How Much Does Car Insurance Cost for Uninsured Drivers in South Carolina?

Finding out which company has the best car insurance rates for uninsured drivers requires a little more effort than just getting one or two price quotes. Every insurance company has a proprietary method for setting prices, so let’s look at the rankings for the most competitive car insurance companies in South Carolina.

It’s a good idea to know that South Carolina car insurance rates are impacted by many factors which can substantially change the price of coverage. Turning one year older, moving to a different location, or getting a ticket for careless driving can cause premium changes resulting in some companies being cheaper than competitors.

Cheap Insurance Rates in South Carolina

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The Hartford generally has some of the most affordable car insurance rates in South Carolina at around $752 annually. USAA, State Auto, Auto-Owners, and SC Farm Bureau Mutual would also make the list of some of the cheaper South Carolina insurance companies.

In this example, if you are a customer of USAA and switched to The Hartford, you could earn annual savings of about $273. Insureds with State Auto may save as much as $353 a year, and Auto-Owners policyholders might reduce prices by as much as $367 a year.

Bear in mind that those premiums are averages across all types of drivers and the different vehicles they drive and and are not figured with a price decrease for uninsured drivers. So the insurer that is most affordable for your situation may not even be in the company chart above. That’s why you need to get car insurance quotes using your own driver and vehicle profiles.

The vehicle model you are seeking coverage for is probably the most important factor when consumers are trying to find cheap auto insurance for uninsured drivers in South Carolina. Vehicles with limited speed and performance, good crash test ratings, or a track record of few liability claims will cost significantly less to insure than higher performance models.

The next tables features insurance costs for the most budget-friendly vehicles to insure.

Cost estimates assume married female driver age 50, no speeding tickets, no at-fault accidents, $500 deductibles, and South Carolina minimum liability limits. Discounts applied include homeowner, multi-vehicle, claim-free, multi-policy, and safe-driver. Prices do not factor in your specific South Carolina location which can impact prices noticeably.

Data variables include married female driver age 50, no speeding tickets, no at-fault accidents, $500 deductibles, and South Carolina minimum liability limits. Discounts applied include claim-free, safe-driver, homeowner, multi-policy, and multi-vehicle. Information does not factor in your specific South Carolina location which can increase or decrease price quotes substantially.

Premium data assumes married female driver age 50, no speeding tickets, no at-fault accidents, $500 deductibles, and South Carolina minimum liability limits. Discounts applied include claim-free, safe-driver, multi-vehicle, multi-policy, and homeowner. Price information does not factor in specific location information which can impact rates considerably.

When shopping for cheaper insurance for drivers with no prior coverage, one of the many factors that insurance companies use when figuring the cost of insurance is where you normally keep your vehicle in South Carolina. Areas with more people or even just a higher incidence of claims like Florence, North Charleston, and Goose Creek tend to have more expensive auto insurance rates, whereas more rural areas generally pay less for insurance.

The illustration below rates the highest-priced places in South Carolina for uninsured drivers to buy auto insurance in.

Rates are approximated as the specific area where the vehicle is garaged can decrease or increase prices substantially.

The diagram below shows how different deductible levels can affect insurance rates when trying to find cheap insurance for uninsured drivers. The data is based on a married male driver, comprehensive and collision coverage, and no additional discounts are factored in.

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In the chart above, a 30-year-old driver could lower their car insurance rates by $264 a year by changing their physical damage coverage from a $100 deductible to a $500 deductible, or save $400 by changing to a $1,000 deductible. Younger drivers, like the 20-year-old category, have the ability to save up to $794 annually by choosing a larger deductible amount.

If you do raise deductibles, it will be important to have plenty of discretionary funds to enable you to cover the extra out-of-pocket expense. This is the primary disadvantage of choosing high deductibles.

