The words “economical” and “insurance” really shouldn’t be used in the same sentence, in particular when you are shopping around for the cheapest auto insurance for police officers. Because of the high cost, let’s take a look at a few of the things that significantly impact insurance rates, and come up with some ideas to take a little off your next policy.
For law enforcement personnel, one of the largest things that aid in calculating the price you pay for insurance is where your car is garaged in Baltimore. Areas with more people or more claims are more likely to pay higher prices, whereas areas with less people or fewer weather incidents have the benefit of cheaper auto insurance prices.
The information below ranks the most costly cities in Maryland for police officers to purchase car insurance in. Baltimore shows up at #1 with a yearly cost of $1,760 for the average policyholder, which is approximately $147 per month.
| Rank | City | Annual Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Baltimore | $1,760 |
| 2 | Woodlawn | $1,625 |
| 3 | Towson | $1,512 |
| 4 | Dundalk | $1,505 |
| 5 | Catonsville | $1,475 |
| 6 | Essex | $1,474 |
| 7 | Bowie | $1,432 |
| 8 | Silver Spring | $1,432 |
| 9 | Aspen Hill | $1,420 |
| 10 | Waldorf | $1,389 |
| 11 | Wheaton | $1,375 |
| 12 | Glen Burnie | $1,370 |
| 13 | Severn | $1,327 |
| 14 | Rockville | $1,303 |
| 15 | Gaithersburg | $1,278 |
| 16 | Germantown | $1,275 |
| 17 | Potomac | $1,274 |
| 18 | Columbia | $1,263 |
| 19 | Ellicott City | $1,245 |
| 20 | Annapolis | $1,218 |
| 21 | North Bethesda | $1,206 |
| 22 | Bethesda | $1,202 |
| 23 | Bel Air South | $1,186 |
| 24 | Frederick | $1,034 |
| 25 | Hagerstown | $980 |
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Information shown are approximated as the specific zip code location can increase or decrease rates considerably.
The car, truck, or SUV that is being insured is one of the biggest factors that determines the availability of low-cost car insurance for police officers. Vehicles with reasonable performance levels, advanced safety features, or low incidents of liability claims will cost significantly less to insure than higher performance models.
The list below shows auto insurance rates for a number of the cheaper vehicles to insure.
| Insured Vehicle | Estimated Cost for Full Coverage |
|---|---|
| Honda CR-V LX 4WD | $2,308 |
| Toyota Prius | $2,556 |
| Ford Escape XLS 4WD | $2,642 |
| Chevrolet Impala LS | $2,680 |
| Toyota RAV4 Limited 4WD | $2,732 |
| Chevrolet Equinox LS AWD | $2,741 |
| Ford Fusion S 4-Dr Sedan | $2,732 |
| Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer 4WD | $2,787 |
| Honda Civic LX 4-Dr Sedan | $2,825 |
| Toyota Corolla LE | $2,877 |
| Toyota Camry SE | $2,887 |
| GMC Sierra 2500HD SLE Regular Cab 4WD | $2,932 |
| Chevrolet Malibu LTZ | $2,938 |
| Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited 2WD | $2,932 |
| Ford Edge Limited 2WD | $3,074 |
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Prices above based on single female driver age 40, no speeding tickets, no at-fault accidents, $1,000 deductibles, and Maryland minimum liability limits. Discounts applied include multi-policy, homeowner, multi-vehicle, claim-free, and safe-driver. Estimates do not factor in vehicle location which can lower or raise insurance rates considerably.
Looking at the rates, you can see that cars like the Honda CR-V, Toyota Prius, and Ford Escape are likely to be the most affordable vehicles to insure for law enforcement personnel.
Finding decent, cost effective auto insurance is tough enough, and deciding which companies quote the most affordable insurance rates for police officers involves additional perseverance. Each company has a different process for setting rates, so to begin we’ll rank the insurance companies that tend to have lower prices in Maryland.
