What drives insurance rates
There are many factors that affect your auto rates. Some of the factors include but are not limited to:
1. Coverage limits and deductibles
2. Age, sex and marital status
3. Geographic Location
4. Vehicle use
5. Vehicle year, make, and model
6. Motor vehicle record
7. Previous coverage/continuous coverage
8. Consumer reports
There are people that work for the insurance companies that all they do is review statistics and analyze them. All of this is taken into rating your policy. It is all done in the background when an agent quotes your policy. As an insurance agent I do not have access to your credit score. We can see the Insurance score in some cases. (see https://www.creditkarma.com/question/what-is-a-good-auto-insurance-score for more info)
A few things you can do to help keep your insurance rates lower score is to avoid tickets. If you do get a ticket try to get it reduced in court to a non moving violation. Make sure you tell your agent if you start working for home as then your vehicle use would be changed for pleasure. Make sure you do not let your policy lapse, therefore creating a lapse in coverage.
Sometimes the rate increase is an overall increase, which means the company is taking a certain percentage increase across their book of business. Insurance companies need to keep a certain amount of money in reserves which is regulated. They need to be able to cover claims if they happen. If this happens, don't panic.
The benefit of working with a independent agent such as us, is we are able to then shop around to see if we can get you in with another insurance company that we work with to get your rate down or it may be that we need to review your coverage. That is what we are here for
The main thing is to not take it personal. I see it all the time. The insurance industry is very regulated and we have to follow the laws and regulations. If we said ok we will not raise your rate but we will for everyone else that had a change in limits, or marital status, etc that would not be right would it?
I hope this helps clear things up.
