Who Has Affordable Seattle Auto Insurance for 17 Year Olds?

The words “affordable” and “insurance” probably shouldn’t be used in the same sentence, specifically when you are searching for the best car insurance for 17 year olds. In an attempt to save some money, let’s lead off by showing you some things the can have a considerable influence on insurance rates, and come up with some ways to shave a little off the next policy you buy.

The car, truck, or SUV you are insuring is one of the main factors when comparing the most economical coverage for 17 year olds. Vehicles with reasonable performance levels, advanced safety features, or a low likelihood of liability claims will cost much less to insure than adrenaline junky models.

The next list presents auto insurance costs for some of the cheaper automobiles to buy coverage for.

Premium data assumes single female driver age 17, no speeding tickets, no at-fault accidents, $1,000 deductibles, and Washington minimum liability limits. Discounts applied include safe-driver, and claim-free. Price estimates do not factor in vehicle location which can alter coverage rates substantially.

Based on these rates, we can conclude that models like the Honda CR-V, Ford Escape, Toyota Prius, and Jeep Wrangler are most likely going to be some of the cheapest vehicles to insure for teen drivers. Car insurance rates will tend to be more expensive because there is more liability exposure for 17 year olds, but in general those specific models will probably have the best rates compared to all other vehicles.

Figuring out which companies quote the lowest-priced auto insurance rates for 17 year olds requires a bit more work in order to find the best price. Every car insurance company uses a different method for filing rates in each state, so let’s take a look at the auto insurance companies that tend to have lower prices in Seattle.

Best Cheap Insurance Rates for Teens

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Capital normally has some of the best car insurance rates in Seattle at around $784 per year. This is $628 less than the average policy premium paid by Washington drivers of $1,412. Grange, Nationwide, PEMCO, and Travelers also qualify as some of the cheaper Seattle, WA car insurance companies.

In this example, if you are currently insured with PEMCO and switched to Grange, you might realize savings of about $172. Insureds with Travelers could save as much as $186 a year, and Mutual Enumclaw insureds might lower prices by $232 a year.

These prices are averages across all drivers and vehicles in Washington and are not factoring in an exact vehicle garaging location for 17 year olds. So the auto insurance company that has the lowest price for you may not even be in the top 25 companies in the list above. That points out the importance of why you need to compare rates from multiple companies using your own personal information and vehicle type.

One of the many considerations that are looked at to help calculate the price you pay for insurance is where you live. Regions with more people or even just more weather-related claims likely pay more, whereas areas with less crime or weather claims have the luxury of lower rates.

The illustration below sorts the most expensive cities in Washington for 17 year olds to purchase car insurance in. Seattle is ranked at #6 with the yearly price of $1,363 for the average insured, which is about $114 monthly.

Price information shown is comparative as the specific zip code location can affect premiums greatly.

Drive safe and save

In a perfect world, the ideal way to maintain the cheapest auto insurance rates for teen drivers is to drive carefully and not receive tickets or have accidents. The illustration below illustrates how traffic citations and at-fault claims drive up premium costs for each age group. The costs are based on a married female driver, comp and collision included, $250 deductibles, and no policy discounts are applied.

The chart shows that the average cost of an auto insurance policy in Washington per year with no accidents and a clean driving record is $1,200. Get written up for two speeding tickets and the average cost hikes up to $1,702, an increase of $502 each year. Now throw in two accidents along with the two speeding tickets and the annual cost of auto insurance for 17 year olds increases to an average of $3,551. That’s an increase of $2,352, or $196 per month, just for not maintaining a clean driving record!

Get discount Seattle insurance

Car insurance companies that offer quotes for 17 year olds may also offer rate discounts that could potentially reduce rates by 40% or more if you meet eligibility requirements. Companies and the discounts they provide are included below.

• The Hartford has discounts for good student, driver training, defensive driver, anti-theft, air bag, and bundle.
• American Family has savings for defensive driver, early bird, accident-free, Steer into Savings, air bags, and mySafetyValet.
• Progressive may have discounts that include multi-policy, online quote discount, continuous coverage, online signing, and multi-vehicle.
• Travelers may include discounts for good student, IntelliDrive, multi-policy, driver training, payment discounts, and hybrid/electric vehicle.
• Farmers Insurance offers discounts including switch companies, pay in full, business and professional, mature driver, and alternative fuel.
• USAA policyholders can earn discounts including vehicle storage, family discount, military installation, safe driver, loyalty savings, and defensive driver.
• Liberty Mutual offers premium reductions for hybrid vehicle, teen driver discount, newly retired, good student, preferred payment discount, and multi-policy.

The diagram below shows the comparison of insurance prices with and without discounts applied to the policy premium. The prices are based on a female driver, no accidents or driving violations, Washington state minimum liability limits, full coverage, and $250 deductibles.

The first bar for each age group shows premium with no discounts. The second bar shows the rates with continuous coverage, passive restraint, good student, anti-theft, paperless filing, and vehicle safety discounts applied. When discounts are factored in, theaverage amount saved on auto insurance for 17 year olds is 28% or $690.

Your low-price policy may be costing you money

Seattle auto insurance rates are based on many factors which can significantly increase or decrease the price of coverage. Simply having another birthday, marrying your spouse, or getting a DUI can produce rate changes that can now make some companies more affordable than the competition.

Not only may things change on your end, but insurers file new rates every year in order to remain profitable. Heavy losses may cause additional premium costs, while lower claims can result in lower-priced Seattle car insurance rates.

For example, the bar chart below shows the companies that have the cheapest car insurance in Seattle, WA for a 30-year-old female driver with no prior accidents, a clean driving record, and good credit. If we compare prices based on her current situation, Capital offers the most affordable car insurance rates in Seattle at $1,088 a year. This is $324 less than the average price paid by Washington drivers of $1,412. Grange, Nationwide, PEMCO, and Mutual Enumclaw are the remaining cheapest Seattle, WA auto insurance companies.

In the next rate comparison, we’ll give the driver from above a couple of claims, slightly worse credit, and a few traffic violations. Since each company uses their own method to determining premium rates, comparing rates most likely will result in a different list of affordable Seattle car insurance companies as shown below.

The Hartford now has the cheapest rate in Seattle with California Casualty, USAA, Chubb, and State Farm also being competitive. This example shows why it is critical to compare lots of rates to get affordable auto insurance quotes for 17 year olds.

Rates can be altered by many factors and can decrease or increase without notice, so the cheapest option a year ago may now be wasting a lot of money.

If you like to have some professional guidance when shopping around for cheaper insurance for teen drivers, the agents below are a good start to help you determine which is the best policy.

To find a Seattle insurance agency close to where you live, click the button at the bottom of the list or click here to compare prices now.

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