Here are some of the considerations insurance providers use to determine the rate that you’ll pay if you choose to buy insurance from them:
Location
The location where drivers will spend most of their time on the road matters to insurance companies. For example, drivers in metro areas have more opportunities for accidents because of congested roads.
Age
Certain age groups tend to carry more risk than others. New drivers aged 16-18 are considered the riskiest due to the number of accidents they’re involved in annually. As drivers get older, their rates get cheaper unless other factors come into play.
Gender
Males are involved in more accidents annually than females. While this may seem unfair in a case-by-case evaluation, insurance companies use these factors to create a risk profile for any given driver.
Driving Experience
The years that a driver has been licensed and the number of accidents they have been involved in have a major weight when it comes to car insurance rates. While age can provide a general guideline to the amount of risk a driver presents, a 25-year-old driver who has only been on the road for a few years is considered riskier than say, a 19-year-old driver with three years of experience.
Credit History
Auto insurers tend to lend credibility to the idea that if you’re risky with your finances, you’ll be risky to insure. Credit score and insurance rates are inversely related, assuming other factors are equal.
Claims History and Driving Record
The only difference between a driving record and claims history is that a driver occasionally shows up in claims reports for accidents that aren’t on their driving record. For the most part, these factors are parallel, but they both affect the risk profile created by the auto insurance companies in a big way.
Factors Unique to Your Vehicle
Insurance providers also take into account factors unique to the vehicle you’re registered with, factors like make and model (some cars are more accident-prone than others) and the amount/distance that you drive on a regular basis.
When you apply for auto insurance in O’Fallon, IL, insurance companies will take all of these factors into consideration and base their insurance quotes on your unique risk profile.