Nevada Car Insurance Guide (Cheap Rates + Best Companies)

In the land of sin, also more commonly known as the state of Nevada, it’s easy to gamble away your troubles. But one trouble you should never gamble away is your car insurance needs.

That’s where we come in. We’ve put together this comprehensive guide to help you understand all the elements of car insurance in Nevada that you need to know.

We’ll cover topics on the minimum insurance coverage you’re allowed to have, the largest car insurance companies in the state, the various but specific state laws you’ll need to adhere to, and the absolute can’t miss facts of driving in Nevada.

So buckle up and hang tight and let’s get this party started.

If you want to start comparing today, you can use our FREE online tool now. All you need is your zip code to get started.

Nevada Insurance Coverage and Rates

Let’s get started! In order to know what kind of insurance coverage you’ll need, you’ll want to know the coverage requirements for the state of Nevada. We’ll even throw in some of the typical rates you’ll see for good measure.

We’ll go over everything from the minimum coverage required, forms of financial responsibility, and more.

Keep reading to find out.

Nevada Minimum Coverage

In order to legally drive in Nevada, you’re going to want to make sure you have at least the minimum liability coverage. What exactly is this?

Liability coverage essentially covers the costs of an accident, for both yourself and the other driver (if you live in an at-fault state). The minimum liability coverage is the minimum amount of this coverage you can legally have.

Since Nevada falls under an at-fault state system, this becomes very important.

An “at-fault” state means that if you are the one who caused the accident, you are the one (and your insurance provider) who is liable for the costs of that accident for both yourself, and the other driver.

So what kind of minimum liability coverage does Nevada have? Well, Nevada has a 25/50/20 minimum, which we’ve broken down for you down below:

• 25 = $25,000 for the payment of any injuries/death of one person in an accident you caused
• 50 = $50,000 for the payment of any injuries/death of multiple people in an accident you caused
• 20 = $20,000 for the payment of any property damages in an accident you caused

So bare this in mind; this is the minimum coverage that you are legally obligated to have in order to drive. It’s always recommended, however, to consider getting above the minimum coverage. Why?

Well think of it this way, if you are in a bad enough accident, the above amounts might run out pretty quickly. Once it does, you will be the one who is responsible for the remaining costs.

Check out the video down below for more information on the basics of liability coverage in Nevada.

Forms of Financial Responsibility

After acquiring the insurance that you need, you’re going to want to make sure you have something known as a form of financial responsibility while you are driving.

A form of financial responsibility, also more commonly known as proof of insurance, is a way in which you can provide proof that you indeed have the above minimum liability coverage.

In Nevada, there’s a program known as the LIVE program that does a lot of the hard work for you. It checks your insurance coverage in real-time if you are ever pulled over by law enforcement, or are in a car accident.

You are still required, however, to carry some proof of insurance on you at all times while you are driving. What kinds of proof of insurance are acceptable in Nevada?

• Insurance ID Card (can be either a physical copy, or an electronic copy)
• Copy of your insurance policy

So while the LIVE program can help make the process of proving you have the minimum liability coverage, make sure you still always carry at least one form of financial responsibility.

Premiums as a Percentage of Income

A factor for just how much your insurance premium is going to be, is actually based on a term known as the per capita disposable income. What in the world does this mean, and why would it affect you?

A disposable income is basically the amount of money you make after taxes have been paid. If you average out what your disposable income is with the rest of the citizens of Nevada (for instance), you have the per capita disposable income.

According to Statista, the per capita disposable income in 2018 for Nevada was $48,176.

This means that, for the average Nevada citizen, this is the amount of money you would have leftover to pay for all of your expenses such as health insurance, rent/mortgage payments, etc.

The table above is the three-year trend for insurance coverage in Nevada as compared to the per capita disposable income.

As you can see, Nevada citizens tend to pay an average of 3 percent of their disposable income just on insurance alone.

Making sure that you budget your income will help make sure you are able to make these payments is crucial. Insurance coverage is legally required for you to drive, so unless you are planning to start walking everywhere, you’re going to have to make these payments.

