The words “economical” and “insurance” probably shouldn’t be used together, specifically when comparison shopping for the best price on coverage for high school students. In an attempt to save some money, let’s start off by going over some of the factors that have an effect on insurance premiums, and come up with some ways to take the bite out of your next policy.
Deciding which companies offer the most affordable car insurance rates for high school students will involve a little more work in order to find the lowest price.
Each auto insurance company uses their own method for determining prices, so we’ll go over the car insurance companies that tend to have lower prices in California.
Find Cheaper Car Insurance for Students
| Rank | Company | Cost Per Year |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | USAA | $1,143 |
| 2 | Century National | $1,178 |
| 3 | CSAA | $1,186 |
| 4 | Wawanesa | $1,192 |
| 5 | Nationwide | $1,213 |
| 6 | 21st Century | $1,325 |
| 7 | Grange | $1,491 |
| 8 | Allstate | $1,497 |
| 9 | Progressive | $1,512 |
| 10 | Allied | $1,541 |
| 11 | Mercury | $1,548 |
| 12 | GEICO | $1,575 |
| 13 | The Hartford | $1,575 |
| 14 | MetLife | $1,638 |
| 15 | Unitrin | $1,682 |
| 16 | Esurance | $1,688 |
| 17 | State Farm | $1,699 |
| 18 | Travelers | $1,806 |
| 19 | Bristol West | $1,849 |
| 20 | Farmers | $2,026 |
| View More Rates Go | ||
USAA may offer some of the cheapest car insurance rates in San Francisco at around $1,143 a year. Century National, CSAA, Wawanesa, and Nationwide are also some of the lowest-priced San Francisco, CA car insurance companies.
As the example above demonstrates, if you are currently insured with CSAA and switched to USAA, you could earn a yearly savings of approximately $43. Customers with Wawanesa may save as much as $49 a year, and Nationwide policyholders might reduce prices by as much as $70 a year.
To find the cheapest coverage for you, click here or quote rates from the companies below.
Remember that these estimates are averages for all ages of drivers and types of vehicles and and are not figured with a specific location for high school students. So the insurer that is most affordable for your situation may not even be in the top 24 companies shown above. That points out the importance of why you need to compare as many prices as possible using your own driver data and vehicle information.
The vehicle model requiring insurance is a significant factor when trying to find affordable car insurance for high school students. Vehicles with average performance, excellent safety ratings, or low incidents of liability claims will cost less to insure than higher performance models. The next list features auto insurance premiums for a handful of the most economical automobiles to buy insurance for.
| Make and Model | Estimated Cost for Full Coverage |
|---|---|
| Ford Escape XLT 2WD | $4,727 |
| Honda Accord LX-P 4-Dr Sedan | $4,736 |
| Hyundai Elantra GLS Touring Station Wagon | $4,727 |
| Honda CR-V EX-L 2WD | $4,773 |
| Toyota Prius | $5,120 |
| Ford Focus S 4-Dr Sedan | $5,565 |
| Toyota Tacoma 2WD | $5,571 |
| Chevrolet Malibu LS | $5,611 |
| Chevrolet Impala LT | $5,617 |
| Toyota RAV4 Limited 4WD | $5,611 |
| Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo 2WD | $5,617 |
| Dodge Grand Caravan Crew | $5,657 |
| Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer 4WD | $5,662 |
| Honda Odyssey EX-L W/Navigation | $5,909 |
| Ford Edge Limited AWD | $5,915 |
| Toyota Camry XLE | $5,909 |
| Nissan Altima 3.5 SR 4-Dr Sedan | $5,955 |
| GMC Sierra SLT Extended Cab 4WD | $5,964 |
| Chevrolet Silverado LS Crew Cab 4WD | $5,955 |
| Chevrolet Equinox LTZ AWD | $5,963 |
| Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD LTZ Crew Cab 4WD | $5,955 |
| Toyota Corolla XRS | $5,962 |
| Volkswagen Jetta SEL 4-Dr Sedan | $5,955 |
| Compare Cheap Rates Go | |
Prices above based on single female driver age 17, no speeding tickets, no at-fault accidents, $1,000 deductibles, and California minimum liability limits. Discounts applied include safe-driver, and claim-free. Rates do not factor in garaging location in San Francisco, CA which can lower or raise coverage prices noticeably.
