Cheap Car Insurance Quotes in Wyoming

Posted on September 26, 2014

Car insurance in Wyoming

The state of Wyoming requires drivers to have auto insurance for all owned vehicles. The cost of these insurance plans is a headache for most of us. The handy information shown below will help Wyoming drivers keep their car insurance premiums as affordable as humanly possible.

Wyoming Minimum Liability Coverage

Wyoming state law decrees that the minimum liability insurance coverage required for each owned vehicle is 25/50/20. This means that, for each vehicle owned, the driver must buy an auto insurance plan worth at least $25,000 in Personal Injury Protection (also known as PIP, covering total bodily injury per person), $50,000 in coverage against injuries to others (covers total bodily injury per accident), and $20,000 to cover expenses related to property damage. So the maximum insurance payout on a passenger vehicle owned in the state of Wyoming is $95,000, if you buy the minimum coverage. A form called SR-22 may also be required as proof of having purchased the state minimum auto insurance coverage.

According to researchers at the Insurance Information Institute, state minimum coverage is not enough to pay for real accidents. Drivers often pay lofty out-of-pocket sums to cover the difference. The Institute recommends 100/300 coverage for each owned vehicle, as well as Uninsured Motorist protection (UMI). At this time, roughly one in ten drivers in Wyoming are operating uninsured vehicles.

Penalties for Driving Without Insurance in Wyoming

Driving without insurance in the state of Wyoming is a misdemeanor. If you get caught driving without insurance, you will have to pay a fine of anywhere from $250 to $1,500 and have your license suspended. In some cases, jail time might be ordered. For subsequent offenses, you will have to pay anywhere from $500 to $1,500 and serve more time in jail.

Auto Insurance Rates in Wyoming

The average annual car insurance premium for a vehicle owned in the state of Wyoming was $1,421 in 2016, just a bit higher than the national average of $1,347. Wyoming had the 15^th highest average auto insurance premium of all U.S. States in 2016.

According to research, Wyoming’s slightly higher than average premiums are at least partly due to the state’s relatively high rate of DUI deaths. A DUI not only leads to an increase in the drunk driver’s premiums, but a small increase everyone else’s premiums as well. Also affecting state auto insurance premium settings is the fact that Wyoming autos suffer more hail damage than autos in any other state in America. Last year, insurance carriers in Wyoming paid out more than thirty-two million dollars in claims on hail damage alone.

Low Cost Car Insurance Programs in Wyoming

Vehicle owners in the state of Wyoming find many creative ways to keep car insurance costs at a minimum. For example, paying off your annual premium all at once, rather than monthly, saves money on administrative fees. Increasing your deductible amount by just a little bit can save even more on premiums. Some Wyoming residents go as far as to maintain a physical address in another city (or even another state) where car insurance is cheaper. These are all valid ways to lower your premiums.

Also, annual rates can be even lower if you qualify discounts. Driving safely (or not at all) can score a Good Driver discount and an Accident Free discount. Academic excellence can earn a Good Student discount. Seniors (55 and above) can get a discount for completing a defensive driving course. Also available are multiple policy discounts and multiple auto discounts, among others.

Obtaining Auto Insurance Quotes in Wyoming

According to a survey by J.D. Power and Associates, the most highly regarded auto insurance companies in the state of Wyoming are Aflac, Allstate, Community First, Farm Bureau, Geico, Primerica, State Farm and Wyoming Financial. Be sure to look online to compare consumer reviews and complaint ratios. For instance, Allstate and State Farm have a higher complaint rate than the others mentioned here. Call the better ones and compare quotes. Do your own cost comparison. Above all, grab those discounts.

Wyoming Car Insurance

Wyoming is known for its vast plains and endless highways, but Wyoming car insurance premium rates are somewhat high for such a sparsely populated state.

This page features facts and demographics about the state of Wyoming, along with tips on lowering the rates on your Wyoming auto insurance policy.

Read on to find out what kinds of car insurance coverage Wyoming drivers need, and the minimum coverage amounts required by Wyoming state law. Look over a list of of the 10 largest car insurers in America, and a list of the 10 largest car insurers in Wyoming. Also consider the average annual car insurance premium rate for the state of Wyoming, as compared to the average rate on your own Wyoming car insurance policy.

Scan the demographic details of the four priciest and the four cheapest zip codes in Wyoming to buy car insurance. When underwriters calculate premium rates based on Wyoming zip code demographics, they consider poverty statistics, unemployment data, median incomes, median ages, and the percentage of uninsured drivers on the roads, among other things. These are factors that affect annual Wyoming car insurance rates. That’s why car insurance rates will vary between Wyoming zip codes, by as much as $150 a year.

