Cheap Illinois Low-Income Car Insurance for Families and Individuals

The factor that drives up the cost of car insurance in Illinois is adding a teen driver to your policy. Your age matters too: Student and senior drivers pay more than middle-aged drivers. While your income is not considered by insurers when calculating your premiums, your credit score can have a significant impact. MoneyGeek compares rates to help you find affordable low-income car insurance in Illinois whether you have good or poor credit scores.

Some 11.8% of Illinois drivers are uninsured, even though drivers in that state are legally required to have car insurance. Since car insurance policies tend to be expensive, these drivers might be avoiding buying car insurance because of its cost.

Because Illinois does not have a government program that assists low-income drivers with car insurance costs, the best solution is to purchase a minimum coverage policy that meets Illinois’ state minimum requirements. Low-income drivers who drive infrequently can also consider pay-per-mile insurance.

Illinois does not provide government assistance to help low-income drivers with the cost of car insurance. Still, there are ways you can save money on car insurance. For example, you should shop around and compare quotes from several car insurance companies in Illinois. To help, MoneyGeek compared all insurance providers in the state across different driver profiles and found the cheapest low-income car insurance in Illinois.

Insurance companies do not consider your income when calculating your car insurance premiums; however, income-related factors (like your age) can have a large impact. If you are a low-wage earner and can’t budget for a full coverage car insurance policy, you can opt for one with minimum coverage. MoneyGeek found that policies from Mercury and GEICO offer the cheapest car insurance for low-income families and individuals in Illinois.

Income does not affect the cost of your car insurance premiums in Illinois, but your credit score does.

As an example, single parents with a teen driver and poor credit score pay approximately $1,468 per year more than those with good credit. Similarly, couples with a teen driver and poor credit pay about $1,988 more per year than if they have good credit.

The two cheapest companies for couples with a teen driver and poor credit are:

• Mercury: $3,030 per year
• Country Financial: $3,173 per year

The two cheapest companies for single parents with a teen driver and poor credit are:

• Mercury: $2,271 per year
• Country Financial: $2,277 per year

A low income certainly doesn’t mean you automatically have poor credit scores. But good credit does help lower your car insurance premiums. Use the table below to see how much you can save.

On average, drivers in Illinois with poor credit pay $430 more than those with good credit. Let’s compare rates from the cheapest companies in Illinois for our sample 40-year-old male driver.

For a 40-year-old driver with poor credit, rates from the cheapest companies are:

• GEICO: $653 per year
• Mercury: $656 per year

Even if you have a low income, you can still have a good credit score. If our sample driver in this case has good credit, a car insurance policy from GEICO will cost about $377 per year and $378 from Mercury.

Student drivers pay high insurance premiums. It’s their inexperience behind the wheel (not their typically low incomes) that makes young student drivers riskier to insure than older drivers. Certainly, paying those premiums can eat up a considerable chunk of a student or recent grad’s income, making it more important to find cheap options.

Students with poor credit scores in Illinois can look to the following companies for the cheapest car insurance rates:

• GEICO: $1,602 per year
• Mercury: $1,602 per year

Students with low incomes don’t have to have poor credit. And it pays to have good credit. For low-income student drivers with good credit scores, car insurance from GEICO costs an average of $924 per year, and Mercury comes in at $928.

Senior drivers also tend to pay high insurance premiums due to their risk. As people age, they may experience health conditions that impair their ability to drive, such as reduced vision, impaired hearing and slower motor reflexes. And, like anyone else, credit scores also affect the car insurance rates for senior drivers.

Senior low-income drivers with poor credit pay approximately $472 per year more than their counterparts with good credit.

The two companies with the cheapest car insurance in Illinois for low-income seniors with poor credit are:

• GEICO: $707 per year
• Country Financial: $734 per year

Of course, having a low income doesn’t automatically mean poor credit. Low-income seniors with good credit scores pay much less for car insurance premiums than those with poor credit. For example, GEICO costs approximately $408 per year, while Country Financial costs $423.

Whereas insurance companies do not consider your income when calculating your car insurance premium, they do look at your age and your credit scores.

Young drivers are typically low income because they’re still in school or just starting their careers. But it’s not that low-income status that increases their insurance premiums. Rather, young drivers are deemed riskier to insure due to their lack of driving experience, and their premiums reflect that higher risk.

MoneyGeek analyzed the factors that affect your car insurance rates in Illinois. The three most important are:

• Your age.
• Adding a teen driver to your policy.
• The coverage levels you select.

Insurers also consider your credit score and your car model, which can significantly impact your insurance cost.

MoneyGeek calculated the cost of car insurance for low-income drivers in Illinois using quotes sourced in partnership with Quadrant Information Services. The sample driver is either a 40-year-old male, a single 40-year-old parent with a 16-year-old child, an adult couple each 40 years old or a couple with a 16-year-old child. The individual or family drives a 2010 Toyota Camry LE. The driver buys the minimum car insurance required in Illinois.

Costs for poor and good credit scores were extrapolated based on MoneyGeek’s dataset of credit score rate adjustments by score categorization.