Want cheaper car insurance? Get married
In most states, your marital status, gender and age can have a big impact on your car insurance rates, according to a report released on Thursday by insuranceQuotes.com.
Getting married can save you the most money when you're young. At age 20, a married person will pay an average of 21 percent less than a single one, the report found. But by the time you turn 25, the savings dwindles to 7 percent, and only 2 percent by the time you turn 30.
Hawaii forbids marital status to be factored into insurance rates, and it, Massachusetts and North Carolina don't allow gender to be a factor. Hawaii also doesn't allow age to be considered. Two states, Pennsylvania and Montana, allow gender to be considered, but rates for both sexes were equal, according to insuranceQuotes.com data.
So, here's how it works for age, according to the site: Your rates will drop as you get older -- to a point. The biggest decline comes between ages 20 and 25 (41 percent). After that, you'll see another 18 percent drop until you hit age 60.
Then it starts to head up again, but not as fast. A 75-year-old will pay 17 percent more than a 60 year old, but still 43 percent less than a 20-year-old, insuranceQuotes.com said.
"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," Laura Adams, insuranceQuotes.com's senior analyst said in a statement.
But even new drivers have ways to cut their premiums.
"Young drivers, in particular, can save money by qualifying for good student discounts, signing up for pay-as-you-drive programs and completing driver safety courses," she said.