Find the Cheapest Auto Insurance for Law Enforcement
| Rank | Company | Cost Per Year |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | USAA | $920 |
| 2 | Liberty Mutual | $1,081 |
| 3 | Penn National | $1,093 |
| 4 | Erie | $1,127 |
| 5 | State Auto | $1,214 |
| 6 | Amica | $1,295 |
| 7 | Travelers | $1,384 |
| 8 | Nationwide | $1,421 |
| 9 | MetLife | $1,428 |
| 10 | GEICO | $1,472 |
| 11 | California Casualty | $1,529 |
| 12 | State Farm | $1,646 |
| 13 | Allstate | $1,662 |
| 14 | Progressive | $2,065 |
| 15 | Encompass | $2,490 |
| 16 | Victoria | $3,023 |
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USAA offers some of the lowest car insurance rates in Baltimore at around $920 per year. This is $639 less than the average price paid by Maryland drivers of $1,559. Liberty Mutual, Penn National, Erie, and State Auto also qualify as some of the most economical Baltimore, MD auto insurance companies.
As shown in the table above, if you are insured with Penn National and switched to USAA, you may see yearly savings of in the vicinity of $173. Maryland drivers with Erie might save as much as $207 a year, and State Auto insureds might see rate reductions of $294 a year.
These estimates are averaged for all drivers and vehicles and do not take into consideration an exact location for police officers. So the car insurance company that is most affordable for your situation may not even be in the list above. That is why you need to get quotes using your own driver and vehicle profiles.
Does it make sense to buy full coverage?
Saving money on insurance should be important to the majority of vehicle owners, and a good way to save on the cost of insurance for police officers is to only buy liability coverage. The illustration below shows the comparison of car insurance rates with and without full coverage. The data assumes no claims, a clean driving record, $1,000 deductibles, single status, and no other discounts are factored in.
As an average for all age groups, physical damage insurance costs an extra $1,842 per year more than carrying just liability coverage. That is a big expense that brings up the question if paying for full coverage is a waste of money. There is no clear-cut formula to stop paying for comprehensive and collision coverage on your policy, but there is a guideline you can consider. If the annual cost of having full coverage is more than 10% of the vehicle’s replacement cost less your deductible, then you might want to consider buying only liability coverage.
For example, let’s pretend your vehicle’s book value is $3,000 and you have $1,000 full coverage deductibles. If your vehicle is destroyed, the most you would receive is $2,000 after the policy deductible has been paid. If it’s costing you more than $200 annually for physical damage coverage, then it could be time to drop full coverage.
The diagram below shows how choosing a deductible can impact annual premium costs when getting quotes for cheap insurance for police officers. The premiums assume a single female driver, full physical damage coverage, and no discounts are taken into consideration.
In the chart above, a 30-year-old driver could save $368 a year by switching from a $100 deductible to a $500 deductible, or save $558 by changing to a $1,000 deductible. Young drivers, like the Age 20 category, could save up to $816 each year by using higher deductibles when buying full coverage.
When choosing a higher deductible, it is a good idea to have plenty of money set aside to pay the extra out-of-pocket expense. This is the primary disadvantage of choosing high deductibles.
Irresponsible driving raises your rates
In a perfect world, the ideal way to enjoy good insurance rates in Maryland for law enforcement personnel is to drive safely and avoid tickets and accidents. The information below shows how speeding tickets and fender-benders drive up insurance costs for different insured age categories. The premium estimates are based on a single male driver, comprehensive and collision coverage, $1,000 deductibles, and no discounts are applied to the premium.
The data in the chart shows the average cost of auto insurance per year with no violations or accidents is $1,842. Get written up for two speeding tickets and the average cost jumps to $2,431, an increase of $590 each year. Now get one accident along with the two speeding tickets and the 12-month cost of insurance for police officers increases to an average of $3,029. That’s an increase of $1,187, or $99 per month, just for not paying attention while driving!