Want to Save on Car Insurance? Get Married!

SAN FRANCISCO -- March 26, 2015: Marital status, gender and age significantly affect how much Americans pay for car insurance, according to a new insuranceQuotes.com report. For instance:

Marital Status

Getting married young can save a lot of money on car insurance; a married 20-year-old pays 21% less than a single 20-year-old for the same policy.

At age 25, the average marriage savings is down to 7%, and it falls to around 2% at age 30 and beyond.

Hawaii is the only state where insurance companies are not allowed to factor marital status into their rate calculations.

Gender

20-year-old men pay 22% more than 20-year-old women for the same coverage.

The gap narrows to just 3% at age 25.

From ages 30 to 55, average premiums are actually slightly lower for men.

It flips after age 55, when women pay slightly less than men.

Three states do not allow insurance companies to factor gender into their rate calculations (Hawaii, Massachusetts and North Carolina).

insuranceQuotes.com did not observe any cost differences between male and female drivers in Pennsylvania and Montana, even though using gender to calculate premiums is technically allowed in both states. Age

Car insurance costs decrease every year until age 60.

The sharpest drop is from age 20 to age 25, when rates decrease 41%.

From age 25 to age 60, rates drop another 18%.

There isn't much of a penalty for senior citizens. 75-year-old drivers only pay 17% more than 60-year-olds. Put differently, 75-year-olds pay 43% less than 20-year-olds.

Hawaii is the only state where insurance companies are not allowed to factor age into their rate calculations. In California, age cannot be explicitly included, but years of driving experience can be included.

Summary

"Plenty of families worry about when grandma or grandpa should stop driving, but the data shows that drivers in their teens and early 20s are much more risky," said Laura Adams, insuranceQuotes.com's senior analyst. "Young drivers, in particular, can save money by qualifying for good student discounts, signing up for pay-as-you-drive programs and competing driver safety courses."