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How many, how old and what type of vehicles? Are they used for commuting? How many miles? How many licensed drivers in your household and what are their ages? What are your coverages and deductibles? What is your Zip Code?
Going to depend highly on where you live, what type of car you drive, marital status, etc etc.
Last year, I moved 6 miles. The move alone dropped my car insurance from $1800/year to $900/year. All because I moved from a "bad" town, to a "good" town. Clean record and 34 years old as well.
I also shop around and have changed companies a few times. Sometimes the rate increases for no reason and I can find a better deal elsewhere.
Here in Florida even with perfect driving record and credit. A 6 month policy with say 25 50 coverages can be more than $1200. I gave up even looking for higher coverages here. It is really a shock when trsnsferring insurance to this state. Especially if one has and older car the insurance is outrageous. Consider yourself lucky if it's $1200 a year in Calif. There are reasons it's so high in Fla, and those reasons have other impacts on life here. I was fortunate that I can now buy USAA insurance, which gives me a more reasonable rate.
Theft, storm damage/natural disasters, frequency of accidents in your area, all sorts of factors. All a balancing act for them on premium collected vs payouts.
Just like car loans, your credit score is going to play a part too. It's quite possible to have an identical driving record, car, and policy levels as your neighbor across the street but still pay very different premiums.
Why is the cost so dependent on where you live? Is it because of theft in certain areas?
Like others have mentioned, information and data is like crack for these insurance companies. They try and use every little bit they can to not only cover their butts, but to get any little advantage they can and try and charge you as much as they can before you drop them.
Just look at all of the insurance companies allowing people to voluntarily (for now) put tracking devices into their vehicles for 3 or 6 months in order to possibly get "a discount". It's all about the info, where you live, type of car, number of violations, etc.! Best advice is to shop around, go to an independent agent and have them get quotes from numerous insurance companies and pick the one you like, but remember the cheapest, isn't always the best, especially if you have to file a claim.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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There are a lot of factors that go into car insurance premiums. Your location, and the crime/traffic there are one, but also, your driving record, make/model of car, your credit rating, your years with that company, other lines of insurance with that company, and whether there are other licensed drivers in the household. We have 3 vehicles, all with full coverage (2007-2014) and pay about $1,600/year total for all 3. We did find a significant rate decrease when we moved to WA from CA.
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