Rating Factors Used to Determine Car Insurance Premiums
It’s a known fact that car insurance rates vary from person to person and company to company. Many factors affect the way car insurance premiums are calculated. Though these factors are common to most car insurance companies, they weigh them differently to calculate rates for their customers.
Here’s a list of the most important ones:
- The car make and model
- Not only are different car models rated differently by insurance companies based on their safety ratings, how much they cost to repair or replace also affects car insurance premiums to a great extent. Statistical methods are used to find out data such as which cars are stolen the most, which cars are damaged the maximum in a collision, which ones have the most expensive spares, the ones with more powerful engines etc. That’s the reason compact crossovers, minivans and SUVs are the cheapest cars to insure this year, while Mercedes, BMWs, Aston Martins and Pontiacs are among the most expensive ones to insure.
- Number of drivers and their driving records
- Every driver that is added to a car insurance policy is naturally going to contribute to higher rates. The previous driving record of a driver indicates to the car insurance company whether s/he is a high or low risk proposition. Too many tickets, especially of moving violations, escalate car insurance premiums while clean driving records are encouraged with discounts and lower deductibles. So, if you’ve been in any accidents in the past, it is bound to affect your car insurance premiums.