Want to know how much of your own income is going to your insurance? Use the tool below in order to get the exact percentage.

CalculatorPro

Average Monthly Car Insurance Rates in NV (Liability, Collision, Comprehensive)

Your average monthly car insurance rates may not increase as much as you might think by adding additional coverage like comprehensive. Review rates for auto insurance coverage below:

According to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), Nevada has the following core coverage costs:

Additional Liability

We’ve covered the minimum liability coverage you are required to have, but what about additional liability coverage types that are available for you?

There are two specific additional liability types that we’ll discuss in this section; Medical Payments (MedPay) and Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist coverage.

Medical Payments (MedPay) is the coverage type that will help cover your medical expenses should you ever be in an accident.

Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist coverage is the coverage type that helps to cover the costs of an accident should you be involved in an accident with a driver who either has less than the minimum liability coverage, or who doesn’t have insurance coverage at all.

Considering that 10.6 percent of the Nevada population is uninsured/underinsured, this last coverage option can be especially useful.

Now that you know about these two additional liability coverage options, we’ll discuss what their loss ratios are for the state of Nevada. But what is a loss ratio?

A loss ratio is basically the amount of money that insurance companies pay out in claims to their customers as compared to the amount of money that these providers bring in via the insurance payments you make to them.

So what is a good loss ratio, and what isn’t? Well, it’s based on the percentage of this comparison of claims versus premiums. You want a loss ratio that isn’t too high nor too low.

A loss ratio that is too high (over 100 percent) means that companies are paying out too much in insurance premiums and are actually at risk of going bankrupt.

A loss ratio that is too low means that companies aren’t paying out enough to their customers for insurance claims.

It’s like the story of Goldilocks, you want a loss ratio that is just right.

The table below displays the three-year trend for loss ratios in Nevada:

As you can see, MedPay has been riding at around 79.6 percent, which is pretty good.

Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage, however, while it looks to be starting to trend downward, it is still in the realm of loss ratios that are too high. For you, this means that insurance companies will likely start raising insurance premiums to try and balance out this ratio in the future.

Add-Ons, Endorsements, and Riders

Did you know that there is extra coverage that you could get, for really cheap? No? Then do we have news for you.

There are various add-ons for your policy that can really help you out in the long run. They’re definitely worth taking a look at.

We’ve collected a few of of the most valuable coverage types you might want to consider adding to your policy.

• Guaranteed Auto Protection (GAP)
• Personal Umbrella Policy (PUP)
• Rental Reimbursement
• Emergency Roadside Assistance
• Mechanical Breakdown Insurance
• Non-Owner Car Insurance
• Modified Car Insurance Coverage
• Classic Car Insurance
• Pay-As-You-Drive or Usage-Based Insurance

Demographic Rates

There’s a common myth in the insurance world that it’s men that tend to pay more for their insurance rates. Well, we took a look at the demographic rates in Nevada to find out of this was true.

As you can see from the table above, it’s actually age and marital status that plays a bigger factor in your insurance rates more than your gender.

Rates by Zip Code and City

In the table below, we’ve gathered all of the insurance rates you’ll see by zip code in Nevada:

ZIP codes affect auto insurance because of factors like traffic, crime to name a few. Find out how your ZIP code stacks up in NV.

This table below shows the most to least expensive cities for insurance in Nevada:

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Best Car Insurance Companies in Nevada

There are so many different insurance companies in the United States that it can be rather overwhelming. All of those companies out there fighting for your business, it may seem like you’ll never muddle through them all.

That’s why, in this section, we’re going to discuss the best (and largest) companies available to you in Nevada.

Largest Companies Financial Rating

Did you know there is actually a way for you to find out what the financial health is like for an insurance company?

It’s true. Through something known as the A.M. Best Rating, companies are basically given a grade for their financial health.

The below tables shows the A.M. Best Ratings for the largest insurance companies in Nevada:

Companies with the Best Customer Ratings

There are so many different factors when trying to pick the best company, so J.D. Power decided to step in to help.

