How Much is Car Insurance for Retired Military in Houston?

You have most likely watched the captivating commercials from auto insurance companies like The General and Allstate promising enormous savings, so you just need to choose any one of them, right?

It’s not that simple, unfortunately, as there are many unknowns such as the area where you live, what liability limits you need, how safe your vehicle is, and if you have maintained coverage continuously. This article should teach you a little about the best ways to find cheap auto insurance and educate you enough to have a solid foundation to find cheaper car insurance in Texas.

For veterans, one of the more important things that are looked at to help calculate auto insurance rates is where you call home in Houston. Areas with more people or even just a higher incidence of claims tend to pay slightly more, whereas more rural areas have the benefit of cheaper auto insurance prices.

The following table lists the most costly cities in Texas for retired military in which to buy car insurance. Houston is ranked #4 with a yearly cost of $1,835 for car insurance, which is around $153 each month.

Price information shown is approximated as the vehicle garaging location can change coverage prices greatly.

The type of vehicle you are seeking coverage for is one of the biggest factors when consumers are trying to find low-cost insurance for retired military. Vehicles with lower performance, a plethora of safety features, or a track record of few liability claims will cost quite a bit less to insure than higher performance models. The next table ranks insurance premiums for some of the most economical automobiles to buy coverage for.

Table data represents single female driver age 40, no speeding tickets, no at-fault accidents, $1,000 deductibles, and Texas minimum liability limits. Discounts applied include homeowner, claim-free, safe-driver, multi-policy, and multi-vehicle. Premium costs do not factor in specific location information which can impact premium rates substantially.

Looking at the data, we can infer that vehicles like the Honda CR-V, Hyundai Elantra, Toyota Prius, Ford F-150, and Ford Edge should be some of the less-costly vehicles to insure for veterans.

Comparing quotes for budget auto insurance is not the easiest thing to accomplish, and finding out which companies have the most affordable insurance rates for retired military will take even more rate comparisons.

Each auto insurance company has a unique approach for determining rates in each state, so to begin we’ll rank the insurance companies that tend to be cheaper in Houston. It’s important to understand that Houston insurance rates are impacted by many factors that control the cost of a policy. Simply having another birthday, adding a teenager to your policy, or having an at-fault accident can trigger changes in premium that may make certain companies cheaper in comparison to the competition.

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Travelers generally has some of the most affordable car insurance rates in Houston at around $1,052 per year. This is $852 less than the average price paid by Texas drivers of $1,904. USAA, Texas Farm Bureau, Germania Mutual, and Esurance also qualify as some of the most economical Houston, TX insurance companies.

As shown above, if you buy coverage from USAA and switched to Travelers, you might realize yearly savings of upwards of $65. Drivers with Texas Farm Bureau may save as much as $159 a year, and Germania Mutual customers might lower prices by $204 a year.

Be aware that those rates are averaged for all types of insureds and vehicles and and are not calculated with a specific vehicle garaging location for retired military. So the auto insurance company that fits your needs best may not even be in the top 23 companies in the list above. That affirms the importance of why you need to get rate quotes using your own specific driver and vehicle information.

Liability-only versus full coverage

Paying less for insurance is probably important to most vehicle owners, and an effective way to lower the cost of insurance for retired military is to buy liability only. The information below illustrates the comparison of insurance costs with and without physical damage coverage, medical payments, and uninsured/under-insured motorist coverage. The prices are based on no driving violations, no at-fault accidents, $100 deductibles, single marital status, and no policy discounts are applied.

As an overall average, full coverage on your policy costs an additional $2,181 per year more than insuring for liability only. Many drivers may wonder if you should buy full coverage at all. There is no exact rule to exclude comprehensive and collision coverage on your policy, but there is a general school of thought. If the yearly cost of comp and collision coverage is more than 10% of the settlement you would receive from your company, then you might consider buying liability only.

For example, let’s pretend your vehicle’s settlement value is $7,500 and you have $1,000 physical damage deductibles. If your vehicle is damaged in an accident, the most your company will settle for is $6,500 after paying the physical damage deductible. If it’s costing you more than $650 annually for your policy with full coverage, then you may want to consider only buying liability coverage.

The information below highlights how deductible choice can increase or decrease insurance costs when researching cheap insurance for retired military. The price estimates are based on a single male driver, comp and collision included, and no discounts are applied to the premium.

The data above shows that a 40-year-old driver could lower rates by $440 a year by switching from a $100 deductible to a $500 deductible, or save $660 by choosing a $1,000 deductible. Even younger insureds, like the Age 20 chart data, have the ability to save as much as $1,446 annually by using higher deductibles when buying full coverage. When increasing deductibles, it will be required to have spare funds to enable you to cover the extra out-of-pocket expense that comes with higher deductibles.

Selecting the top car insurance company is hard considering how many companies sell insurance in Texas. The information in the lists below can help you pick which auto insurers to look at shopping your coverage with.

These ratings only include large, nationwide insurance companies, so smaller companies will not be included in these rankings. If you’d like to compare prices from these top-rated insurers and more, click here.

Top 10 Large Auto Insurers in Houston Ranked by Customer Service

1. USAA
2. Travelers
3. Mercury Insurance
4. AAA Insurance
5. Nationwide
6. Safeco Insurance
7. Progressive
8. State Farm
9. The Hartford
10. The General

Top 10 Large Auto Insurers in Houston Ranked by Value

1. Mercury Insurance
2. Travelers
3. American Family
4. AAA Insurance
5. Safeco Insurance
6. Progressive
7. The Hartford
8. The General
9. 21st Century
10. Esurance

How to find cheaper auto insurance for retired military

The list below summarizes a few money-saving suggestions that can help Houston drivers find lower-cost car insurance.

• Buy a vehicle with excellent safety ratings
• At-fault accidents can raise rates significantly
• Buying car and homeowners insurance together can save money
• Do not get tickets or violations
• Drop full coverage on older vehicles
• Earn discounts for being claim-free
• Comparison shop at least once a year

That last piece of advice is extraordinarily important, as we noted in this article. Prices charged by auto insurers in Houston can change significantly in a year, so don’t be afraid to change to a new company if you can save money.

Having brand loyalty is commendable, but we do not recommend it if that devotion results in you overpaying a fortune every year. Take a couple minutes and compare rates to find cheaper auto insurance for retired military.