Who Has Affordable Auto Insurance for Drivers with a Bad Driving Record in Charlotte?

Establishing which company quotes the lowest-priced car insurance rates for drivers with a bad driving record requires a tad more effort in order to find a policy that fits your budget. Each company uses their own calculation for setting rates, so we need to take a look at the car insurance companies that tend to be cheaper in Charlotte, NC.

Best Auto Insurance Prices for Imperfect Drivers

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Progressive normally has some of the best car insurance rates in Charlotte at around $639 each year. This is $233 less than the average price paid by North Carolina drivers of $872. Utica National, Liberty Mutual, NC Farm Bureau, and GEICO would also be considered some of the cheapest Charlotte, NC auto insurance companies.

As depicted above, if you are a policyholder with NC Farm Bureau and switched to Progressive, you may realize a yearly savings of around $98. Policyholders with GEICO may save as much as $103 a year, and Penn National customers might reduce prices by as much as $108 a year.

These policy prices are averages across all ages of drivers and types of vehicles and and are not calculated with an exact zip code location for drivers with a bad driving record. So the insurer that fits your situation best may not even be in the top 20 companies in the list above. That helps illustrate why you need to get quotes using your own driver and vehicle profiles.

The car, truck, or SUV that is being insured is probably the most important factor that determines if you can find the lowest-priced auto insurance for drivers with a bad driving record. Vehicles with lots of horsepower, a lack of advanced safety features, or a high likelihood of having liability claims will cost substantially more to insure than more modest models.

The list below estimates coverage costs for a number of the most affordable vehicles to insure.

Table data assumes single female driver age 30, two speeding tickets, two at-fault accidents, $1,000 deductibles, and North Carolina minimum liability limits. Discounts applied include homeowner, multi-policy, and multi-vehicle. Prices do not factor in specific zip code location which can change prices noticeably.

Looking at the rates, models like the Ford Escape, Honda CR-V, Dodge Grand Caravan, and Ford Explorer are most likely to be some of the cheapest vehicles to insure for bad drivers. The price for car insurance will tend to be more expensive just because there is more claim exposure for drivers with a bad driving record, but in general those specific models will tend to have the best insurance prices compared to other types of vehicles.

One of the many components that help determine insurance cost is where you live in Charlotte. Areas with more people or more claims tend to have higher auto insurance costs, whereas areas with lower crime rates and fewer weather claims have the gratification of cheaper auto insurance rates.

The table below rates the most expensive places in North Carolina for drivers with a bad driving record to buy an auto insurance policy in. Charlotte comes in at #3 with a yearly cost of $808 for the average policy, which is approximately $67 each month.

Prices are estimated as the vehicle garaging location can impact price quotes significantly.

Price comparison of only insuring for liability

Lowering the price of car insurance should be important to the majority of drivers, and one of the easiest ways to find cheaper insurance for drivers with a bad driving record is to only buy liability coverage. The information below compares car insurance rates with full physical damage coverage and with liability coverage only. The prices are based on no tickets, no at-fault accidents, $500 deductibles, single marital status, and no additional discounts are factored in.

As an average, physical damage insurance costs an extra $1,181 per year more than insuring for liability only. Many of you may wonder if buying full coverage is worth the money. There is no written rule for eliminating physical damage coverage on your policy, but there is a guideline you can use. If the annual cost of coverage is 10% or more of the replacement cost of your vehicle minus the policy deductible, then you might consider buying liability only.

For example, let’s say your vehicle’s book value is $11,000 and you have $1,000 full coverage deductibles. If your vehicle is severely damaged, the most your company would pay you is $10,000 after the policy deductible has been paid. If premiums are more than $1,000 a year for physical damage coverage, then it might be time to consider dropping full coverage.

There are some cases where buying only liability insurance is not a good idea. If you have an outstanding loan on your vehicle, you have to keep full coverage as part of the loan requirements. Also, if you can’t afford to buy a different vehicle if your current one is totaled, you should keep full coverage on your policy.

How violations and accidents impact rates

The easiest method to get cheap car insurance prices for bad drivers is to drive cautiously and not receive tickets or have accidents. The illustration below highlights how traffic violations and at-fault accidents influence yearly insurance costs for different age groups. The rates are based on a single male driver, full coverage, $250 deductibles, and no discounts are applied to the premium.

The data above shows the average cost of a car insurance policy in North Carolina per year with no violations or accidents is $1,453. Add in one speeding ticket and the average cost hikes up to $1,634, an increase of $182 each year. Now throw in two accidents along with the one speeding ticket and the 12-month cost of car insurance for drivers with a bad driving record increases to an average of $3,156. That’s an increase of $1,703, or $142 per month, just for being a careless driver!

Why you should be comparing rates

Charlotte car insurance rates are determined by lots of factors that will increase or decrease the cost of your policy. Turning one year older, having a claim, or getting a ticket for running a stop sign can produce rate changes that can now make some companies cheaper than competitors.

Not only may your risk profile change, but insurance companies amend premium rates without warning to adjust for heavy claims or excess profits. Higher than usual claims can result in price increases, while lower claim expenses can produce lower-priced Charlotte car insurance rates.

To help illustrate this point, the graph below shows which company has the cheapest car insurance in Charlotte, NC for a 45-year-old female driver with a clean driving record, no accidents, and great credit. If we compare prices based on her current rating profile, Progressive might quote the lowest car insurance rates in Charlotte at $776 annually. This is $96 less than the average policy premium paid by North Carolina drivers of $872. Utica National, Liberty Mutual, Penn National, and NC Farm Bureau are also included in the top five cheapest Charlotte, NC auto insurance companies.

Now let’s give the driver from the first set of rates an accident claim, a lower credit rating, and a stop sign violation. Because each company uses a different method for filing rates in each state, getting updated rate quotes most likely will result in a substantially altered list of the cheapest Charlotte car insurance companies as shown below.

Titan now has the lowest price in Charlotte, NC with State Farm, Auto-Owners, National General, and Erie also having competitive pricing. This example proves why consumers need to compare many different companies when trying to find cheap auto insurance rates for drivers with a bad driving record. Auto insurance prices are influenced by many factors and change dramatically, so the cheapest company when you bought your policy may now be priced much higher than other options.