Texas Insurance Comparisons for Home and Auto

The Texas Department of Insurance has comparisons for home and auto insurance which will give you approximate prices in Texas from different insurance companies. There is also information about financial ratings and complaint index. The prices you see are not actual premiums, but just a general idea of what you might pay. The comparisons are based on limited factors, so actual rates will vary.

The auto insurance comparison has several different driver profiles. The profiles have different ages, 18, 25, 35, 55, and over 64. Also for age 18, you can compare single vs. married. The profiles are ones with no tickets or accidents. You would then have to select your locality in Texas and be able to see the different prices of the different insurance companies.

The comparison for home insurance has different owner profiles consisting of new brick or frame home, and then different ages of the homes. Also you can see what kind of discounts the companies may offer. You also select where you live to compare the different rates.

These comparisons can give you a rough idea about prices, but it's important to shop around and get actual quotes. It's also important to note, that not all companies may be writing business, because the comparisons are only as current as the last provision.

Average Insurance Costs

What does an average insurance rate mean to you, factors that influence insurance costs, and how rates vary depending on the company.

The average car insurance rate is $829, and the average home insurance rate is $764. Those are the national averages, but rates vary by as much as $500 depending the state you live in.

Car insurance rates are going to vary depending on type of car, location, type of coverage, driving experience, driving history, and much more. Home insurance rates are vary depending on the age of house, cost of home, location, claim history, and other factors.

The average insurance rates for a 25 year old is going to vary from a 35 year old that has much more driving experience. So it is going to be difficult to know what the average rate is going to be for you.

If you wanted to know your average rate, then you can get quotes from different companies and calculate the average rate. Although, most people are more concerned about just finding a good price for insurance.

More importantly, average insurance rates vary depending on the company. Insurance companies may have lower prices or higher prices for various reasons. Rates may be influenced by how much insurers are spending on business expenses, how much profit they expect, advertising expenses, risk factors, competitors rates, and many other reasons.

Average Home Insurance Rates by State

The national association of insurance commissioners (NAIC) released its homeowners insurance report, providing data for average costs by state and other information.

Although the cost of real estate differs in each state, it still gives you a good idea what an average rate would be in each state.

Also, insurance companies have a team of professionals that evaluate risk, so the costs may be a good indicator of what is the safest place to own a home.

The Texas Department of Insurance develops policy forms similar, but not identical to homeowners policies countrywide, and should not be directly compared with any other state. The average in Texas is $1,372.

States with higher rates
1) Louisiana $1,144
2) Florida $1,083
3) Dist. of Columbia $963
4) Mississippi $939
5) Oklahoma $996

States with lower rates
1) Idaho $457
2) Utah $477
3) Oregon $491
4) Delaware $498
5) Wisconsin $495

The national average for home insurance is $764. The average rates for renters insurance countrywide is $193, and does not vary much by state. The study is based on premiums in 2005.

Washington State Seeks to Regulate Individual Health Insurance Rates

The Washington Department of Insurance announced this week that the Insurance Commissioner will again request legislation to restore his ability to regulate rates for individual health insurance.

According to the reports, insurance carriers say individual plans don't need to be regulated because there's no problem. However, the commissioner points out that many consumers are seeing rate increases as a problem.

The authority to regulate the individual market was revoked back in 2000, when a pledge was made with the carriers. In exchange for the pledge, the carriers agreed to stay in the market.

The pledge included: The health carriers were allowed to off-load the sickest eight percent of applicants to the state's high risk pool. The pre-existing condition waiting period grew from three months to nine. Health carriers can replace a product on 90 days' notice. Insurance Commissioner lost authority to review rates.

Eight years have passed since this law took effect and the commissioner says that last year, the largest insurer filed an average 19 percent increase. If the state regulates rates there may be more affordable health insurance.

Credit Score and Insurance Rates

Whether you agree that credit score should be a factor in determining insurance rates, in most states and with most insurers, it can be a factor.

Using credit score for other types of financial services makes sense, because they want to make sure you pay your bill. It may be true that those with lower credit scores are more likely to file claims.

It's really difficult to determine why they use credit score for insurance. However, more than likely it would not be weighted as much as other factors.

How many tickets you get, how many claims you've filed, will probably be more important factors.

If you really wanted too, you could get a credit report that's free once a year, and see if it's correct and see if you can make your credit score better.

You may also consider getting a your CLUE report, which is free as well, that tracks your claim history for the last five years, and make sure that is correct too.

