Mississippi car insurance rates are 5 percent higher than the national average, likely due to high traffic violations and crashes that force insurers to pay out more in claims. But Mississippi’s cost of car insurance depends on other factors as well; to help drivers find fair pricing for coverage, The Zebra’s experts have conducted an in-depth analysis of its most significant rating factors for Mississippi auto policies.

Mississippi drivers should take into account several key considerations when deciding upon and purchasing auto coverage:

Age and Gender One of the primary factors affecting Mississippi car insurance rates is your driving record. Accidents or multiple traffic violations on your record will significantly raise your rates because insurers need to spread costs of accidents across a large pool of policyholders to cover losses without going bankrupt due to one major incident.

Drivers with spotless records can save considerable money on car insurance by shopping around for the most competitive rates offered by top Mississippi insurers. They may even get rates equivalent to what would have been available had they never had an accident or traffic violation in their lives.

Your vehicle also plays an integral part in determining your Mississippi car insurance rates, along with driving history and type. Sports and luxury vehicles tend to cost more, since repairs or replacement costs tend to be higher after being involved in a collision. Furthermore, certain car models are more prone to theft, which can drive up insurance rates accordingly.

NerdWallet suggests adding collision and comprehensive coverage as a supplement to Mississippi’s minimum liability car insurance requirement of liability coverage, to cover expenses related to damage you cause others’ properties and injuries as well as your own medical bills and lost wages in an at-fault collision. Furthermore, uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage would also be beneficial considering 23.7 percent of drivers in Mississippi are without car insurance policies.

To calculate the true cost of Mississippi auto insurance policies, it’s crucial to compare rates from both local and national car insurers. Local firms tend to offer competitive prices, while their discounts can often outshone those offered by national companies.

Quadrant Information Services provided the data we used to calculate average Mississippi car insurance rates for a 40-year-old married female driver with a clean record. The rate estimate assumes both her and the vehicle are covered with $300k in bodily injury liability limits and $100,000 of property damage liability coverage along with collision and comprehensive policies as well as living in rural area with credit score exceeding 720.