Who Has Cheap Car Insurance Rates for Low Income Drivers in Chicago?

The car, truck, or SUV you are insuring is one of the main factors in finding cheaper insurance for low income drivers. Vehicles with limited speed and performance, good safety features, or a low likelihood of liability claims will cost substantially less to insure than higher performance models. The table below illustrates insurance premiums for a handful of the more affordable vehicles to buy insurance for.

Prices based on single male driver age 50, no speeding tickets, no at-fault accidents, $1,000 deductibles, and Illinois minimum liability limits. Discounts applied include homeowner, claim-free, safe-driver, multi-vehicle, and multi-policy. Price information does not factor in garaging location in Chicago, IL which can decrease or increase auto insurance rates substantially.

Looking at the data, we can expect vehicles like the Ford Escape, Honda Odyssey, Toyota Prius, Honda CR-V, and Ford Explorer are going to be a few of the most economical vehicles to insure for poor drivers.

For poor drivers, one of the big components that help determine the price you pay for insurance is where your car is garaged in Chicago. Areas with more people or even just a higher incidence of claims will most likely pay more, whereas more rural areas can boast about having cheaper rates.

The illustration below lists the highest-priced areas in Illinois for low income drivers to buy car insurance in. Chicago is listed at #2 with a yearly cost of $1,529 for the average insurance policy, which is about $127 each month.

Rate quotes are approximated as the specific zip code location can affect premiums noticeably.

Full coverage versus liability only rates

Paying a lower price for auto insurance is probably important to most vehicle owners, and one of the fastest ways to save on the cost of insurance for low income drivers is to not pay for full coverage. The illustration below shows the difference between auto insurance costs with and without physical damage coverage, medical payments, and uninsured/under-insured motorist coverage. The costs are based on no claims, a clean driving record, $500 deductibles, drivers are not married, and no discounts are factored in.

If averaged for all ages, comprehensive and collision coverage on your policy costs an additional $1,674 per year more than buying just liability insurance. That is a large expense and it proposes the question if physical damage coverage is worth the money. There is no set guideline for phasing out full coverage, but there is a general school of thought. If the annual cost of having full coverage is about 10% or more of replacement cost minus your deductible, then you may want to consider only buying liability coverage.

For example, let's say your vehicle's claim settlement value is $10,500 and you have $1,000 policy deductibles. If your vehicle is severely damaged, the most you would receive is $9,500 after paying the physical damage deductible. If premiums are more than $950 a year for physical damage coverage, then you might want to consider buying only liability coverage.

The chart below demonstrates how choosing different deductibles can change premium costs when getting quotes for cheap insurance for low income drivers. The premiums assume a single female driver, comprehensive and collision coverage, and no other discounts are factored in.

The data above shows that a 30-year-old driver could reduce rates by $322 a year by changing their physical damage coverage from a $100 deductible up to a $500 deductible, or save $484 by using a $1,000 deductible. Young drivers, like the 20-year-old example, could reduce their rates as much as $718 every year by choosing a higher deductible.

If you do raise deductibles, it is a good idea to have enough funds in savings to pay the extra out-of-pocket expense, which is the primary disadvantage of high deductibles.

Chances are good that you're overpaying for Chicago car insurance

Chicago auto insurance rates are based on many factors that may substantially change the price you pay. Improving your credit score, buying a different home, or having an accident can produce rate changes that can cause some rates to be cheaper than before.

Not only may your risk profile change, but insurers change their prices every year in order to protect their financial rating. An extended period of higher than normal claims may result in rate increases, while lower claim levels may result in more affordable Chicago car insurance rates.

The graph below compares the cheapest car insurance in Chicago, IL for a 30-year-old female driver with a good driving record, no prior claims, and excellent credit. If we estimate rates based on her current rating profile, The Hartford might offer the lowest car insurance rates in Chicago at $1,187 a year. This is $162 less than the average price paid by Illinois drivers of $1,349. Rockford Mutual, Titan, Erie, and Cincinnati Insurance are the rest of the best Chicago, IL auto insurance companies.

The next chart shows rates after we give the driver from the first set of rates some claims, less-than-perfect credit, and a speeding citation. Due to the fact that every auto insurer uses their own method to determining premium rates, comparing prices most likely will result in a different set of cheap Chicago auto insurance companies as shown below.

USAA now has the cheapest rate in Chicago with Travelers, State Farm, SECURA, and Auto-Owners also having competitive pricing. This shows why Chicago drivers need to spend some time comparing rates when trying to get cheap car insurance quotes for low income drivers.

Car insurance prices are influenced by many things and can change substantially, so the best price the last time you shopped your coverage around may now be quite expensive.