Finding affordable car insurance for a Ford Explorer is pretty easy for most people to do, but it is dependent upon a lot of rating factors such as whether you are single or married, where your vehicle is garaged, and citations or violations on your driving record. Drivers in North Carolina pay on average $616 each year to insure their Explorer, but that amount is an estimation calculated based on a 50-year-old single male driver with both comprehensive and collision coverage and $1,000 deductibles.
This brings up the issue that more than likely you aren’t exactly 50 years old or even a male, you might be married instead of single, or you just want cheap liability insurance instead of full coverage. This shows why the only real way to find cheap insurance prices for your Ford is to do a thorough rate comparison. Quotes are free and you will receive price comparisons from some of the best companies in North Carolina.
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The trim level of your Explorer will most likely have an effect on the insurance rate, so the cost to insure a Explorer XLT 2WD will be $52 lower than the price to insure the more costly Explorer Limited AWD model, as shown below.
| Model | Comp | Collision | Liability | Medical | UM/UIM | Annual Premium | Monthly Premium |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Explorer XLT 2WD | $102 | $172 | $282 | $16 | $84 | $656 | $55 |
| Explorer Eddie Bauer 2WD | $102 | $172 | $282 | $16 | $84 | $656 | $55 |
| Explorer XLT 4WD | $102 | $172 | $282 | $16 | $84 | $656 | $55 |
| Explorer XLT AWD | $102 | $172 | $282 | $16 | $84 | $656 | $55 |
| Explorer Eddie Bauer 4WD | $116 | $210 | $282 | $16 | $84 | $708 | $59 |
| Explorer Eddie Bauer AWD | $116 | $210 | $282 | $16 | $84 | $708 | $59 |
| Explorer Limited 2WD | $116 | $210 | $282 | $16 | $84 | $708 | $59 |
| Explorer Limited 4WD | $116 | $210 | $282 | $16 | $84 | $708 | $59 |
| Explorer Limited AWD | $116 | $210 | $282 | $16 | $84 | $708 | $59 |
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Data variables include single male driver age 50, no speeding tickets, no at-fault accidents, $1000 deductibles, and North Carolina minimum liability limits. Discounts applied include claim-free, multi-policy, homeowner, safe-driver, and multi-vehicle. Rates do not factor in the specific area where the vehicle is garaged which can lower or raise premium rates significantly.
Figuring out which company quotes the cheapest auto insurance rates for a Ford Explorer may require a little more effort in order to find the lowest price.
Every car insurance company uses their own calculation for determining rates in each state, so let’s examine the lowest cost auto insurance companies in Charlotte, NC.
Best Car Insurance Prices for Your Explorer
| Rank | Company | Cost Per Year |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Progressive | $639 |
| 2 | Utica National | $643 |
| 3 | Liberty Mutual | $707 |
| 4 | NC Farm Bureau | $709 |
| 5 | Penn National | $717 |
| 6 | GEICO | $742 |
| 7 | Titan | $759 |
| 8 | State Farm | $779 |
| 9 | Auto-Owners | $878 |
| 10 | National General | $890 |
| 11 | Erie | $895 |
| 12 | Travelers | $900 |
| 13 | Allied | $901 |
| 14 | Peerless | $962 |
| 15 | MetLife | $1,007 |
| 16 | Unitrin | $1,012 |
| 17 | Encompass | $1,031 |
| 18 | Nationwide | $1,031 |
| 19 | Safeco | $1,066 |
| 20 | Allstate | $1,097 |
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Progressive generally has some of the best car insurance rates in Charlotte at around $639 a year. Utica National, Liberty Mutual, NC Farm Bureau, and Penn National would also be considered some of the more affordable Charlotte, NC auto insurance companies.
As the example above demonstrates, if you currently buy coverage from Utica National and switched to Progressive, you may see yearly savings of roughly $4. Drivers with Liberty Mutual may save as much as $68 a year, and NC Farm Bureau policyholders might reduce prices by as much as $70 a year.
Bear in mind that those prices are averaged for all types of drivers and the different vehicles they drive and and are not calculated with a vehicle location for a Ford Explorer. So the auto insurance company that has the lowest price for you may not even be in the top 20 companies in the list above. That affirms the importance of why you need to get quotes using your own personal information and vehicle type.
Types of discounts on Charlotte auto insurance
Car insurance companies that offer cheap quotes for a Ford Explorer may have policy discounts that could lower prices by as much as 35% or more if you are eligible for them. Companies and a partial list of their discounts can be read below.
- Esurance has savings for good student, Switch & Save, defensive driver, paid-in-full, emergency road assistance, and DriveSense.
- The Hartford may offer discounts for air bag, defensive driver, good student, bundle, and anti-theft.
- AAA discounts include good student, education and occupation, multi-policy, pay-in-full, multi-car, and AAA membership discount.
- GEICO policyholders can earn discounts including emergency military deployment, five-year accident-free, federal employee, daytime running lights, anti-lock brakes, and air bags.
- State Farm offers discounts including Drive Safe & Save, defensive driving training, good student, safe vehicle, multiple policy, and passive restraint.
The diagram below visualizes the comparison of premium costs with and without policy discounts. The costs are based on a female driver, no claims, a clean driving record, North Carolina state minimum liability limits, full physical damage coverage, and $100 deductibles.
The first bar for each age group shows the average annual price with no discounts. The second shows the rates with marriage, vehicle safety, claim-free, multiple vehicle, accident-free, and multiple policy discounts applied. With discounts applied, the average amount saved each year on auto insurance for a Ford Explorer is 27% or $410.
Do you need full coverage?
Saving money when shopping for auto insurance is probably important to the majority of vehicle owners, and one good way to reduce the cost of insurance for a Ford Explorer is to not insure for full coverage. The diagram below shows the difference between car insurance costs with full coverage and liability only. The premiums assume no tickets, no at-fault accidents, $500 deductibles, drivers are not married, and no discounts are applied.
If all age groups are averaged, physical damage coverage on your policy costs $1,310 per year over and above liability coverage. At some point, about every driver wonders when is the right time to remove full coverage. There is no exact rule to exclude full coverage on your policy, but there is a general convention. If the yearly cost of comp and collision coverage is about 10% or more of the replacement cost of your vehicle minus the policy deductible, then you might want to think about dropping full coverage.
For example, let’s say your vehicle’s settlement value is $6,000 and you have $1,000 deductibles. If your vehicle is totaled in an accident, the most you would receive is $5,000 after paying your policy deductible. If premiums are more than $500 a year for full coverage, then it might be time to consider dropping full coverage.
The example below highlights how deductible selection can raise or lower yearly insurance costs when researching cheap insurance for a Ford Explorer. The costs are based on a single female driver, full coverage, and no discounts are applied to the premium.
In the chart above, a 30-year-old driver could pocket $234 a year by switching from a $100 deductible up to a $500 deductible, or save $356 by choosing a $1,000 deductible. Younger drivers, such as the Age 20 example, could save up to $518 or more just by using higher deductibles.
If you do raise deductibles, it’s a good idea to have enough savings set aside to enable you to pay the extra out-of-pocket expense, which is the one shortcoming of high deductibles.