How violations and accidents impact rates

The recommended way to snag cheap car insurance prices for drivers with no prior coverage is to be a safe driver and avoid tickets and accidents. The diagram below demonstrates how speeding tickets and at-fault accidents increase annual premium costs for each different age category. The costs are based on a single female driver, comp and collision included, $250 deductibles, and no discounts are factored in.

google.charts.setOnLoadCallback(drawVioqcibChart);function drawVioqcibChart() {var data = google.visualization.arrayToDataTable([[‘Age of Insured’, ‘No Violations or Accidents’, ‘One Speeding Ticket and No Accidents’, ‘One Speeding Ticket and One Accident’],[‘Age 20’, 2761,3009,3713],[‘Age 30’, 1921,2169,2875],[‘Age 40’, 1781,2029,2731],[‘Age 50’, 1559,1807,2509],[‘Age 60’, 1505,1755,2455],[‘Age 70’, 1745,1995,2699]]);var options = {title: ‘Effect of Citations and Accidents on South Carolina Auto Insurance Prices’,titleTextStyle: {color: ‘#333’, fontSize: 17, bold: true},width: ‘100%’,height: 600,’chartArea’: {left:100,top:50,’width’: ‘100%’, ‘height’: ‘70%’},legend: {position: ‘bottom’,textStyle: {fontSize: 12}},colors:[‘#b2da64′,’#eed355′,’#e39e71’],hAxis: {title: ‘Annual Auto Insurance Cost for Average Vehicle in South Carolina’,minValue: 0,format: ‘$###,###’},vAxis: {title: ‘Age of Insured’}};var formatter = new google.visualization.NumberFormat({fractionDigits: 0,prefix: ‘$’});formatter.format(data,1);formatter.format(data,2);formatter.format(data,3);var chart = new google.visualization.BarChart(document.getElementById(‘qcibvio’));chart.draw(data, options);}

The data in the chart shows the average cost of a car insurance policy in South Carolina per year with no accidents or violations is $1,879. Get written up for one speeding ticket and the average cost surges to $2,127, an increase of $249 each year. Now get one accident along with the one speeding ticket and the yearly cost of car insurance for uninsured drivers goes up to an average of $2,830. That’s an increase of $952, or $79 per month, just for not keeping your driving record clean!

How to get cheap auto insurance for uninsured drivers in South Carolina

The list below shows some of the better money-saving solutions that can help you quote low-cost coverage.

• Clean up your credit rating
• Do not pay for comprehensive and collision coverage on older vehicles
• Higher deductibles mean lower rates
• Avoid price increases by not filing claims
• Bundle car and home insurance and save money
• Buy safe vehicles
• Compare rates often to find the best deal

The last suggestion is extremely critical, as we stressed in this piece. Insurance rates in South Carolina can be changed at any time, so don’t be hesitant to buy a different policy if a cheaper price is available.

Loyalty to a specific company is fine, but it isn’t a good idea if your bullheadedness ends up costing you several hundred dollars every year. If you have a few minutes, now is a great time to compare prices and find cheaper auto insurance for uninsured drivers.

Cheapest insurance quotes for drivers with no prior coverage

Thanks to technology, drivers have a lot of ways to find affordable car insurance in South Carolina, but the most preferred are either through an independent agent, an exclusive insurance agent like Liberty Mutual or State Farm, or from a direct company like Geico or Progressive. Each way has the same basic steps, but car insurance shoppers should know the differences in how they price policies.

Independent agencies write for multiple companies and can get rate quotes from all of them. These types of agencies are not required to write business for one company and can provide you with more rate quotes, which can give you the best shot at cutting your rates. If you are not satisfied with one company, they simply move your policy to a different company and that require little work on your part.

An exlusive, or captive, agency is restricted to a single company, examples being Farmers Insurance or State Farm agents. This type of agents cannot quote prices from more than a single company, so you will not be able to compare multiple prices.

Car insurance from a direct company means you forego the middleman (the agent) and buy direct online or over the phone from a company like Esurance or Progressive. Buying direct is good for consumers who do not have a need for a risk management assessment and have a decent understanding of what coverage limits and deductibles they need.

So what is the best way to buy cheap auto insurance for uninsured drivers in South Carolina? We’d like to tell you buying from a direct car insurance company saves the most money because you bypass the middleman, but in reality, that is not the case. An argument could also be made that buying from an independent agent saves the most money since they have more companies to choose from, but that is not necessarily true either. In the right set of circumstances, exclusive agencies have really good rates that are the lowest in South Carolina.

Since car insurance rates vary so much, the only real way to make sure you’re not overpaying for car insurance is to compare lots of quotes. Set aside the time to get rate quotes from all three to have the best selection of rates to choose from. For a list of companies with cheap rates in South Carolina, click here to view.