Study: Pahrump one of most expensive auto insurance rates in state

If you drive a vehicle in Pahrump then you know that insurance can be pricey, and odds are you are paying more than the majority of those insured in the state.

A study of 30 Nevada cities, conducted by ValuePenguin, found that Pahrump is among the costliest cities to insure a car in Nevada.

The average cost of insurance for a one-year period in town was $1,274, which lands Pahrump as the seventh highest rate in Nevada.

The study also found that where Nevadans live can influence how much they pay for car insurance - annual premiums vary by up to 96 percent from the most expensive city to the cheapest.

The costliest city to insure a vehicle in Nevada was Winchester, with a yearly average of $1,959, compared to the least expensive rate found in Dayton at $1,002.

The cost of car insurance varies widely depending on where a driver lives and parks their vehicle. A driver living in the suburb of Las Vegas can pay up to $959, or 95 percent more compared to a commuter in a town in Northern Nevada based on ValuePenguin’s study.

The study was carried out by analysts at ValuePenguin who conducted a study of car insurance quotes for two sample drivers at sixteen companies in various Nevada cities to develop a benchmark of which cities had the best and worst rates.

The two sample drivers used in the study were a single 30-year-old male and a single 65-year-old male. Both owned their vehicles, which in this study was a 2010 Toyota Camry, and drove back and forth from work, which amounts to about 12,000 miles a year.

The sample persons also had a good credit history and a clean driving record with no accidents or traffic violations in the past five years. Costs were based on basic liability protection for the 2010 Toyota Camry. Nevada requires minimum Bodily Injury Liability protection of $15,000 per person and $30,000 per accident. It also requires that drivers are insured for up to $10,000 for property damage.

Several top insurance companies were used in the study including GEICO, Allstate, and State Farm.