Life's Many Milestones and How They Impact Your Insurance Rates

Regularly comparing insurance rates and tracking prices is especially important when you have a teen driver on your policy, because the difference between a 16-year-old and a 19-year-old is, on average, 26%, or an average savings of $2,038 a year. By tracking prices, you can jump on a new policy as soon as your rates go down.

Car Insurance in Your 20s

Your 20s can be an exciting time and also a transitional time for your insurance. Here are just a few of the life events that may affect your insurance rates:

• In your early 20s, you may be at college or a trade program. You may be living away from home and not driving as much (low mileage insurance is a good choice if you’re in a walkable college town). 
• And at some point, you may be leaving school (goodbye good student discounts)! You may see rates go up or you may be able to find other discounts that apply to you.
• You also may still be living at home and thus covered under your parent’s policy or you may be moving out and need to update your insurance based on your new ZIP code.
• Also, when you’re 25 you can legally rent your own car rental without paying extra, so you may want to learn more about insurance options for that.

With all of the changes that come in your 20s, you will definitely want to monitor prices regularly to make sure your insurance coverage still fits your changing needs and at the best price.

Car Insurance in Your 30s and 40s

As you enter your 30s and 40s, you’re ready to embrace a new decade with a new sense of maturity. And though technically you’re an “adult” much earlier in your life, car insurance companies have known about the magic of 30 for a long time – the average insurance premium drops significantly from ages 29 to 30.

And of course your 30s come with their own milestones. 

• You could be getting married or having kids. As you add new drivers to your policy, expect to see some changes based on their driving histories and demographic rating factors. 
• As you establish yourself financially, you may start to notice the impact that credit score has on your auto insurance rates. 
• If you buy a house, you can look into bundling your auto insurance with home insurance. (And if you don’t: can you still consider bundling a renters policy).

While, from an auto insurance perspective, these middle decades aren’t as big a time for change as your teens or 20s, it’s still a good idea to track rates regularly as your needs and prices change.

Car Insurance in your 50s

In terms of insurance prices, you don’t see a big shift in your 30s and 40s, But when you hit 50, you enter the lowest average car insurance premium bracket! Car insurance premiums are all uphill from 60, so enjoy this most affordable decade. 

Here are some other life events that might affect your insurance costs in your 50s :

• You add a teen driver. Not this again! Go back to our section on teens to see just how much you may see your policy jump.
• Or you may be back to having college students and need to research those student discounts again or a student-away-from-home discount. 
• Another discount that may apply to you are the mature driver training course discount.^[2] Those who are older than 55 years old are eligible for state-approved, senior driving courses that can earn you a discount depending on the insurance company. 

Your 50s is also a good time to review your coverage regularly as you may be driving less and could benefit from pay-per-mile insurance or low-mileage discounts. Or you might be driving an older vehicle and want to drop down to liability-only coverage. Tracking prices, reviewing coverage and comparing rates is the key to not paying more than you need.