They performed an auto insurance study to find out which companies, in the various different regions in the country, had the highest customer satisfaction ratings.

Nevada falls under the Southwest region, so we’ve provided the results of this study for this region.

Companies with Most Complaints in Nevada

It’s reasonable to assume that if you want to know the customer satisfaction of a provider, you’ll also want to know how many complaints they’ve received.

According to the Nevada Division of Insurance, the following complaint report has been found so far for 2019.

Nevada Car Insurance Rates by Company

Commute Rates by Companies

A factor you might not even think about that could affect your insurance rates is how far you commute.

Depending on the company, the farther you travel on a typical basis, the more you pay.

Luckily for Nevada citizens, most providers don’t charge for longer commutes.

Coverage Level Rates by Companies

Who likes to pay for more to get less? No one that’s who! But did you know that you could actually be paying more for a coverage option that doesn’t cover you as well?

As you can see from the table above, a low coverage plan with Farmers would cost you $5,020.70, while a high coverage option with Geico would only cost you $4,158.52.

That means you’d be paying $862.18 more for a coverage level plan that doesn’t protect you as well.

This is why is it critical that you compare insurance rates when you are shopping for your policy.

Credit History Rates by Companies

Just like how you want to know what an insurance provider’s financial health looks like, they also want to know what your financial health is like as well.

At the end of the day, they’re still a business. So they want to make sure you have the best coverage for yourself, but they also want to make sure you also will pay them for this coverage.

If you have a poor credit history, the chances of your insurance rates being much higher are pretty likely. If you have a good credit history, the chances of having a much lower insurance rate are pretty high.

Allstate alone, for instance, has insurance rates for good credit histories at $4,203.10 but has insurance rates of $6,965.19 for poor credit histories. That’s a difference of $2,762.09‬.

So one way to keep yourself from having to pay this large gap is to ensure that you keep on top of your credit history.

Driving Record Rates by Companies

Kind of like how insurance companies like to know what your financial health is like, they also want to know what your driving record is like.

The better of a driver you are, the less you tend to pay as insurance providers see you as less of a wild card.

The worse your driving record is, the more of a liability insurance providers will see you as.

Don’t believe us? Check out the video below.

Number of Insurers in Nevada

When it comes to insurance providers, there are two main types; domestic and foreign. What is the difference?

A domestic provider is a provider that provides coverage only for the state in which they reside in.

A foreign provider is a provider that provides coverage for multiple states, so think of the bigger insurance providers such as Allstate or Progressive.

In Nevada, you have the following number of these providers available for you to choose from:

Nevada State Laws

Every state is unique, so it’s reasonable to assume that each state has their own unique sets of laws for driving.

Nevada is no different, so in this section, we’ll cover the different state laws in Nevada from car insurance laws to safety laws.

Car Insurance Laws

Most states in the nation require that every driver has the minimum liability coverage set for their individual state. Due to this, there are car insurance laws put into place to make sure that everyone follows this requirement.

High-Risk Laws

Do you have a less than ideal driving record? Maybe even a DUI? If so, you’ve probably been labeled as the term “high-risk” driver.

This makes getting car insurance pretty difficult, as most insurance providers aren’t willing to voluntarily provide you with coverage. But since you’re required to have insurance coverage, what are you to do?

Well, in Nevada, you will have Nevada’s high-risk pool (also known as the Western Association Automobile Insurance Plan) to turn to.

What does this program do? It assigns you to an insurer, who has to participate in the program in order to conduct business in the state. That insurer must then provide you with at least the minimum liability coverage.

High-risk drivers can rejoice knowing that there is an option out there for you. But there’s a catch. As you are assigned to this provider, they can charge you whatever rate they deem reasonable, which is usually must higher than typical insurance rates.

So it’s always a good idea to make sure that if you are able to get coverage voluntarily through a provider to take that coverage first, as once you enter this program, you will have no choice in the rate you pay.

Low-Cost Insurance

Nevada, unfortunately, does not currently offer any low-cost insurance coverage.

