Best Cheap Auto Insurance Quotes for High School Students in California

For teenagers, one of the more important considerations that auto insurance companies use to determine car insurance rates is where you keep your car in California. Cities with larger populations or higher claim trends like Los Angeles, Oakland, and Sacramento tend to pay higher rates, whereas areas that are not as densely populated have the luxury of the best cheap auto insurance for high school students in California.

The table below lists the highest-priced areas in California for high school students in which to purchase auto insurance.

Rate information is approximated as the vehicle garaging location can affect prices considerably.

The car, truck, or SUV you are seeking coverage for is one of the largest considerations when comparison shopping for low-cost auto insurance for high school students. Vehicles with limited top-end speed, excellent safety ratings, or a track record of few liability claims will cost less to insure than fast, unsafe models. The next table illustrates coverage prices for a selection of the cheaper automobiles to buy insurance for.

Prices based on single female driver age 17, no speeding tickets, no at-fault accidents, $500 deductibles, and California minimum liability limits. Discounts applied include safe-driver, and claim-free. Rate quotes do not factor in specific zip code location which can affect premiums noticeably.

By looking at the data, you can conclude that vehicles like the Ford Escape, Honda CR-V, Chevrolet Traverse, Jeep Wrangler, and Hyundai Elantra should be some of the cheaper vehicles to insure for teenagers. The price of auto insurance will tend to be higher just because there is more inherent risk for high school students, but in general those vehicles will probably have the best rates that you are likely to find.

Violations and accidents raise rates

The ideal way to snag the best insurance premiums for teenagers is to drive safely and not get tickets or have accidents. The chart below illustrates how violations and at-fault accidents can increase auto insurance rates for each different age group. The premiums are based on a single female driver, full coverage, $250 deductibles, and no additional discounts are factored in.

In the prior example, the average cost of an auto insurance policy in California per year with a clean driving record and no accidents is $2,199. Add in one speeding ticket and the average cost rises to $2,493, an increase of $294 each year. Next add one accident along with the one speeding ticket and the 12-month cost of insurance for high school students increases to an average of $3,311. That’s an increase of $1,112, or $93 per month, just for not driving attentively!

Cheap insurance quotes for teenagers

Thanks to technology, there are a lot of ways to find affordable insurance in California, but the most prevalent methods are using a captive (or exclusive) agency such as Allstate or State Farm, an independent insurance agent, or from a direct company like Geico.

They all have the same end result, but it’s important to understand the differences in how they work.

Independent agents write business for many companies and can do rate comparisons with each one. These types of agencies will provide multiple price quotes, which can give you a better comparison. If you are not satisfied with one company, they can switch companies in-house and you do not have to find a new agent.

An exclusive agent is limited to a single company, two examples are an Allstate or State Farm agent. They are unable to shop your coverage around, so they have to upsell other benefits.

If you buy direct, you skip local insurance agents and instead buy direct from companies such as Progressive or Geico. This option may be preferred by families who do not have complex finances and have some degree of understanding of what specific coverages and deductibles they need.

Out of those three methods, which one works best to find the best cheap auto insurance for high school students in California? We’d like to say buying from a direct car insurance company yields the cheapest rates because you bypass the agent, but in reality, that is not the case. And we’d like to say an independent agent is the best way due to having more companies to select from, but that idea is not necessarily true either. In many cases, exclusive agents may have very competitive prices that other insurance companies cannot touch.

Because there is so much variation in insurance prices, really the only way to not overpay for insurance is to compare lots of quotes. Be sure to get quotes from all three to have a good selection of rates to choose from. To see some of the cheapest online companies available, click here to view.

How to find the best cheap auto insurance for high school students in California

It is possible to find better rates, and here are a few money-saving solutions that can help you find cheap coverage.

• Increase physical damage deductibles
• Assess whether full coverage is needed
• At-fault accidents can raise rates significantly
• Do not get traffic violations
• Try to pay small claims out-of-pocket
• Comparison shop at least once a year

That last idea is remarkably significant, as we discussed in this article. Prices charged by auto insurers in California change a lot, so drivers shouldn’t be resistant to buy from a different company if you find a better deal. Having brand loyalty is commendable, but it’s not a good idea if that devotedness results in you overpaying a fortune every year. In just a couple of minutes you could compare rates and find cheaper auto insurance for high school students.