Finally, scroll down to see how drivers in the state of Wyoming can score the absolute maximum in auto insurance discounts on their policies. This will reduce the annual premium rates on Wyoming car insurance even more.

Wyoming Car Insurance Statistics

In 2016, the United States Census Bureau estimated that the population of the state of Wyoming was around 585,500. In fact, Wyoming ranks last among states in total population, and 49^th among states in population density. The median resident age in the state of Wyoming is about 36.5 years.

Wyoming’s unemployment rate is about average, at approximately 4.1 percent, slightly below the overall national average unemployment rate of 4.4 percent. The poverty rate in the state of Wyoming is about 11.1 percent, comfortably lower than the national average poverty rate of 13.5 percent.

An academic team from the Insurance Research Council recently studied a sample of drivers in Wyoming, and learned that the rate of uninsured drivers in Wyoming is only 8.7 percent. This rate is only about two thirds of the overall average rate of uninsured vehicles in the United States, which is roughly 12.6 percent.

Another study revealed the statewide average annual premium rates on car insurance policies purchased in each state in America. The annual average premium rate for Wyoming car insurance was around $1,494, a jump above the overall national average car insurance rate, which was about $1,355 at the time. This might seem surprising at first, based on Wyoming’s notoriously low population density. However, it is known that sparse, wide open spaces can induce drivers to speed, which leads to higher rates of accidents on Wyoming roads.

The 10 Largest Wyoming Car Insurance Companies

To help you choose a Wyoming car insurance company, see the following list of the 10 largest auto insurance companies in the United States, along with another list of the 10 largest auto insurance companies in the state of Wyoming. The companies on each list are ranked in terms of the total annual dollar amount in direct premiums written (not to be confused with the total number of policies written). These dollar amounts help us calculate each car insurance company’s total market share in America, and in the state of Wyoming.

According to a study, the ten largest auto insurance companies 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.

Now scroll down to view a list of the 10 largest car insurance companies in the state of Wyoming:

Rank	Company	Premiums ($)	Market Share (%)
1	State Farm Insurance Group	$79,222	23.48
2	Progressive Insurance Group	$47,566	14.1
3	Farmers Insurance Group	$44,509	13.19
4	Mountain West Insurance Group	$35,232	10.44
5	Berkshire Hathaway Insurance	$24,795	7.35
6	Liberty Mutual Insurance	$21,765	6.45
7	USAA Group	$17,694	5.24
8	Allstate Insurance Group	$16,613	4.92
9	Nationwide Group	$12,708	3.77
10	Sentry Insurance Group	$8,435	2.5

It seems that State Farm Insurance is clearly the most popular car insurance company in the state of Wyoming, followed by Progressive Insurance, Farmers Insurance, and Mountain West. Still, you may not necessarily choose one of the largest Wyoming car insurance companies. Perhaps you prefer a smaller, regional carrier. Or maybe the car insurance carrier you choose will depend on who you are. Seniors like The Hartford. Military personnel prefer USAA. And so on. There is really no such thing as The One Best Wyoming Car Insurance Company For Everyone.

Here are some ways for drivers in Wyoming to save money on their annual car insurance premiums.

Cutting Costs on Wyoming Car Insurance

Try these seven steps to saving money. This approach is an easy way to cut the costs of premium rates on your Wyoming car insurance policy:

Read a number of consumer reviews for at least a few Wyoming car insurance companies.
Make a list of whichever auto insurance carriers seem like your best options.
Visit the websites of these car insurance companies.
Get online quotes for several different zip codes from each auto insurance company website. You can type in your home zip code, your work zip code, your school zip code, or maybe even the zip code of a family member in another town.
Scrutinize the discounts page at each car insurance company website. Some discounts are automatically applied to your online quote, but other discounts may also be available to you. Maybe you can get an extra discount, perhaps for your occupation, or for having a family member who is insured with the same company.
If you are not sure whether or not you qualify for a particular discount, it can’t hurt to call an agent and ask.
Compare your quotes, with discounts included, then go for the cheapest car insurance policy that provides the coverage you need.

What Types Of Car Insurance Do Wyoming Drivers Need?

Insurance laws in Wyoming require that each auto registered in the state needs minimum insurance coverage amounts of $25,000 for bodily injury to others, $50,000 in per-accident coverage, and $20,000 to cover the cost of property damage.

Unfortunately, the minimum coverage amounts required by state laws are not typically high enough to cover the costs of actual traffic accidents. That’s why insurance experts recommend coverage amounts of $100,000 for personal injury protection, $300,000 against bodily injury to others, and at least $50,000 to cover the cost of property damage.

