Best Cheap Auto Insurance Quotes for College Graduates in Alabama

Ideally, we could tell you the one car insurance company that has the rock bottom lowest rates in Alabama. Unfortunately, it’s just not that easy, as there are a lot of unknown aspects such as how old you are, where you live in Alabama, and your financial stability, that all have an effect on the price of a policy. We will attempt to cover the best ways to avoid paying too much and will give you a good start in finding the cheapest insurance in Alabama.

When shopping for the cheapest auto insurance for college grads, one of the many considerations that determine the policy price is where you choose to live. Cities with more crime and/or more people like Birmingham, Prichard, and Mobile tend to have higher rates, whereas areas with less people or fewer weather incidents enjoy lower auto insurance rates.

The information below displays the more expensive cities in Alabama for college graduates to purchase a policy in.

Rate quotes are comparative as the specific Alabama residence address can decrease or increase rates substantially.

Locating budget insurance is difficult, and figuring out which company offers the most affordable insurance rates for college graduates calls for even more work. Each auto insurer has their own formula for determining prices, so we’ll go over the lowest cost insurance companies in Alabama.

It’s important to understand that Alabama insurance rates are determined by lots of factors that may substantially change the price you have to pay for coverage. This price variation is why it is critical to shop around with many companies when trying to get the most economical car insurance rates for college graduates. Insurance rates can be determined by many factors and change dramatically, so the best option the last time you checked may now be wasting a lot of money.

Find the Cheapest Car Insurance for Grads

Compare Rates and Save

Travelers generally has some of the most affordable car insurance rates in Alabama at around $791 each year. Cincinnati Insurance, USAA, GEICO, and Country also are some of the most economical Alabama car insurance companies.

As shown in the table above, if you currently buy coverage from GEICO and switched to Cincinnati Insurance, you could earn a yearly savings of roughly $257. Drivers with Country may save as much as $391 a year, and Safeway customers might lower prices by up to $402 a year.

Remember that these premium estimates are averaged across all types of drivers and the different vehicles they drive and are not factoring in a rate decrease for college graduates. So the car insurance company that can offer the best rates for your situation may not even be shown in the above list. That point stresses why you need to get auto insurance quotes using your own driver and vehicle profiles.

Irresponsible driving raises your rates

The common sense way to snag the cheapest insurance rates for college grads is to be a cautious driver and avoid accidents and keep your driving record clean. The chart below demonstrates how speeding tickets and fender-benders can increase car insurance costs for different categories of driver ages. The rates are based on a single male driver, full coverage, $100 deductibles, and no additional discounts are factored in.

In the previous example, the average cost of a car insurance policy per year with no accidents and a clean driving record is $1,933. Receive two speeding tickets and the average cost increases to $2,566, an increase of $633 each year. Now throw in two accidents along with the two speeding tickets and the annual cost of insurance for college graduates jumps again to an average of $4,807. That’s an increase of $2,874, or $239 per month, just for not driving carefully!

Do you need full coverage?

Finding the best cheap car insurance for college graduates in Alabama should be important to the majority of people, and an effective way to buy cheap insurance is to not buy full coverage. The example below shows the comparison of car insurance costs with full phyical damage coverage and with liability coverage only. The premiums assume a clean driving record, no at-fault accidents, $1,000 deductibles, single marital status, and no discounts are taken into consideration.

If all age groups are averaged, physical damage coverage on your policy costs $1,417 per year over and above liability coverage. At some point, every insured wonders when is the right time to remove full coverage. There is no set guideline of when to stop paying for physical damage coverage on your policy, but there is a broad guideline. If the yearly cost of comp and collision coverage is 10% or more of the replacement cost of your vehicle minus the policy deductible, then it might be time to consider dropping full coverage.

For example, let’s assume your vehicle’s replacement cost is $5,000 and you have $1,000 policy deductibles. If your vehicle is destroyed, you would only receive $4,000 after paying your policy deductible. If you are currently paying more than $400 a year to have full coverage, then you may need to consider dropping full coverage.

There are a few cases where dropping physical damage coverage is not recommended. If you still owe money on your vehicle, you have to carry full coverage in order to keep the loan. Also, if you can’t afford to buy a different vehicle if your current one is in an accident, you should maintain full coverage.

Who is cheaper: Geico, Allstate, State Farm, or Progressive?

When buying car insurance, probably the best companies to start with are Geico, Allstate, State Farm, and Progressive. They all have unique coverages that may influence your choice. The next table compares and contrasts price, claims, and customer service ratings, as well as some optional coverages that are available for buyers.

Who has the cheapest insurance quotes for college grads?

You have a lot of ways to compare insurance quotes in Alabama, but the three most common ways are through a non-exclusive or independent agent, a captive (or exclusive) agent such as State Farm or Liberty Mutual, or from a direct company like Geico or Progressive. They all have the same end result, but it’s good to know the differences in how they give price quotes.

Independent insurance agencies work with multiple companies and can quote your policy with every one. These agents do not sell for just one brand and can quote rates with many companies, which may give you a better chance of finding cheaper coverage. If you are not satisfied with one company, they simply switch companies in-house which makes it easier to save money.

An exclusive ageny is only able to give rates for a single company, for example Liberty Mutual and Allstate agents. Exclusive agencies are unable to quote prices from more than just one company, which does not give you the best rate comparison.

If you choose to buy insurance direct, you skip an exlusive or independent agent and instead shop from a direct company like Geico. This insurance option may be the best choice families who do not have a need for a risk management assessment and know more than average about what coverages, limits, and deductibles they need.

So which of the methods works best to buy the best cheap car insurance for college graduates in Alabama? It would be premature to say buying from a direct car insurance company results in the cheapest price since it doesn’t require paying agent commissions, but that does not always hold true. It would also be easy to say an independent agent is the best way to save since they have more companies to choose from, but that is not necessarily true either. In many cases, exclusive agencies have really good rates that are well below what direct and independents offer.

Due to that fact that insurance uses so many rating variables, the best way to get the lowest rate is to get quotes and compare. We highly recommend getting prices from all three to give yourself enough choices. To see some of the cheapest online companies available, click here to view.