Did you fall for a flashy sales pitch and buy overpriced Ford Five Hundred insurance in San Francisco? You’re in good company because there are many San Francisco consumers feeling the pinch from expensive car insurance.
It’s hard to believe, but nearly 70% of consumers have purchased from the same company for at least four years, and just under half have never shopped around. Many consumers in the U.S. could save roughly 46.5% each year just by getting comparison quotes, but they don’t know the rate savings if they switched. People have multiple insurers to choose from, and though it is a good thing to have multiple companies, more choices can make it harder to compare rates and find the lowest cost car insurance.
It’s a good habit to compare rates yearly because car insurance prices tend to go up over time. If you had the best price on Ford Five Hundred insurance in San Francisco last year there may be better deals available now. Forget anything you know (or think you know) about car insurance because we’re going to show you the quickest way to lower your annual insurance bill.
The majority of larger companies provide price estimates from their websites. Getting quotes for Ford Five Hundred insurance in San Francisco can be done by anyone because you just enter the coverages you want as requested by the quote form. Once you submit the form, the quote system pulls information on your driving record and credit history and returns pricing information based on the information you submitted. Quoting online for Ford Five Hundred insurance in San Francisco simplifies rate comparisons, and it is imperative to compare as many rates as possible in order to find the cheapest possible prices on auto insurance.
In order to find out what other companies charge, compare rates from the companies below. If you have your current policy handy, we recommend you type in the coverages just like they are on your policy. Doing this assures you will have a rate comparison based on the exact same insurance coverage.
The companies in the list below are ready to provide free quotes in San Francisco, CA. If multiple companies are listed, we recommend you visit as many as you can in order to find the most affordable rates.
Best reasons to buy auto insurance in California
Even though San Francisco Five Hundred insurance rates can get expensive, insuring your vehicle may be required for several reasons.
- The majority of states have mandatory insurance requirements which means state laws require a specific minimum amount of liability coverage in order to get the vehicle licensed. In California these limits are 15/30/5 which means you must have $15,000 of bodily injury coverage per person, $30,000 of bodily injury coverage per accident, and $5,000 of property damage coverage.
- If you have a loan on your Ford, almost all lenders will make it mandatory that you have comprehensive coverage to guarantee loan repayment. If you let the policy lapse, the lender may have to buy a policy to insure your Ford at an extremely high rate and make you pay for it.
- Insurance safeguards your car and your assets. Insurance will also pay for medical expenses for not only you but also any passengers injured in an accident. Liability insurance also pays for attorney fees and expenses if you are sued as the result of an accident. If your car is damaged in a storm or accident, comprehensive and/or collision insurance will pay to repair the damage.
The benefits of having insurance are without a doubt worth the cost, especially if you ever need it. In a recent study of 1,000 drivers, the average customer is overpaying over $830 a year so it’s important to compare rates at least once a year to help ensure money is not being wasted.
You may qualify for discounts for Ford Five Hundred insurance in San Francisco
Insurance is not inexpensive, but there’s a good chance there are discounts that you may not know about. A few discounts will be applied at the time of quoting, but a few need to be asked for before you get the savings. If you’re not getting every credit you qualify for, you’re paying more than you need to.
- Save with a New Car – Insuring a new Five Hundred can cost up to 25% less due to better safety requirements for new model year vehicles.
- Good Driver Discounts – Insureds who avoid accidents can save up to 40% or more on their San Francisco auto insurance quote than drivers with accidents.
- Safety Course Discount – Participating in a course in safe driver could cut 5% off your bill depending on where you live.
- Paperless Signup – Certain companies may give you up to $50 just for signing your application on their website.
- Full Payment Discount – If you pay your bill all at once instead of paying each month you can actually save on your bill.
- Theft Prevention System – Anti-theft and alarm system equipped vehicles are less likely to be stolen and qualify for as much as a 10% discount.
- Auto/Home Discount – If you can bundle your homeowners and auto insurance and insure them both with the same insurance company they may give you a discount of approximately 10% to 15%.
- Federal Employees – Simply working for the federal government could provide a small rate reduction but check with your company.
- Driver’s Ed – It’s a good idea to have your young drivers successfully complete driver’s ed class in school or through a local driver safety program.
- Waiver for an Accident – This isn’t a discount exactly, but a handful of insurance companies may permit one accident before hitting you with a surcharge as long as you don’t have any claims for a specific time period.
While discounts sound great, it’s important to understand that most discount credits are not given to all coverage premiums. Most only reduce individual premiums such as liability, collision or medical payments. So when the math indicates all the discounts add up to a free policy, nobody gets a free ride. But all discounts will definitely lower the cost of your policy.
If you would like to see a list of insurers that can offer you the previously mentioned discounts in California, click this link.
Compare prices but still have a local San Francisco insurance agency
Many drivers would prefer to sit down and talk to an agent and that is a personal choice. Most agents can answer important questions and help submit paperwork. The biggest benefit of getting free rate quotes online is you may find cheap rate quotes and still choose a local agent. Putting coverage with local insurance agencies is definitely important in San Francisco.
To help locate an agent, after submitting this simple form, your information is instantly submitted to companies in San Francisco who will give you bids for your coverage. You won’t even need to do any legwork since price quotes are sent immediately to your email address. If you want to get a price quote from a particular provider, just navigate to their website and give them your coverage information.
If you’re trying to find a good insurance agency, it helps to know the two types of insurance agents and how they function. Insurance agencies in San Francisco are considered either independent or exclusive depending on the company they work for. Either one can provide car insurance policies, but we need to point out the subtle differences since it can impact the type of agent you choose.
