Car insurance. You can either get a reasonable rate, or it can burn a hole in your wallet.
The average premium for car insurance in Illinois is $662 per year. But the question is, what factors go into that?
What is the coverage that you absolutely cannot avoid paying?
This is your guide.
Contents
Clean Record
This is the first major factor to having a reasonable car insurance premium. It makes sense because insurance companies would be less likely to see you as a risk to file a claim.
Drivers can save about 40% on Illinois car insurance by keeping their records clean. An accident, especially multiple accidents, will raise the rate. If you have something like a DUI pop up, then your rates will go even higher.
But, there can also be other instances like getting a moving violation or reckless driving that can raise your insurance rates as well.
Mandatory Coverage
When it comes to car insurance rates in Illinois, there are just some minimum standards that cannot avoid being paid.
In Illinois, that comes down to three different things. Those are bodily injury liability, property damage liability, and uninsured motorist bodily injury.
Bodily injury and uninsured motorist bodily injury both have the same amount for minimum coverage, which is either $25,000 per body or $50,000 per accident. As for property damage, the minimum coverage you need to have there is $20,000.
So, when it comes to shopping for Illinois car insurance, you are not going to escape having to pay those costs.
Other Factors
Besides a clean record, there are several major considerations when it comes to determining how much your insurance is going to cost, with one of the biggest being how old the driver is.
Let’s face it, if you are a parent reading this, nobody likes the idea of handing their car over to their teenage child. Well, insurance companies are just as afraid to back them.
In Illinois, teenagers can pay 4-5x as much for insurance premiums as experienced drivers do with a clean driving record. Even getting a DUI will most likely give you a cheaper car insurance premium than being a teenage driver.
On the positive side, one way you can actually save money on car insurance is to have a family plan. Married couples tend to save money this way versus having to get it on their own as singles, because both people go under one plan and get a bulk rate, rather than paying separately.
When it comes to adding your teenager to this family plan, this can be a BIG advantage for you and/or them to minimize the bleeding of their high insurance premiums.
For more details on these factors and others, check out this guide.
Get the Right Car Insurance in Illinois
So, what is the right car insurance in Illinois for you? Well, it depends on if you need the absolute cheapest rate, a discounted rate for a driving record and/or DUI, for teenagers, or even for married couples.
To get a better idea, check out more of our Lifestyle articles.
