Car insurance in Virginia

Posted on September 26, 2014

Finding low rates on auto insurance in the state of Virginia is not as hard as it may seem. This brief summary on Virginia car insurance will help Virginia drivers choose the plan that works best for them. Scroll down for facts, stats, recent rates, and important advice on lowering the cost of Virginia auto insurance.

Virginia Minimum Liability Coverage

The minimum required insurance coverage for each vehicle owned in Virginia is 25/50/20. In other words, drivers must purchase no less than $25,000 in Personal Injury Protection (PIP), $50,000 in per-accident coverage against injuries to others, and $20,000 in coverage against property damage. So, Virginia drivers who purchase the minimum required auto insurance will get a maximum payout of $95,000 per accident. Any costs above that amount would have to be paid by other means, such as out of pocket or by other insurance policies in effect.

Penalties for Driving Without Insurance in Virginia

The penalty for driving an uninsured vehicle in the state of Virginia is the suspension of your driver’s license and vehicle registration until proof of financial responsibility is provided. You may also be faced with fines, raised premiums and registration reinstatement fees. Still, roughly one out of every nine vehicles on Virginia roads is uninsured. In fact, for a fee of $500, you can drive uninsured at your own risk for a whole year!

Auto Insurance Rates in Virginia

The average annual car insurance premium in the state of Virginia was $1,020 in 2016. The national average for that same year was $1,347. Virginia’s below average premiums may have something to do with strong economic activity, availability of insurance carriers, and relatively low accident statistics, due to the accessibility of public transportation.

Low Cost Car Insurance Programs in Virginia

There are quite a few ways for vehicle owners in Virginia to score their lowest possible premiums on car insurance. One way is to pay off annual premiums in full. Another is to increase your deductible amount. Also helpful is buying vehicles with permanently installed safety features. Some Virginia drivers quit driving altogether and opt for public transit for three years or more, thus creating for themselves an exemplary driving record, free of accidents and moving violations. These are all valid ways to lower your premiums. Also, most insurance carriers authorize Good Driver discounts, Good Student discounts, Defensive Driving Course discounts, Multiple Policy discounts and Multiple Auto discounts, among others.

Obtaining Auto Insurance Quotes in Virginia

According to J.D. Power & Associates, the most popular auto insurance carriers in Virginia are Allstate, Amica Mutual, Geico, Progressive and State Farm. Still, many local car owners prefer smaller, regionally operated carriers like Farm Bureau, Direct General and Erie. Call them all and compare free quotes. Ask about their discounts. Above all, drive safely.

Virginia Car Insurance

This article provides everything you need to know about Virginia car insurance. Here’s how drivers in Virginia can cut costs on car insurance premium rates within their Virginia zip codes.

The estimated resident population of the state of Virginia in 2016 was 8,411,808 people. Virginia is ranked 12^th among the most populous state in America, and places 14^th in population density, despite being ranked only 35^th in land area. The only U.S. states with fewer square miles than Virginia are Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, and West Virginia.

About 11.2 percent of the people who live in Virginia are surviving at or below the poverty level, although this number is still lower than the national average poverty rate of 13.5 percent. The unemployment rate in the state of Virginia is 3.8 percent, comfortably below the national average unemployment rate of 4.4 percent. Roughly 10.1 percent of Virginia drivers are uninsured, which is not bad when compared to the national average of 12.6 percent. The median age of the residents of Virginia is about 37.8 years.

Many drivers in Virginia wonder if it will help them to know the statewide “average” annual premium for Virginia car insurance. It won’t. Statewide averages provide very little useful information to most drivers, and have nothing to do with personal car insurance premium rates. For one thing, there are discrepancies in premium rates between zip codes within each state. For another thing, statewide averages are necessarily based on certain demographic details, which you have to input in order to receive an online quote. So unless you are, for instance, a 35 year old single male driver in Virginia with a clean driving record, a full time job, and a 2015 Toyota Camry with 4-Wheel drive, airbags and antilock brakes, which you drive roughly 25,000 miles a year, the statewide average will simply not apply to you. Even if this “average” driver describes you exactly, your auto insurance premiums will still be somewhat affected by your zip code.

Just so you know, the statewide “average” premium for a Virginia car insurance policy was about $904 last year, according to data from insure.com. This figure is quite a bit lower than the national “average” of about $1,325 at that time, making Virginia the 6^th cheapest state in the nation to buy car insurance.

