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Ashlee Tilford is the managing editor of QuinStreet.com, the marketing and search engine service company. It recently released a consumer-based post detailing a new study by CarInsurance.com — the cheapest and best car insurance companies.
Tilford is our guest this week on The Weekly Driver Podcast. Co-hosts Bruce Aldrich and James Raia discuss with Tilford the CarInsurance.com, one of QuinStreet.com’s companies, compiled the resource guide.
While considering what’s available in major and small auto insurance companies, the report includes information vetted by experts in several categories, including driver’s age, location and driving habits.
“We compared rates among 35 different insurance providers,” Tilford explains. “But before we did that, we created 11 different driver profiles because almost anybody is going to find into one or more of those categories or someone on their policy probably will.”
Car Insurance: Different Rates, Different Drivers
Tilford explains the categories were established to relate to consumers to see what should be expected for “whatever their driver profile is.”
The study shows good value insurance options considering various categories: comprehensive coverage, drivers with speeding tickets, drivers with poor credit, drivers with accidents, student and teenage drivers and low-mileage drivers.
Tilford also provides insight into some of the controversial areas insurance companies use to determine rates, including credit score and marital status.
“I compare credit scores to high school GPAs or even college GPAs,” says Tilford. “People said ‘when you get out there in the real world, your GPA isn’t going to be that big of a deal. Nobody is going to care about that. Credit scores are similar.
“We can shuffle them under the rug and we can ignore them for a long time. But when they do start affecting us and they do, that is when it becomes apparent how important it is. Your credit score absolutely impacts your auto insurance rates.”
Please join us on Episode #197. Our guest provides knowledge and a jovial approach to what is often a mundane but integral part of car ownership.
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Article Last Updated: October 8, 2021.
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A sports, travel and business journalist for more than 45 years, James has written the new car review column The Weekly Driver since 2004.
In addition to founding this site in 2004, James writes a Sunday automotive column for The San Jose Mercury and East Bay Times in Walnut Creek, Calif., and monthly auto review and wellness columns for Gulfshore Business, a magazine in Southwest Florida.
An author and contributor to many newspapers, magazines and online publications, co-hosted The Weekly Driver Podcast from 2017 to 2024.