Glendale, Burbank insurance rates among the state’s highest

A new report finds that Glendale drivers pay the most for auto insurance in California, topping a statewide list of more than 200 cities that ranks Burbank as sixth highest.

Single people in Glendale pay an average of $1,823 a year for coverage, while married couples shell out $1,740, a report published last week by ValuePenguin, a consumer finance website, stated.

In Burbank, single drivers pay $1,481 a year for insurance and married couples are charged $1,406, the report read.

On the other end of the scale, residents in Calexico in Imperial County pay the lowest rates, where a year’s worth of insurance on average only costs $866 for single motorists and just $15 more for couples.

ValuePenguin’s co-founder Ting Pen, a financial analyst, wrote the report. She said the data came from the California Department of Insurance, spanning 275 ZIP codes and 52 insurance companies.

About 30 driver profiles were used, ranging from new drivers operating a 2012 Toyota Camry LE to married mature couples behind the wheel of a 2012 Mercedes-Benz C300.

Glendale, Pen said, has high numbers of car crashes with bodily injuries and collisions involving uninsured or underinsured people behind the wheel, driving up rates.

That kind of math adds up, said Gino Mattunts, a manager at Safecal Insurance in Glendale.

“Considering all the losses insurance carriers take on, they have ways to manipulate the system where more premiums are gathered from L.A. or Glendale,” he said.

Pen also noted that insurance rates for 19-year-old males in Glendale and Burbank were among the highest rates, topping $3,084 and $2,500 a year, respectively.

When comparing towns, however, it makes sense that cities like Glendale pay more for insurance because of how many cars residents own, Mattunts said.

“If you compared Glendale to Eagle Rock, where the cars are valued probably in the $20,000 (per family) and the regular household in Glendale drives $120,000 worth of cars, so that premium is based on the cars as well,” Mattunts said.
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Follow Arin Mikailian on Twitter: @ArinMikailian.

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