The best thing Virginia drivers can do to reduce rates even further is to obtain several online quotes for Virginia car insurance, from several different websites of major auto insurance companies. Try comparing zip codes within the state of Virginia, using your own personal demographics. Create your own “average” from several different car insurance companies. To be even more proactive, type in several different zip codes in your area for the same insurance company, with all other parameters remaining the same. Compare quotes from the zip codes near you.

Here are all the details about car insurance in the state of Virginia. The following info includes a list of the cheapest and the priciest zip codes in Virginia to purchase auto insurance, as well as a list of the largest car insurance companies in Virginia, and the types of car insurance coverage Virginia drivers need. Just for fun, we also list some seriously strange and outdated Virginia state traffic laws, as well as other info about Virginia car insurance.

Best Car Insurance Companies in Virginia

A gang of statistical researchers recently listed the top ten auto insurance companies in all of America, based on total revenue. For the record, the top ten auto insurance carriers in the United States are Allstate Insurance, State Farm Insurance, Geico, Progressive Insurance, Nationwide Group, AAA, Liberty Mutual Insurance, 21^st Century Insurance, GMAC, and AIG, in that order. This particular report ranked auto insurance companies by the total dollar amount of premiums written in a year.

Shown below is a list of the top ten Virginia car insurance companies, in terms of each company’s total market share:

Rank	Company	Premiums ($)	Market Share (%)
1	State Farm Group	$760,683	16.76
2	Berkshire Hathaway Insurance	$732,731	16.14
3	USAA Group	$576,662	12.71
4	Allstate Insurance Group	$459,535	10.13
5	Nationwide Group	$439,835	9.69
6	Progressive Insurance Group	$384,024	8.46
7	Erie Insurance Group	$157,420	3.47
8	Liberty Mutual Insurance	$147,223	3.24
9	VA Farm Bureau Group	$108,529	2.39
10	Travelers Group	$85,236	1.88

It is interesting that Berkshire Hathaway is rated 2^nd in the state of Virginia, despite not making America’s top ten. However, Geico, which ranks 3^rd in America, is owned by Berkshire Hathaway.

Drivers in Virginia are encouraged to read consumer reviews of at least a few major Virginia car insurance companies, as well as some of the smaller, regional car insurance carriers that write policies in Virginia. Reviews of auto insurance companies appear on assorted independent review websites such as consumerreviews.com, expertinsurancereviews.com, pissedconsumer.com, reviews.com, and yelp.com, to name just a few. To learn of the financial strength of a car insurance company, visit the websites of A.M. Best and/or the Better Business Bureau (BBB).

Of course, there is no such thing as The One Best Virginia Car Insurance Company. Each auto insurance company does its own thing in its own way for its own targeted demographic. Also know that all car insurance carriers get complaints, and all car insurance carriers get sued. When you consider so many millions of policyholders in America, this does not seem so unusual.

In any case, drivers in Virginia must compare car insurance quotes if they really want to save some serious money on Virginia car insurance premiums.

What Types Of Car Insurance Do Virginia Drivers Need?

The minimum requirements for Virginia car insurance are $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident for bodily injury liability coverage, $20,000 for property damage, and the same amounts again for uninsured and underinsured motorist insurance (UMI).

However, insurance experts all across America recommend that drivers in Virginia (and every other state) buy more than the minimum required auto insurance coverage. The suggested coverages for drivers in America are $100,000 for personal injury protection, $300,000 in liability protection per accident, and no less than $50,000 in coverage against property damage.

For optimal protection, Virginia drivers might consider purchasing extra insurance, such as comprehensive and collision coverage. These types of insurance are designed to financially cover drivers whose vehicles are damaged by collisions, hail storms, freezing weather, fires, floods, and falling objects, as well as non natural disasters such as vandalism, car theft, and other vehicular misfortunes.