Additional coverage types recommended for Wyoming drivers include uninsured and underinsured motorist insurance (UMI), as well as collision and comprehensive coverage. Despite that Wyoming has a relatively low rate of uninsured drivers, most drivers in Wyoming are underinsured, due to the low state minimum requirements. As for collision and comprehensive insurance, these will cover the cost of vehicle and property repairs from damage caused by collisions, potholes, fires, floods, falling trees, animal strikes, car theft, and vandalism, among other unwelcome events that can damage a vehicle.

Best And Worst Zip Codes For Wyoming Car Insurance

Annual premium rates on auto insurance in the state of Wyoming will vary between zip codes, although not as drastically as in many other states. This variance is due to changes in population densities, unemployment rates, poverty levels, crime statistics, and other demographic zip code data that can affect Wyoming car insurance rates.

Shown below is a list of the four most expensive neighborhoods (on average) in the state of Wyoming to buy car insurance. Annual premiums in these neighborhoods run the range from about $1,125 to around $2,035, with an average annual premium rate of roughly $1,565.

Zip Code	Pop Density	Unemployed %	Poverty %
82723 (Osage)	5	13.10%	3.40%

This Weston County neighborhood is located less than 20 miles northwest of Newcastle, and roughly 20 miles west of the South Dakota border. Osage is home to fewer than 500 people. Unemployment far exceeds the 4.1 percent state average, but the poverty rate is far below the 11.1 percent state average. It remains unclear why this particular zip code is one of the most expensive zip codes in Wyoming to buy car insurance.

Zip Code	Pop Density	Unemployed %	Poverty %
82715 (Four Corners)	0	0%	0%

This Weston County neighborhood sits right up against the border of South Dakota, roughly 30 miles southeast of Sundance, and about 40 miles west of Rapid City through the Black Hills National Forest. We do not have any demographic information for this zip code, but this neighborhood is one of the four priciest zip codes to buy Wyoming car insurance.

Zip Code	Pop Density	Unemployed %	Poverty %
82701 (Newcastle)	6	4.30%	15.90%

Roughly 5,400 people live in this wide open Weston County neighborhood, where the unemployment and poverty rates are not too shockingly far above the Wyoming state averages.

Zip Code	Pop Density	Unemployed %	Poverty %
82711 (Alva)	1	0%	0%

Just over 100 people live in this Crook County neighborhood. The median resident age here is 56.2 years, nearly 20 years above the state average median age, perhaps because young adults leave town to find work. This area consists of mostly rural ranch land. The unemployment and poverty rates are unknown.

Now compare the Wyoming zip codes listed above to the Wyoming zip codes shown below. Here is a list of the four least expensive zip codes (on average) in the state of Wyoming to buy car insurance. Annual premium rates in these areas can range from around $1,120 to about $1,850, with an average annual premium rate of approximately $1,425.

Zip Code	Pop Density	Unemployed %	Poverty %
82327 (Hanna / Leo)	2	10.00%	31.60%

This Carbon County neighborhood is home to roughly 800 people. The population density is extremely light, as it is all over Wyoming, but the unemployment and poverty rates are far above the averages for the state of Wyoming. It is unclear why this neighborhood is among the cheapest zip codes in Wyoming to buy car insurance, although there is only a small difference in premium rates between Wyoming zip codes.

Zip Code	Pop Density	Unemployed %	Poverty %
82615 (Shirley Basin)	0	0%	0%

Shirley Basin is located about 50 miles south of Casper, right smack in the middle of nowhere. We do not have demographic info for this zip code, but car insurance is cheaper around here, perhaps because there is nothing to crash into.

Zip Code	Pop Density	Unemployed %	Poverty %
82334 (Sinclair)	2	1.20%	6.50%

This Carbon County zip code is located just west of Rawlins. Only about 400 people live in this neighborhood. The unemployment and poverty rates are both well below the state averages

Zip Code	Pop Density	Unemployed %	Poverty %
82331 (Saratoga)	4	2.40%	12.10%

This Carbon County zip code is home to roughly 2,600 people. The population density is as light as you might expect from a town in the state of Wyoming. The unemployment rate is well below the 4.1 percent state average, and the poverty rate is only slightly above the state average of 11.1 percent.

The vast, echoing state of Wyoming is home to only 195 zip codes covering 23 counties containing 176 towns, from Afton to Yoder and everywhere in between. The difference in average annual premium rates between the cheapest zip codes and the priciest zip codes in the state of Wyoming is, on average, about $140. Yet, people of any Wyoming zip code can reduce their premium rates by maximizing the discounts on their Wyoming car insurance policies.

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