Don’t let this get you down in the dumps though. There are countless ways to help you cut down on your insurance costs.

Having a clean driving record, a good credit history, or a short commute, are a few ways, but there is an additional way to help you cut down the costs, car insurance discounts.

Check out the list below of some of the most common car insurance discount to see if you qualify for any:

• Good Student
• Safe Driver / Accident-less Driver
• Homeowners
• Multiple Vehicles
• Paperless / Green (discounts offered if you opt for a paperless insurance policy)
• Auto-Payments
• Safety Devices

Windshield Coverage

Having windshield coverage can be a very useful coverage option, particularly if you damage your windshield, but did you know that some states require windshield coverage?

Luckily for Nevada citizens, however, Nevada is not one of them. They have no windshield specific laws.

Automobile Insurance Fraud in Nevada

According to the Insurance Information Institute (III), insurance fraud accounts for approximately $30 billion in losses each year! This is just one of the many reasons why insurance fraud is illegal across the nation.

Under Nevada Code section 686A.2815 the following are considered insurance fraud:

• Offering a statement to an insurer that you know hides or leaves out certain facts, or includes untrue or deceptive information about any matter pertinent to an insurance policy being issued
• Offering a statement to receive a payout or other insurance benefit that you know hides or leaves out certain facts, or includes untrue or deceptive information about any matter pertinent to that claim
• Helping, engaging, or plotting with another individual to make a false or deceptive statement to an insurance company in order to make a payment claim, have a policy issued, or receive some other type of benefit
• Knowingly and willfully acting with the intention of misleading or defrauding an insurance company to receive a policy or type of benefit under the policy
• Willingly accepting an insurance policy benefit while knowing that the benefit was issued due to a deceptive or false statement or act as mentioned previously

Automobile insurance fraud in Nevada is considered a Category D felony. This means that you could be facing fines of up to $5,000 and prison time of up to four years.

Moral of the story? Don’t commit insurance fraud unless you want to have to deal with the consequences.

Statute of Limitations

If you get into an accident and need to make a claim, you’re going to want to know what Nevada’s statute of limitations is.

What is the statute of limitations?

The statute of limitations is essentially a time cap on the amount of time you have to submit a claim or take someone to court as the result of an accident.

This means that if you try to submit a claim or take someone to court after an accident, and it’s past the state’s statute of limitations, you’ll be immediately turned away.

In Nevada, you have the following statute of limitations:

• Personal Injuries: Two years
• Property Damage: Three years

Our advice for you is to make sure you stick closely to how much time you have. Your start time starts on the day of your accident, all the way up to these times.

Vehicle Licensing Laws

Instead of a license to kill like James Bond, when it comes to driving, you’ll need a license for driving. Not as adventurous, we know, but it’s extremely important to know.

Penalties for Driving without Insurance

As it is a requirement for you to have at least the minimum liability coverage in order for you to legally drive in the state of Nevada, if you are caught driving without insurance, you could be facing some serious penalties.

The Nevada DMV’s LIVE (Liability Insurance Validation Electronically) system definitely makes things easier for you, but you are still required to carry your proof of insurance with you at all times.

The program essentially works as a tool that law enforcement can use to compare your insurance ID against the LIVE system to confirm everything is current.

If you are caught without your proof of insurance, and LIVE calls you out for not having any insurance at all, you will be facing thefollowing penalties:

• First 30 days of car insurance lapse = loss of your driving privileges, without a monetary fine
• 31 to 90 days without insurance coverage = loss of your driving privileges, you will also be fined $250
• 91 to 180 days without coverage = loss of your driving privileges, you will also be fined $500
• 181 days or more without coverage = loss of your driving privileges, you will also be fined $1,000.

In addition to all of this, you will have your license suspended until you can provide proof to Nevada’s DMV that you have acquired the minimum liability coverage.

If you have been caught driving without car insurance for more than 91 days, you will have to have your insurer file an SR-22 form in order to get your license back.

