How much does car insurance cost in Boston, MA?

Boston is one of the oldest cities in the United States. Have you ever visited the historical areas in the city? You can tell that some of those narrow streets were not originally constructed for autos. When people relied on walking and riding horses to get around, they did not have to worry about car insurance.

However, the Boston Metropolitan Area now has over four and a a half million people, and you can bet there are plenty of cars. Lots of people live in the city and surrounding suburbs.

In fact, you might expect Boston car insurance rates to be a bit higher than average for the state or even the country.

Rates in urban areas tend to be higher than they are in small towns and rural areas.

While rates in the state of Massachusetts are not close to the highest in the country, the state ranked 15th in a recent poll of average annual premiums.

You are already starting out with average rates that are higher than the national average, and you are also comparing premiums in an urban area. This does not mean that your own Boston auto insurance rates will be high, but it does mean that you should shop around for good deals.

What are Typical Boston Car Insurance Rates?

These are comparisons between average prices for full-coverage auto insurance by states in a recent survey. Louisiana is included because that state suffers from the distinction of having the highest average auto insurance rates in the country.

So, you might use it to compare to your own rates, and you will see that the average premiums in your city and state are not so high after all.

The average rate in Massachusetts is actually only about $100 higher than the national average for all fifty states and the District of Columbia.

• United States average: $1,510
• Mass. average: $1,625
• Louisiana average: $2,699

Of course, Boston shares its state with small towns and rural areas. One might expect Boston car insurance rates to average a bit higher than the state average.

No exact figures are available for the city because so many factors go into calculating any individual’s rates. Studying figures about average rates might be interesting, but it really will not tell you anything about your own premiums.

How to Find Your Own Best Boston Auto Insurance Rates

If you want to find good coverage at the right price, it is important to compare rates for the cars and drivers in your own family. The place you park your car in the evening does make an impact upon your premiums, but so do lots of other things. If you have multiple cars and drivers in your family, this can get complicated.

Things that insurers consider include the type of vehicle that you drive, your age, your driving history, and lots more. It is unlikely that your own rates will be exactly average.

How can you find the best deal on auto policies? There are a couple of tactics you can use to compare Boston car insurance. The way you choose to shop for insurance really depends upon how much time you have and your own preferences. Consider some ways to get help comparing auto insurance premiums in Boston.

Shop Online for Boston Auto Insurance

There are two options for online auto insurance shopping:

• Insurer’s websites
• Insurance quote sites

Major insurers have their own sites, and they will usually let you fill out some basic information and deliver quotes for the plans that they offer. The quote system might let you adjust your coverage options to see how that changes your rates.

For example, you can change your deductible or add or reduce types of coverage. You can get a lot of information that way, but you will only see rates and plans from one company.

Alternatively, you can find independent quote sites that allow you to compare basic plans from a variety of different insurers.

This makes it easy to compare different companies, but it will probably not give you a lot of details.

Typically, these systems also provide you with contact information for the quotes that it displays, and you can use this information to get more information about any plans that seem like good deals.

Ask Boston Auto Insurance Agents for Quotes

Good agents can be helpful, and they can also do a lot of your shopping for you. Besides giving you free quotes to compare, they may also give you professional advice about the right types and levels of coverage that you should buy to protect your vehicles and your pocketbook.

Some agents can only represent one company, and they can only sell policies that this one company provides. These are called captive agents. Other agents, called independent agents, can sell policies from multiple companies. They can help you compare different Boston insurers.

Captive agents are likely to know a lot about the company that they represent, but they can only represent that one company. Independent agents should have some pretty good knowledge about multiple companies, but even they probably do represent all of the area insurers.

Use the Internet and Boston Insurance Agents

Here is a good tactic that can help make your shopping process very efficient. You might begin shopping for Boston car insurance rates by using an online quote form. This should give you a lot of information to compare, but it might not have a lot of details. However, you should be able to pick out a handful of companies that offer good deals for the cars and drivers that you need to cover.

After that, you might spend some time contacting local agents or insurance companies to learn more about these offers, make sure that you are buying the right type of coverage, and find out about different options. This also gives you a chance to see if you feel comfortable with the customer service that they provide for you.

It is important to make sure you feel comfortable with your customer service experience when you are shopping for car insurance in Boston.

If you can’t get good service when you are shopping, you may not get good service when you actually need to make a claim on your auto policy.

The price that you pay for your policy might be important, but it will not do you any good to save a few dollars on your monthly premium bill if you do not get your claims handled quickly and fairly later.

Get the Best Boston Car Insurance at the Right Price

There is not one best Boston insurer for every vehicle owner. You will find that some insurers tend to offer better deals for different types of customers.

Fifty-year-old drivers with minivans might choose different companies than thirty-year-old drivers with sports cars. That is why it is important to shop around to find a good deal from a top-ranked insurers.

If you use the Internet to shop for rates, you can save a lot of time. However, you might also want to speak with a local agent to ask questions before you make your final decision.

You can use both the power of the Internet and personal service to make certain that you find the best Boston car insurance rates for you and your vehicles.