Cheap Car Insurance Not Available to Some People
According to the Clark County, Washington Newspaper “The Columbian” Cheap Car Insurance is not available to everyone and the poor pay more for automobile insurance.
The portion about the high cost of being poor is below and the entire article may be read online at
It’s Tough to Get Far Without a Car
Poor pay more
Thomas Sanchez, a former Portland State University professor who studies transportation equality for the Brookings Institution, said that when governments are analyzing the cost of housing, they should take into account the expected transportation costs of getting to work.
“When you look at the household budget, the top two (expenses) are housing and transportation,” he said. “It’s not only the cost of getting the car, it’s all the extra costs of keeping it running.”
For lower-income people, the cost of legally maintaining a car can be far higher than those in the middle class and up.
The Columbian priced insurance and financing for identical 2002 Kia Spectras, owned by two imaginary single mothers:
- One with good credit, a bachelor’s degree, a clean driving record, continuous insurance history and a home in Brush Prairie.
- And one with bad credit, no high school diploma, one incident of driving without insurance, a recent insurance lapse and a home in McLoughlin Heights.
Each car costs $4,500. The first woman would pay as little as $177 a month, according to Progressive.com and Pete Cann Mitsubishi of Hazel Dell. But the second would pay $321 a month for the same vehicle.
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Lack of affordable insurance may be keeping the ability to drive legally away from many poor drivers and helping keep them in poverty.
For affordable car insurance rate quotes, contact Serenity Insurance Group at