Insurance Rates and Your Age

Age is one of the many factors insurance companies use to calculate your rate. Being younger can be a good thing if you are looking for health insurance and not so good if you are looking for car insurance. Yes, age is a factor (in most states) when companies determine your rate because of risk-factor, but that's not the whole story!

Insurance companies still have to have competitive rates or they wouldn't get any business. The difference between insurance companies and regular stores, is that you can't see how they calculate your rate in black and white. Insurers want to have better rates than their competition, but it doesn't always happen.

Let's break it down. There are 5 insurance companies (we can call them A,B,C,D & E) and 5 people (all different ages) looking for car insurance. Each insurance company wants to win the business and each person wants the best rate. So here is a hypothetical situation that could happen.

Heather, Age 20
Insurance Company C Wins!

Tommy, Age 25
Insurance Company A Wins!

Janet, Age 30
Insurance Company C Wins!

Martha, Age 35
Insurance Company E Wins!

John, Age 40
Insurance Company D Wins!

Ahh! Company B didn't do any business that day. Age is a factor in determining risk, and because it is, it's also a competition factor. In order for insurers to get business they must offer competitive rates and hope they have the lower rate then the rest of the pack. Consumers are getting smarter and shopping around and insurers adapt.

Clue Report can affect insurance rates

Many insurance companies use the clue report to determine how much risk you are to insure. The CLUE report has information about your claim history for the last 5 years. It's way for insurers to share your information with other insurers about your record of filing claims.

ChoiceTrust by ChoicePoint Asset Company created CLUE. It stands for comprehensive loss underwriting exchange. You can get a CLUE report for property and automobile. Many insurers use this report to determine your risk. Then in 2003, under amendments to the FCRA, called the FACT Act, now allows you to get your free C.L.U.E report once a year. It's good to get a free CLUE report to make sure that the information is accurate. If something is inaccurate you may dispute it.

Also if you are interested in purchasing a home you may want to get a report for the physical address because sometimes insurance rates will be high based on past history of the home. There are CLUE reports for the address of your property, but it's not free. It's wise to get a CLUE report for your home, or a home you may be planning to buy or sell.

Your CLUE report does not contain anything about your credit score. While consumers may be aware that some insurance companies use your credit score, age, and many other factors, fewer know that they use your CLUE report. It makes sense that insurance companies use such a service, and it rewards people that file fewer claims with a lower insurance rate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChoicePoint
http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs26-CLUE.htm

Compare Insurance Rates

It's very smart to compare insurance rates. Getting a quote from one company you may save $200, but if you check another you may save $400 or even more. That's why it's important to compare rates before you buy. I know it may be tempting to buy insurance the first quote you get, but if you want to save money you should compare at least 3 to 5 companies.

I know how important it is that you get insurance and assume that you don't shop for insurance very often. So see what choices you have, and then you can make a good decision.

So get out a pencil and piece of paper and write down the quotes that you get from many different companies. Insurance isn't free, but insurance quotes are free. By getting many insurance quotes your insurance will cost you less, and that's good.

Insurance companies like to say that you can save money by switching insurance, but it's important that you have the rates of the companies so you know which insurance company can save you the most.

The top insurance companies vary based on what state you are in. Another place you might check to find out which insurance companies are in your state is at the insurance department in your state, since not all insurance companies offer insurance in all states.

Florida home insurance getting better

Over the last few years, home insurance in Florida has become either unaffordable or difficult to get at all. This is why the state of Florida created Citizens Property Insurance Corp in 2002, which they call the state's insurer of last resort.

Recently, the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation announced that it is allowing four companies to take over 173,000 policies from the state's insurer. The private insurers will be offering rates that are lower than Citizens' current rates.

Consumers will be notified beginning Nov. 7 and give customers option of declining and keeping their Citizens' policies. From 2003 to 2006 Florida has returned nearly half a million policyholders to private insurers.

The four insurers participating in this take over are American Integrity Insurance Company, Landmark One Insurance Company, First Home Insurance Company, and Argus Fire and Casualty Insurance Company.

The good news is private insurers believe they can be profitable in Florida and consumers can get lower rates.

Florida's Tool for Comparing Homeowners Insurance

While I realize not everyone is from Florida nor a homeowner, I found that this tool demonstrates the importance of shopping around for insurance quotes, no matter where you live. The state of Florida created a tool to compare homeowners insurance in Florida where you can easily click on your county and compare the average rates of different companies.

