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Louisville, Kentucky, has car insurance rates significantly higher than both the state and national averages. If you’re looking to curb the cost of this hike in insurance rates in Louisville, keep reading to learn which companies have the cheapest car insurance rates and how to make your current car insurance cheaper.
How To Find Cheap Car Insurance in Louisville, KY
If you’re starting from scratch in your search for car insurance in Louisville, Kentucky, or you’re thinking of switching insurance providers, there are a few things you can do and some information to keep in mind to help you find the cheapest insurance available to you.
What Affects the Price of Your Car Insurance?
Car insurance companies don’t charge the same prices to all of their customers. The companies consider several factors to decide how much they’ll charge each driver and policyholder. These factors include, but are not limited to:
- Age
- Location
- Driving history
- Vehicle make and model
- Veteran status
- Average mileage
These factors can make suggesting the cheapest car insurance to individual drivers somewhat difficult. But you can use lists of average rates — such as the one in this article — to decide which companies to start shopping with first.
Quotes and Credit Score Inquiries
Your credit score is another highly influential factor in your insurance prices. When you apply for a quote from an insurance company, the company will look at your credit score to calculate said quote. However, this is a soft inquiry, so you don’t have to worry about your quote request affecting your credit score.
This fact should change the way you shop for car insurance. If you’re not getting quotes from multiple companies when you search for insurance, you could be missing out on cheaper insurance. However, you should be aware that one quote might be lower because the plan offers less than another company’s higher quote. Be sure to contrast and compare the plans you’re getting quotes for to make sure you’re getting the coverage and benefit you want.
Discounts
While you shop for your next insurance or even after you’ve chosen a plan, be sure to ask your insurance provider if you’re eligible for any discounts to lower the cost of your plan. These discounts vary from company to company. Some companies might offer a discount for taking a safe driving course, and many offer discounts for clean driving records. Take advantage of every opportunity to lower the cost of your insurance by not being afraid to ask about these discounts.
Types of Car Insurance
There are several types of car insurance from which a driver can choose. How you decide which level of car insurance is right for you generally depends on how much the vehicle you’re driving is worth.
Liability Insurance
The lowest level of car insurance — the one that’s required in most other states — is called liability insurance. This type of insurance is there to protect the other people in collisions in which the policyholder is involved. The policyholder has no protection with liability insurance besides helping to protect themselves financially from having to pay for the bodily injuries and property damage of other people.
Collision Insurance
Collision insurance helps you pay for the cost of repairing or replacing your vehicle if it’s involved in a collision with another vehicle or object. This type of insurance helps cover your vehicle regardless of who is at fault.
Comprehensive Insurance
Comprehensive insurance covers your vehicle for non-collision damage. This includes weather- and nature-related damages, such as fire, hail, tornados, and animal damage. Comprehensive policies also cover losses, such as theft.
If you have all three types of insurance, you have what’s known as full-coverage insurance. Full-coverage insurance isn’t a type of insurance — it’s simply a collection of the above three types.
Minimum Required Insurance in Kentucky
To legally operate a vehicle in Kentucky, you have to have a minimum of liability coverage, which should include:
- $25,000 of coverage for bodily injury per person.
- $50,000 of total coverage for bodily injuries per accident.
- $25,000 of coverage for personal property damage.
You may also have a policy that offers a single limit of $60,000. As long as your car insurance covers all of these bases, your insurance will satisfy the legal requirements for Kentucky. However, if the damages caused to a vehicle by a driver holding this minimum insurance exceed $25,000, the driver may be responsible for covering the rest. The same is true of the bodily injury coverage.
Before you start shopping, it’s important to know that you may not always see the limits for your car insurance written out like it is above. Oftentimes, companies will use a shorthand in one of two formats:
- $25,000/$50,000/$25,000, or
- 25/50/25.
These three ways of writing coverage limits mean the same thing. The three amounts separated by slashes should always have the bodily injury per person limit first, the total bodily injury limit per accident second, and the property damage limit per accident third.
Cheapest Car Insurance Companies in Louisville, KY
According to ValuePenguin, State Farm offered the cheapest annual rates for minimum liability car insurance in Louisville, with USAA and Kentucky Farm Bureau following:
- State Farm: $662
- USAA: $917
- Kentucky Farm Bureau: $1,071
- Nationwide: $2,124
- Progressive: $2,251
Only members and veterans of the military and their direct family members are eligible for USAA’s insurance.
Remember that these are only averages. The above list may not be in the same order for you and your situation. Your rate may be higher or lower depending on your particular circumstances. As many factors change your insurance price, what might be the cheapest insurance for one driver may not be the best option for another. There may also be some smaller insurance companies in the area that can offer you a competitive rate.
If you want more coverage than the bare minimum, your averages are going to be higher, and the company names may switch places. Again, this is why it’s important to get quotes from multiple companies, as rates can vary widely for the same driver and their circumstances.
At FIXD, our mission is to make car ownership as simple, easy, and affordable as possible. Our research team utilizes the latest automotive data and insights to create tools and resources that help drivers get peace of mind and save money over the life of their car.