Independent Car Insurance Agencies or Brokers
Independent agencies often have affiliation with several companies so they can insure your vehicles with a variety of different insurance companies and potentially find a lower price. If you want to switch companies, an independent agent can move your coverage and the insured can keep the same agent.
If you need lower rates, it’s recommended you check rates from at least one independent agent in order to compare the most rates.
Listed below is a partial list of independent insurance agents in San Francisco that may be able to give free car insurance quotes.
CAL Insurance and Associates
2311 Taraval St – San Francisco, CA 94116 – (415) 661-6500 – View Map
Robert E. Kennedy Insurance Agency
Flood Building, 870 Market St #740 – San Francisco, CA 94102 – (415) 951-0738 – View Map
Sam and Associates Insurance Agency
2225 Taraval St – San Francisco, CA 94116 – (415) 665-0181 – View Map
View more San Francisco agents
Exclusive Car Insurance Agents
These type of agents have only one company to place business with and examples are State Farm, Allstate and AAA. Exclusive agents cannot provide rate quotes from other companies so always compare other rates. Exclusive insurance agents are trained well on the products they sell which helps offset the inability to provide other markets.
Listed below are exclusive agents in San Francisco who can help you get comparison quotes.
Lynn Petrie Lange – State Farm Insurance Agent
3717 Buchanan St #100 – San Francisco, CA 94123 – (415) 923-0192 – View Map
State Farm: Michael Woo
2166 Market St – San Francisco, CA 94114 – (415) 565-6777 – View Map
Traci Hollander – State Farm Insurance Agent
1501 Church St – San Francisco, CA 94131 – (415) 647-3007 – View Map
View more San Francisco agents
Picking an car insurance agent should include more criteria than just the bottom line cost. Below are some questions you should ask.
- Can they provide you with a list of referrals?
- If your car is in the repair shop, do you have coverage for a rental car?
- Do they feel the quoted coverages are adequate?
- Can you choose the body shop in case repairs are needed?
- What insurance companies do they recommend if they are an independent agent?
- Are they giving you every discount you deserve?
- Is the agency covered by Errors and Omissions coverage?
- Is every driver in your family covered?
You may need specialized auto insurance coverage
When quoting and comparing insurance from an agent or online, there is no single plan that fits everyone. Everyone’s situation is unique so your insurance needs to address that.
For example, these questions might help in determining whether your personal situation will benefit from professional help.
- Am I covered while delivering pizza?
- Do I need roadside assistance coverage?
- Is my Ford Five Hundred covered if I use it for business?
- Do I need replacement cost coverage?
- Can I drive in Mexico and have coverage?
- What is glass protection for?
- What is the difference between comprehensive and collision coverage?
If you don’t know the answers to these questions but one or more may apply to you, then you may want to think about talking to an insurance agent. To find lower rates from a local agent, fill out this quick form or go to this page to view a list of companies. It only takes a few minutes and can help protect your family.
One last thing to lower rates
You just learned quite a bit of information on how to reduce Ford Five Hundred insurance rates online in San Francisco. The most important thing to understand is the more providers you compare, the higher your chance of finding the cheapest Ford Five Hundred rate quotes. You may even discover the lowest priced insurance comes from a small mutual company. They may often insure only within specific states and give better rates as compared to the big name companies such as Allstate, GEICO and Progressive.
While you’re price shopping online, it’s a bad idea to buy poor coverage just to save money. In too many instances, an insured cut full coverage and learned later that the few dollars in savings costed them thousands. The goal is to get the best coverage possible at the best price while still protecting your assets.
Steps to quoting cheaper Ford Five Hundred insurance in San Francisco
The easiest way to find affordable quotes for Ford Five Hundred insurance is to regularly compare price quotes from insurance carriers who can sell car insurance in San Francisco.
- First, try to understand policy coverages and the factors you can control to keep rates down. Many rating factors that cause high rates like at-fault accidents, speeding tickets, and a negative credit rating can be remedied by making minor changes to your lifestyle.
- Second, compare price quotes from exclusive agents, independent agents, and direct providers. Direct companies and exclusive agencies can give quotes from one company like Progressive or State Farm, while independent agents can provide prices from multiple insurance companies.
- Third, compare the quotes to the price on your current policy and determine if cheaper Five Hundred coverage is available in San Francisco. If you can save some money and change companies, make sure there is no coverage gap between policies.
- Fourth, provide adequate notice to your current company to cancel your existing policy and submit a completed application and payment to the new company. Once the paperwork is finalized, place the new certificate verifying proof of insurance in your vehicle.
The most important part of this process is that you use the same physical damage deductibles and liability limits on each price quote and and to get quotes from every insurance company. Doing this ensures an apples-to-apples comparison and the best rate selection.
Additional learning opportunities
- Vehicle Insurance in the U.S. (Wikipedia)
- How Much is Auto Insurance for a Dodge Grand Caravan in San Francisco? (FAQ)
- Who Has Affordable San Francisco Car Insurance for Electric Cars? (FAQ)
- Who Has Affordable Auto Insurance Rates for Active Military in San Francisco? (FAQ)
- Who Has Affordable Car Insurance Rates for Teenagers in San Francisco? (FAQ)
- Who Has the Cheapest San Francisco Car Insurance Quotes for a Chevrolet Silverado? (FAQ)
- New Honda safety features benefit drivers of all ages (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety)
- How Much Auto Coverage do I Need? (Insurance Information Institute)
- A Tree Fell on Your Car: Now What? (Allstate)
- Event Data Recorders FAQ (iihs.org)