Car buying is exciting but what we blur out the most is the cost of the car insurance that we must have. For that reason I created this post on best picks for a vehicle insurance for a student. Recently, I wrote in my recent post about my upgrade from Toyota Prius to Lexus CT but I did not mention anything about the car insurance costs that had went up. Being under 25, car insurance is sky high. My insurance cost had fallen little by little every year which is great but it is still costing me over $100 a month to insure my vehicle and I’m sure many of you are in the same boat.

One of my recent posts was my experience with cars I’ve had and cars I highly recommend for students check it out here.

I wanted to share car insurance companies that I found much cheaper than the top insurance agencies that we hear or see getting advertised almost on daily basis and I’m talking about Geico, State Farm, or farmers to name a few. There are few I would highly recommend to check out if you haven’t for your individual vehicle insurance.

Here’s the list best in California (My opinion):

1. Progressive

I have been with them throughout high school but with liability only but I’ve had  a first car and it was not realistic to buy a full coverage and thankfully I only got in one minor car accident that was not my fault. My rates every 6 months went down and was very affordable. I would recommend getting a quote from them and checking out because you might be surprised how much cheaper it might be.

2. Mercury

Mercury insurance is not very well known, this is a great another option. Note though, it is only available in 10 states California, Nevada,  Texas, Florida, New York, Illinois, Georgia, Virginia, Oklahoma, Arizona. I would highly recommend them, quiet a few of my friends students I know that have this insurance and their rates are really great for a full coverage.

3. USAA

You must have somebody in the military or a veteran to qualify for this insurance.  The best best over the first two I listed.

For Motoryclce: Esurance

If you haven’t checked out my “About me” page, I also have a motorcycle and the best rates after a long research I found were at esurance. IF you have a motorcycle, check them out and I am sure you will be surprised with the rates.

Tips on getting the best Rates

  • Don’t think that one company will be the cheapest – the whole reason I listed those popular ones in my first paragraph of this post is because we pretty much all heard of them. This companies spend a lot of money on the advertisements. No single insurance company is the same cheapest for everyone. Could be cheap for one person in one state but will be expensive for another in another state.
  • Check out your local insurance companies. The top four which are Geico, State Farm, Allstate, and Progressive control almost half of the nation’s auto insurance policies. Your regional insurance agency will most likely have better customer service and lower rates as well.
  • Discounts – Check for discounts. Insurance companies have discounts like insuring with multiple cars, if the car has certain safety features, being a student and maintaining certain GPA. Having a clear driving  record, or even if you pay the whole premium at once. So, make sure you check online and call for discounts available because some are not listed on the insurer website.
  • Always check the cost to insure before buying any vehicle. Can’t stress this enough, but pay attention to all the factors like repairs, fuel efficiency because insurance agencies already have all of this information on vehicles, so they know what to charge you and also aware of average life of that vehicle from their own statistics.
  • Don’t get collision or comprehensive coverage for an older car. Collision coverage covers your vehicle’s damages including accident with another vehicle or an object such as an fence. Comprehensive covers things like weather damages, animal accidents, floods, vandalism or fire. So, having older vehicle might not be worth having those repairs done because it will most likely cost more to repair than the vehicles value.
  • Play with deductible numbers. If you buy Collision and Comprehensive coverages, opt in for higher deductibles and this will save you a lot. Basically, by raising deductible you will pay that amount from your pocket if its your fault. So, lets say damage is $2000 and your deductible is $500. You pay the $500 and the insurance pays the other $1500.
  • Look into usage-based or pay-per-mile insurance. Those are not very popular options but if you are driving less than 10,000 miles a year, consider getting mileage-based insurance programs.

Bottom Line  

Check out the insurance before you purchase the car you really want. This is very critical step with car insurances, calculate your vehicle and make sure that it is actually worth it to have a full coverage and most importantly play with deductible numbers the difference could be 2-3 times more for a $0 deductible vs $1000.

1 Comments

  1. Sarah at

    Great Post! I loved the tips section. Keep up the great work.

    Bookmarked