Not only will you have to have this SR-22 with you at all times for a minimum of three years after you’ve filed for it, but it will also stay on your driving record for at least three years. It also tends to raise your insurance premiums.

So bottom line – don’t drive until you have insurance coverage.

Teen Driver Laws

Teen drivers looking to get their learner’s license, and eventually their full-fledged license, will need to adhere to a few rules and regulations.

In Nevada, you have to be at least 15 years (and six months) old. In order for teen drivers to obtain a license or restricted license, they will need to:

• Be at least 16 years old
• Have the learner’s license for at least six months
• Complete approximately 50 hours of supervised driving time (10 of which need to be at night)

During this intermediate/restricted license period, they will need to follow the following rules:

• They may not drive between the hours of 10 P.M. and 5 A.M.
• Passenger restrictions include only being able to transport family members, with no passenger being under the age of 18

In order to get these restrictions lifted, they will need to be at least 18 years old (must not be younger than 16 years old).

License Renewal Procedures

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Nevada has the following license renewal procedures:

New Residents

When you are deciding to make Nevada your home, you will need to make sure that you get your license updated to the Nevada license.

Upon applying for your Nevada driver’s license, you will need to provide all of the following:

• Proof of Identity (such as your current drivers license)
• Proof of Name Change (if applicable)
• Proof of Social Security Number
• Proof of Residency (where you’re currently residing in Nevada)
• Application for Driving Privileges or ID Card

You can find the full list of documentation that is accepted at the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles Residency and Proof of Identity.

Rules of the Road

Now we’ll jump into a few rules of the road that you’ll want to know about for Nevada driving.

Fault Versus No-Fault

As we mentioned in a previous section, Nevada is considered an “at-fault” state.

This means that if you are the one who caused the accident, you are the one who is held accountable for the costs of that accident. For both yourself, and the other driver. So bottom line; you break it, you bought it.

If you don’t have at least the minimum liability coverage, this means that not only will you get in trouble for not having the proper insurance coverage, but you will also have to pay for all of the costs of the accident out of pocket.

We can’t stress enough how important it is for you to have this coverage, so if you take anything away from this section, it’s to make sure you get at least the minimum liability coverage.

Seat Belt and Car Seat Laws

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), Nevada has the following seat belt and car seat laws:

Keep Right and Move Over Laws

Two laws that are pretty universal in the United States, but are really easy to adhere to, are Keep Right and Move Over Laws.

Keep Right laws in Nevada state that if you are driving slower than the rest of traffic, you should keep in the right lane. Easy right?

Move Over Laws in Nevada are just as simple. Basically, if you see a vehicle with flashing lights, move over. Examples of these types of vehicles would be fire trucks, ambulances, utility vehicles, and law enforcement.

Speed Limits

The speed limits in Nevada, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), is as follows:

• Rural Interstates = 80 mph
• Urban Interstates = 65 mph
• Limited Access/Other Roads = 70 mph

Automation on the Road

What exactly is an automated vehicle? Well, they’re vehicles with automated features (not so much self-driving vehicles) as shown in the video below.

Nevada is one state that is currently authorizing the deployment of autonomous vehicles. Whether or not autonomous vehicle operators must be licensed or in the vehicle is dependent on the vehicle’s level of automation.

Safety Laws

Getting behind the driver’s wheel can be extremely dangerous if not handled properly, which is why there are a few safety laws in Nevada that you’ll want to familiarize yourself with.

DUI Laws

One of the worst causes of traffic fatalities in the United States is drinking and driving. It’s become epidemic in the amount of these incidents, which is why a lot of states are cracking down on drivers who choose to drink and drive.

This is especially present in Nevada, as Nevada is currently ranked as the 13th most dangerous stated in the nation for drinking and driving.

If you are caught drinking and driving in Nevada, you’ll be facing the following laws and penalties:

Marijuana-Impaired Driving Laws

Marijuana use has been a point of contention in many states for years, with a lot of states now legalizing the use of the substance. As this is new, however, a lot of states do not have any marijuana-specific driving laws.

