Does marital status affect auto insurance?

Getting married changes your entire life. After you say your nuptials, you and your new spouse share a new type of connection that you get to celebrate when you go on your honeymoon.

Unfortunately, the honeymoon ends you have to start getting all of your documents in order like changing names, moving into a new home, and combining bank accounts.

One of the last things that will be on your mind when you’re making appointments with the DMV is updating your auto insurance.

If you do wind up changing your last name, you’ll have to update the way your name reads on your policy, but that’s not the only change to consider. Your change in marital status could change your rates.

Let’s discuss what you need to know about how your marital status affects the structure of your policy and your premiums.

If you got married recently and need better auto insurance, compare at least three to four policies today to find the best rates for you! Enter your ZIP code above to begin!

Your Marital Status is Used in Rating Your Policy

Many factors affect your premiums. Whenever you’re getting personalized quotes, the insurance agent will use answers that you provide to rate you.

Believe it or not, your marital status can be used to rate your policy.

If you state that you’re married, you could pay a lower rate than someone in your demographic who is single.

Why are auto insurance rating factors important?

Most consumers are accepting of the fact that insurance companies will use their driving record and claims history to set their rates. Each of these factors is a direct reflection of a driver’s ability to drive safely.

What is hard to understand is that your marital status, your zip code, and even your educational attainment can be used to assess your rates.

Auto insurance rating factors don’t have to be obviously related to your driving for them to be useful. According to insurance actuaries, some drivers are highly more likely to have accidents than others.

It’s because of their driving habits, the type of car they drive, and where they live. As a result, agents ask so many questions when they are assessing your likelihood of filing a claim.

How much will you save if you go from being single to married?

One of the many benefits of getting married is that you’ll pay a lower insurance rate, even if you don’t combine your separate auto insurance policies into a single policy.

Insurers believe that drivers who are married drive more responsibly and claims statistics support this theory.

How much you will save when you’re changing your marital status will depend on the carrier, the state, your gender, and your age.

In fact, studies conducted by Huffington Post show that premiums can vary by more than 50 percent based on your age, gender, and marital status alone.

According to the same study, a married 20-year-old male will pay about 21 percent less for coverage when they are married. The savings drops to an average of seven percent when the male driver reaches 25.

Female drivers tend to save around 28 percent off of their premiums when they are married in their early 20s.

Will other statuses affect your auto insurance rates?

When you’re getting an online insurance quote, you can choose from more than just the options single and married.

Married drivers get the most favorable ratings compared to all of the other statuses that you can choose from. You could also be rated as a divorcee, a widow/widower, or even a domestic partner.

Each marital status is associated with a different level of risk.

On average, a divorcee will pay more for their insurance than someone who is legally married. While the coverage increase isn’t dramatic, the emotional toll that it takes on a person to divide their belongings can affect decisions behind the wheel.

Domestic partners and widowers may also be classified as non-married drivers.

A study conducted by the Consumer Federation of America showed that much like single drivers, you will pay a higher rate if you fall into the non-married rate class.

Charging a higher rate based on not being married is a common practice with almost all of the biggest insurance companies.

When should you update your insurance?

Some of your rating factors won’t change until your policy officially comes up for renewal. Generally, these are changes to your driving record after convictions for moving violations or after you’ve been assigned fault in an auto accident.

All of the other changes should be made during your term as changes happen.

If you’re in your current term and you think that holding off on making changes to your marital status can wait, think again.

Young drivers who were recently married can make the update and save a huge chunk off of their future bills. You should call your agent and make changes to your marital status and other areas of the policy that needs updating.

Should you combine your auto insurance when you get married?

If you have decided to keep all of your insurance and financial accounts separate before you got married, you should consider combining your policy after you walk down the aisle.

You always have the option to keep your insurance separate without making major changes but it’s generally the best financial option to combine policies.

Getting the Multi-Car Discount

One of the biggest advantages of combining your coverage is that you can save money off of your vehicle’s rates by adding a second car to your policy. This added vehicle qualifies you for a multi-car policy.

If either you or your spouse has another line of insurance with the company, both premiums will go down after the multi-line discount is applied. It’s always possible to stack these discounts so that you can rack up the savings.

Which insurance policy should you keep?

You shouldn’t cancel one of your policies and keep the other without doing some research first. All companies charge different rates, and it’s possible that you could save a lot more going with one insurer as opposed to the other.

If you make the change on a whim, you’ll never know if you’re getting the best deal.

The best thing that you can do is call your insurance company and ask for a quote to add your new spouse and their vehicle to your policy.

After you’ve gotten an apples-to-apples quote from each of your insurers, you’ll be able to see which policy has the better rates with the most discounts.

Consider Switching to a New Carrier

When you’re insured with a company for several terms, you will start to accumulate loyalty credits.  Loyalty credits can help keep your premiums down when rates tend to climb.

Just because you feel like you’re getting a good deal from your provider now doesn’t mean you can’t save with a new carrier.

It’s in your best interest as a budget-minded consumer to shop the market and see if a new carrier will give you a more competitive rate than your current carrier.

Always Review Your Coverage Limits

As you’re shopping and soliciting quotes, review your coverage limits. When you get married, your coverage needs could change. You suddenly have more assets to protect.

More assets to protect creates a need for higher coverage limits to protect your family from the financial storm that a lawsuit could lead to.

Make sure to assess your liability needs before doing anything else.

The best resource to compare auto insurance premiums through actual providers in the marketplace is an online rate comparison tool. You can enter your information into the rating tool, select carriers, and get instance quotes in minutes.

Be sure that you have all of the information handy when you’re ready to shop and you can save time while you are on a mission to save money.

Try our FREE online quote tool and start comparison shopping today for better auto insurance rates! Enter your ZIP code below!