I looked around this website myself. I found that in some counties, rates varied $600 to $1,300 which really isn't a lot, but substantial. However, in the coastal areas, insurer's rates varied from $1,700 to $7,000 and that is a lot. Please note, if you are in Florida and using this tool, not all companies listed may be writing new policies.

The launch of this website was sometime in June, according to a press release from the Florida's governor. To use the tool you go to ShopandCompareRates.com and then scroll down and click on compare homeowners insurance rates. Note to others, regardless of where you live or type of insurance, you could save a bundle by shopping around.

AAA of Northern California lowers rates 6.5%

California Insurance Commissioner, Steve Poizner, approved a major auto insurance rate reduction of 6.5% for AAA of Northern California which will result on $100,536,590 in savings for policyholders according to the announcement at the California Department of Insurance. AAA of Northern California is the sixth largest auto insurer in the state, insuring almost one million drivers in California.

Policyholders can expect to save an average of $106 per policy and the new rate goes into effect December 15th. More than 1/2 a million policy holders are in the San Francisco Bay Area and approximately 156,00 policyholders in Sacramento area.

AAA has also filed to become 100% compliant with the auto rating regulations almost one year before than the mandated deadline. Under the new regulations, rates will be based on driving record, number of miles driven, and years of driving experience. The old regulations were influenced by other rating factors such as marital status, gender and zip code.

AAA and all other auto insurance companies that have complied with these new rating factors, prior to the deadline, have been applauded.

Average Car Insurance Rates by State

The rates vary because of states laws, and how many people in the state live in small towns or cities. For example, North Dakota most people live in smaller towns, with less traffic. Keep in mind, if you live in a state with higher averages, and live in a smaller town, your rate will be lower.

The 5 States with lowest average rates: (North Dakota $554, Iowa $555, South Dakota $565, Idaho $583, Kansas $590)

The 5 States with highest average rates: (New Jersey $1,184, New York $1,122, Massachusetts $1,113, Louisiana $1,076, Florida $1,063)

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) recently released this data of the auto insurance rates by states. The research statistics is based on averages in 2005 - for a full year. The national average is $829. Other states are listed in the report at NAIC, which is in pdf format, if you would like to see.

* Also, if you have full-coverage your rates will be higher than the average, since not everybody has (collision) full-coverage.

How to Lower Your Auto Insurance Rates

Auto insurance companies all have their own way they calculate your rate, but here are some general ways they calculate your rates & ways you can lower your rate.

* Your driving record - A way you can have a better driving record is to drive slow, always be alert, and don't get in any accidents.

* Where you live - People living in cities have a higher rate, so you may want to consider becoming a farmer and moving to a small town.

* Your age and gender - Not much you can do about your gender and not much you can do about your age. The good news is the older you get, the lower your rates will be.

* Your marital status - It's been shown that single people file more claims, thus married people have lower rates. You can start looking for a wife or a husband and you can get lower rates.

* Prior insurance coverage - Pay your insurance bills on time and don't get cancelled for non-payment. This can effect your rates in the future.

* Vehicle use - The more mileage you have on your car, the higher rates you will have. So you may want to consider car-pooling to work or taking public transportation.

* Your type of vehicle - It's been shown that sports cars and luxury cars file more claims, and more expensive claims. You want to drive a safe car, but you may want to consider driving a vehicle not so high profile.

Maybe not all these tips are practical, but the best advice is most likely: Shop around and compare auto insurance quotes. Keep the auto insurance market a competitive place and reward the most affordable company with your business. Also be sure they are a reliable company.

Auto insurance rates in Michigan

Auto insurance rates are high in Michigan, but there may be hope for the state to lower the costs, according to Free Press. Currently people can spend $4,000 a year on auto insurance in Detroit. Michigan is the only state that mandates unlimited lifetime medical benefits for those injured in auto accidents. Legislators have introduced two bills - one that would allow drivers to take a minimum $250,000 of personal injury protection. Policy holders could still choose unlimited coverage. The other bill would create a fee schedule for auto insurers paying for medical treatments. New York currently provides the second highest minimum PIP coverage at $50,000. If legislators can approve these bills, drivers in Michigan will likely have lower rates.

It always seems to me, the fewer the mandates required, the healthier the insurance market is in general. People have free choice, insurance costs less. Everybody wins. When you compare states with more mandates compared to states with fewer mandates there is a rather large difference in the costs of the policies. Every state has the right to have unique laws on insurance, but if affordability suffers as a result, they should be less different than their neighbor states. I think the bills proposed will be good for Michigan.