Well, in Nevada, marijuana has been legalized for medical use, but it still not legal for recreational use. They are also one of the few states that have some regulations on marijuana-impaired driving.

Nevada DUI legislation states that drivers can not get behind the wheel if they have a particular amount of marijuana or the drug’s metabolites in their blood over the legal threshold.

Nevada Revised Statute Section 484C.110 prohibits drivers who are impaired by alcohol or a controlled substance like marijuana to drive or control a vehicle on public roadways, highways, or premises.

This statute states that an individual is unlawfully operating a vehicle while marijuana impaired if they have:

• Marijuana levels in their urine of at least 10 ng/ml
• Marijuana levels in their blood of at least two ng/ml
• Marijuana metabolite levels in their urine of at least 15 ng/ml
• Marijuana metabolite levels in their blood of at least five ng/ml

So our advice to you is to just avoid the whole thing by not using marijuana and trying to drive.

Distracted Driving Laws

Since the dawn of the age of technology, lawmakers have been bringing about more and more reforms around distracted driving.

In Nevada, hand-held devices are prohibited for all drivers while behind the wheel. In addition, there is also a texting ban in place for all drivers.

Drivers who are caught violating this will face a $50 fine for the first conviction in seven years, $100 for the following offense, and $250 for all other offenses.

These fines may even double if the distracted driving event occurred in a work zone.

If you want to see just how dangerous texting and driving can be, check out the video below to see what happened when a group of guys decided to put texting and driving to the test.

Driving in Nevada

Almost there, down to the last section.

Here, we’ll discuss the various statistics and facts you’ll want to know for driving in Nevada. Don’t take a gamble on this one.

Vehicle Theft in Nevada

Having your vehicle stolen is one the more unfortunate parts of vehicle ownership, so we want to arm you with the information you’ll need to protect your vehicle.

The table below displays the top vehicles stolen in Nevada, so if you own such a vehicle, you’ll want to keep it under lock and key.

If you want to know exactly what your city’s vehicle theft count is, check out the FBI conducted study results below.

Road Fatalities in Nevada

In this part of the guide, we’ll cover some of the road fatality statistics for Nevada. We know, it’s the rougher side of driving, but we feel it’s important that you know this kind of information.

The various factors below that contribute to the road fatalities in Nevada are according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

Fatal Crashes by Weather Condition and Light Condition

All Fatalities by County

Road Type Fatalities

Person Type Fatalities

Crash Type Fatalities

Five-Year Trend for the Top 10 Counties

Speeding Fatalities by County

Alcohol-Impaired Fatalities by County

Teen Drinking and Driving

One of the most unfortunate parts of the statistics above is that this includes teen drivers.

Nevada is currently ranked as the 25th most dangerous state in the nation for teen drinking and driving.

The table below displays some of the data found on Responsibility for Nevada.

EMS Response Time

Transportation

We’ll now move onto the last part of this comprehensive guide and briefly discuss transportation in Nevada.

This data (for Car Ownership, Commute Time, and Commuter Transportation) was taken from the Census Bureau via DataUSA.io.

Car Ownership

According to Data USA, the average Nevada citizens owns two vehicles per household.

Commute Time

Commute time nationwide is approximately 25.5 minutes, but luckily for Nevada citizens, the commute time is only an average of 23.2 minutes.

Commuter Transportation

The most popular form of transportation in Nevada is to drive alone at a whopping 78.5 percent.

Traffic Congestion in Nevada

One of the most frustrating things when driving is getting stuck in traffic. It’s, unfortunately, part of a lot of people’s commutes.

In Nevada, you have two cities in which you will see more traffic congestion: Las Vegas and Reno.

According to INRIX Scorecard, these two cities have the following traffic congestion data:

TomTom has the following information for Las Vegas:

Finally, Numbeo, has the data below for Las Vegas:

Now that you’ve made it to the end of this comprehensive guide, we hope that you feel more confident making the decisions you will need to make in order to get the best car insurance for your needs.

Don’t forget to use our FREE online tool to start comparing rates today, all you need is your zip code.

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