insurance rates.

For instance, the data below compares the cheapest car insurance in Durham, NC for a 30-year-old female driver with no accidents or violations, and a decent credit rating. When quoting prices based on her current risk factors, Utica National may have the most affordable car insurance rates in Durham at $744 each year. This is $128 less than the average price paid by North Carolina drivers of $872. Progressive, NC Farm Bureau, Liberty Mutual, and GEICO are the rest of the most affordable Durham, NC auto insurance companies.

Now we will pretend the driver from the first set of rates a claim, a lower credit rating, and a couple of points charged on her driving record. Since each insurance company has their own process for establishing rates, analyzing rate quotes could result in a different ranking of affordable companies as shown below.

Penn National now has the lowest car insurance rate in Durham with State Farm, Auto-Owners, Progressive, and Allied now rounding out the top five. This example shows why North Carolina drivers need to compare as many rates as possible when trying to find the most budget-friendly car insurance quotes for state employees.

Car insurance prices can be altered by many different factors and can decrease or increase without notice, so the most economical company a year ago may now be priced much higher than other options.