Based upon these rates, we can tell that makes and models like the Ford Escape, Honda Accord, Hyundai Elantra, and Honda CR-V are most likely to be a few of the most economical vehicles to insure for teenagers. Car insurance rates will be higher anyway just due to the fact that there is more exposure for high school students, but in general those specific models will most likely have the lowest insurance rates compared to all other vehicles.
Types of discounts on San Francisco car insurance
Insurance companies that offer cheap quotes for high school students may additionally offer price discounts that could reduce prices by 35% or more if you can meet the requirements. The best car insurance companies and some of their more popular discounts are shown below.
- Progressive offers discounts for good student, multi-policy, homeowner, continuous coverage, online signing, online quote discount, and multi-vehicle.
- Farmers Insurance discounts include mature driver, multi-car, good student, pay in full, teen driver, switch companies, and homeowner.
- Farm Bureau may have discounts that include renewal discount, youthful driver, driver training, good student, and multi-vehicle.
- State Farm has savings for safe vehicle, Drive Safe & Save, multiple autos, student away at school, and multiple policy.
- GEICO may offer discounts for seat belt use, federal employee, multi-policy, membership and employees, five-year accident-free, and emergency military deployment.
- SAFECO includes discounts for safe driver, drive less, teen safety rewards, anti-theft, and multi-car.
- Liberty Mutual offers premium reductions for hybrid vehicle, newly retired, multi-policy, newly married, exclusive group savings, new move discount, and good student.
The diagram below illustrates the comparison of yearly insurance costs with and without discounts applied. The costs are based on a female driver, no violations or accidents, California state minimum liability limits, comprehensive and collision coverage, and $1,000 deductibles.
The first bar for each age group shows the price with no discounts. The lower bar shows the rates with good student, vehicle safety, anti-theft, paid-in-full, passive restraint, and paperless filing discounts applied. When taking advantage of discounts, theaverage yearly reduction on car insurance for high school students is 28% or $625.
Full coverage or liability only
Finding cheaper car insurance is important to most people, and one of the best ways to reduce the cost of insurance for high school students is to only buy liability coverage. The chart below shows the difference between yearly insurance costs with and without full coverage. The rates are based on no accidents or driving violations, $100 deductibles, marital status is single, and no discounts are factored in.
If we average the cost for ages 20 through 70, full coverage costs an additional $3,385 per year over liability only. That may make you wonder when is it safe to stop buying full coverage. There is no exact rule to delete full coverage on your policy, but there is a broad guideline. If the annual cost of having full coverage is more than about 10% of the replacement cost minus the deductible, then you may want to consider only buying liability coverage.
There are some conditions where dropping full coverage is not a good idea. If you haven’t paid off your loan, you have to maintain full coverage in order to keep the loan. Also, if you don’t have enough money to buy a different vehicle in the even your car is totaled, you should maintain full coverage.
You are probably paying too much for car insurance
San Francisco, CA car insurance rates are determined by lots of factors which can significantly increase or decrease the cost of having a policy. Simply turning a year older, marrying your spouse, or getting a driving violation may cause policy rate changes resulting in some rates now being more affordable than before.
Also, insurers modify pricing as often as every quarter in order to maintain liquidity for claims. A period of increased losses can cause rate hikes, while lower claim levels may cause cheaper San Francisco car insurance rates.
To illustrate this point, the chart below compares the cheapest car insurance in San Francisco, CA for a 30-year-old male driver with no prior accidents, a clean driving record, and good financial standing. When comparing rates based on his personal risk profile, USAA might offer the lowest car insurance rates in San Francisco at $1,440 a year. This is $211 less than the average rate paid by California drivers of $1,651. Century National, CSAA, Wawanesa, and Nationwide are the remainder of the top five cheapest San Francisco, CA auto insurance companies.
The next chart shows rates after we give the driver from the first rate comparison a couple of claims, less-than-perfect credit, and a few blemishes on his driving record. Since each auto insurer has their own process to establish rates, analyzing rate quotes may now show a different list of the cheapest car insurance companies in San Francisco as shown below.
Grange now has the cheapest car insurance in San Francisco, CA with Progressive, Mercury, Allied, and Allstate completing the list. This shows why San Francisco drivers need to shop around with many companies when trying to find the lowest car insurance rates for high school students.
Car insurance prices are influenced by many factors and can increase or decrease at any time, so the most economical option the last time you shopped your coverage around may now be costing you a lot of money.