Utah drivers see auto premiums go higher than drivers in other states after crashes

SALT LAKE CITY — From fender benders to car-totaling collisions, car crashes can be expensive for those who experience them. But new data shared with the KSL Investigators shows it is especially expensive for Utahns — particularly Utah teens.

According to the research from ValuePenguin.com, 18-year-old Utah drivers pay an average of $2,403 per year for insurance, but after a wreck, it jumps up to $9,643. That’s a 301% increase in premiums — the 11th highest in the country — and well above the national average increase of 253%.

Andrew Hurst, a data writer with financial services website, LendingTree, said that insurance companies have all sorts of parameters that they use when deciding someone’s insurance risk. It is proprietary, but it is science, and it is math.

“When you’re in the insurance business, you have to have generations of data, right? I’m sure that in this data, maybe they show that drivers in Utah who are teenagers are more likely to get in a second accident if they get in one already,” said Hurst.

Whether you’ve been in an accident or not, it is a good idea to know what discounts are out there for you, and many of them have nothing to do with driving.

As the KSL Investigators have reported before, things like — what you do for a living, whether or not you’re married, and how you do in school — can all offer major discounts on your rates. But it is up to you to make sure your insurance company knows about it.

An interesting juxtaposition: While a Utahn might pay more after an accident, typically, we pay less from the onset. We found that generally, auto insurance is less expensive than what drivers in other states could expect to pay.