Outdated Virginia State Traffic Laws

It is illegal in Virginia for police to use radar detectors.
Citizens must sound their horns when passing other cars in Virginia. (How times change. These days, citizens may NOT sound their horns except in extreme emergencies.)
In Prince William County, it is illegal to park a car on railroad tracks. (In other parts of Virginia, it is merely idiotic.)
It is illegal to wash a mule on the sidewalk in Culpeper. (So the next time you need to wash your mule in Culpeper, walk it to the middle of the road.)
In Virginia Beach, you can receive a DUI just for being a drunk passenger in a car that is being operated by a drunk driver.
Also in Virginia Beach, it is illegal to drive by the same place on Atlantic Avenue within a 30 minute time span.
In Waynesboro, it is illegal for a woman to drive a car up Main Street, unless her husband walks in front of the car and waves a red flag.

Best And Worst Zip Codes For Virginia Car Insurance

Auto insurance premium rates in the state of Virginia are influenced in each zip code by many parameters, such as the population density, the median annual income, the median age of the residents, and neighborhood crime statistics such as car theft and vandalism, to name just a few of the factors involved.

Here is a list of the four priciest zip codes in Virginia to buy car insurance, where annual premium rates might be within the $600 range, but can sometimes exceed $1,500.

Zip Code	Pop Density	Unemployed %	Poverty %
22003 (Annandale)	4,827	5.60%	9.00%

Annandale, located about ten miles southwest of Washington DC, is a town of more than 60,000 people. The unemployment rate is above the state average of 3.8, but the poverty rate hovers below the state average of 11.2. Population density is high here. Close proximity to a big city like Washington DC drives up the car insurance rates.

Zip Code	Pop Density	Unemployed %	Poverty %
22151 (Springfield)	3,423	4.00%	4.70%

Springfield is located in Fairfax County, just south of Annandale. This zip code is home to more than 17,000 people. Unemployment here is only slightly high, and the poverty rate is less than half the state average. However, the general area surrounding the high crime neighborhoods of Washington DC are probably the cause of increased car insurance premium rates.

Zip Code	Pop Density	Unemployed %	Poverty %
22150 (Springfield)	3,583	6.60%	7.20%

This urban zip code is home to nearly 27,000 people. Unemployment is a bit above the state average, while the poverty rate is quite below the state average. Population density is fairly high, but nothing to be alarmed about.

Zip Code	Pop Density	Unemployed %	Poverty %
23222 (Richmond)	3,107	13.50%	27.00%

Richmond is the state capital, with many major roads crossing through it. The city has a population nearing 220,000. The population of this zip code is nearing 26,000. Unemployment in this neighborhood is nearly four times the state average, and the poverty rate is well over twice the state average. Higher car insurance rates make more sense around here.

The cheapest zip codes to buy Virginia car insurance are listed here. Annual premium rates can be as low as around $470, or as high as around $980, according to a car insurance cost comparison of Virginia zip codes. Here are the four least expensive zip codes to buy car insurance in the state of Virginia.

Zip Code	Pop Density	Unemployed %	Poverty %
24073 (Christiansburg)	348	4.20%	10.30%

Christiansburg is a town in Montgomery County with more than 30,000 residents. Population density is low here, and the poverty rate is below the state average. Unemployment is only slightly higher than the state average.

Zip Code	Pop Density	Unemployed %	Poverty %
24060 (Blacksburg)	409	6.90%	36.90%

Blacksburg is situated just north of Christiansburg. This zip code has a population exceeding 54,000. The median resident age here is only 22.8 years, a full 15 years below the state average. The poverty rate is exceedingly high. But car insurance premiums are low here, due to the economic presence of Virginia Tech.

Zip Code	Pop Density	Unemployed %	Poverty %
22980 (Waynesboro)	424	5.10%	15.30%

This zip code is home to more than 31,000 people, although the population density is extremely low. Poverty and unemployment are both above state average, but still maintaining manageable levels.

Zip Code	Pop Density	Unemployed %	Poverty %
22939 (Fishersville)	331	4.00%	3.40%

Less than 6,000 people live in this rural zip code. Unemployment is just a touch above the state average of 3.8 percent, but the poverty rate is less than a third of the state average, which is 11.2 percent.

All in all, the state of Virginia is home to 1,214 zip codes in 133 counties surrounding 837 cities, from Alexandria to Winchester and all towns in between. There’s basically a broad range of annual auto insurance premium rates on Virginia car insurance between the cheapest zip codes and the most expensive zip codes in the state. The time has come for you to get a bundle of online quotes.

How much will YOU save on Virginia car insurance?

by admin