Who Has the Cheapest Fresno Auto Insurance Rates for 17 Year Olds?

Trying to buy cheap car insurance is hard enough, and deciding which companies have the lowest-priced insurance rates for 17 year olds will require even more perseverance.

Every auto insurer uses their own method for establishing rates, so let’s begin by taking a look at the insurance companies with the overall cheapest rates in Fresno, CA. It’s a good idea to know that California insurance rates are calculated based on many things which can substantially decrease or increase the price you have to pay. Things like getting older, increasing liability limits, or getting a DUI can cause premium changes that can cause some rates to be more affordable than others.

Find the Cheapest Auto Insurance for Teens

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USAA normally has some of the lowest car insurance rates in Fresno at around $1,143 per year. This is $508 less than the average rate paid by California drivers of $1,651. Wawanesa, Century National, CSAA, and Nationwide also rank well as some of the cheaper Fresno, CA auto insurance companies.

In the above example, if you buy coverage from Wawanesa and switched to USAA, you might see annual savings of in the neighborhood of $38. Insureds with Century National may save as much as $47 a year, and CSAA insureds might lower prices by up to $79 a year.

Understand that those estimates are averages for all types of drivers and the different vehicles they drive and and are not figured with a vehicle location for 17 year olds. So the company that has the lowest price for you may not even be in the list above. That affirms the importance of why you need to quote rates from as many companies as possible using your own personalized driver profile and vehicle information.

For teen drivers, one of the big components that determine auto insurance rates is where your car is garaged in Fresno. Cities with larger populations or higher claim trends are more likely to pay higher prices, whereas areas that tend to be more rural have the benefit of cheaper car insurance.

The table below sorts the most costly cities in California for 17 year olds in which to buy car insurance. Fresno ranks #12 with the yearly price of $1,517 on average, which is around $126 monthly.

Rate information is comparative as zip code location can change coverage prices considerably.

The car, truck, or SUV to be insured is one of the biggest factors when quoting cheap auto insurance for 17 year olds. Vehicles with limited speed and performance, excellent safety ratings, or a low likelihood of having liability claims will cost substantially less to insure than high performance models.

The data below features auto insurance premiums for a number of the cheaper automobiles to buy coverage for.

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. Estimates do not factor in zip code location which can revise premiums considerably.

Looking at the numbers, you can expect cars like the Hyundai Elantra, Ford Escape, and Honda CR-V are going to be some of the most affordable vehicles to insure for teen drivers. The cost of a car insurance policy will trend higher just due to the fact that there is more risk for 17 year olds, but in general those particular vehicles will tend to have the lowest insurance prices available.

The chart below shows how choosing a deductible can change insurance prices when quoting cheap insurance for 17 year olds. The premium estimates are based on a single male driver, full physical damage coverage, and no discounts are factored in.

As shown above, a 50-year-old driver could reduce rates by $362 a year by increasing from a $100 deductible to a $500 deductible, or save $546 by selecting a $1,000 deductible. Youthful drivers, such as the Age 20 example, could possibly save $1,190 or more by choosing a larger deductible amount. When raising deductibles, it’s a good idea to have enough savings set aside to enable you to pay the extra out-of-pocket expense, which is the main inconvenience of larger deductibles.

Get discounts on Fresno insurance

Car insurance companies that provide coverage for 17 year olds could also offer rate discounts that can lower rates by 40% or more if you meet specific eligibility requirements. Companies and the discounts they provide are:

• Progressive has savings for homeowner, multi-policy, good student, multi-vehicle, continuous coverage, online signing, and online quote discount.
• AAA has discounts for good student, good driver, multi-car, AAA membership discount, multi-policy, pay-in-full, and anti-theft.
• Farmers Insurance discounts include good student, youthful driver, homeowner, bundle discounts, alternative fuel, teen driver, and business and professional.
• GEICO includes discounts for seat belt use, good student, air bags, multi-policy, daytime running lights, membership and employees, and federal employee.
• Esurance may include discounts for multi-policy, DriveSense, good driver, anti-lock brakes, claim free, and emergency road assistance.
• SAFECO offers premium reductions for teen safe driver, anti-lock brakes, teen safety rewards, safe driver, multi-car, and bundle discounts.
• State Farm offers discounts for driver’s education, safe vehicle, multiple autos, accident-free, good student, anti-theft, and Steer Clear safe driver discount.

The example below compares insurance premiums with and without discounts applied to the policy rates. The data assumes a male driver, no accidents, no driving violations, California state minimum liability limits, comp and collision included, and $100 deductibles. The first bar for each age group shows the average annual price with no discounts. The second bar shows the rates with passive restraint, anti-theft, vehicle safety, paid-in-full, good student, and paperless filing discounts applied. In this example, the average savings per year on insurance for 17 year olds is 28% or $1,210.

Full coverage rates compared to liability-only

Buying cheaper insurance is probably important to most vehicle owners, and one great way to save on the cost of insurance for 17 year olds is to not pay for full coverage. The chart below illustrates the comparison of auto insurance rates when comparing full coverage to liability only. The rates are based on no tickets, no at-fault accidents, $500 deductibles, marital status is single, and no additional discounts are factored in.

If all age groups are averaged, full coverage costs $2,075 per year over having just liability coverage. At some point, every insured wonders if you should buy full coverage at all. There is no definitive guideline that is best for determining when to drop full coverage, but there is a guideline you can use. If the yearly cost for physical damage coverage is about 10% or more of the vehicle’s replacement cost less your deductible, then it could be time to drop full coverage.

For example, let’s pretend your vehicle’s claim settlement value is $11,000 and you have $1,000 physical damage deductibles. If your vehicle is destroyed, the most you would get paid by your company is $10,000 after paying the physical damage deductible. If it’s costing you more than $1,000 a year to have full coverage, then it might be time to buy liability only.

There are some cases where buying only liability insurance is not advised. If you have an outstanding loan on your vehicle, you have to maintain full coverage to protect the lienholder’s interest. Also, if you don’t have enough money to buy a different vehicle in the event your current vehicle is totaled, you should not drop full coverage.

Why you should be shopping around

Fresno insurance rates are determined by lots of factors which can substantially decrease or increase the cost of your policy. Improving your credit score, buying higher coverage limits, or getting into an accident can produce rate changes that can make some companies more affordable than competitors. In addition to those changes, car insurance companies change their prices every year in order to protect their financial rating. Heavier than normal losses may result in rate hikes, while a better loss history may cause lower-cost Fresno car insurance rates.

To illustrate this point, the chart below shows a variety of companies that have the cheapest car insurance in Fresno, CA for a 40-year-old female driver with no accidents or violations, and good financial standing. If we estimate prices based on her current situation, USAA might offer the cheapest car insurance rates in Fresno at $1,252 per year. This is $399 less than the average premium paid by California drivers of $1,651. Wawanesa, Nationwide, Century National, and CSAA are also on the list of the top five cheapest Fresno, CA auto insurance companies.

Now we will give the driver from above an at-fault accident, bad credit, and a stop sign violation. Due to the fact that every auto insurer has their own unique process for determining rates, comparing insurance quotes may now present a new list of the cheapest car insurance companies in Fresno as shown below.

Mercury now has the best auto insurance rate in Fresno with Grange, Progressive, Allstate, and GEICO now being in the top five. This example illustrates why California drivers need to do a thorough rate comparison to find the lowest car insurance quotes for 17 year olds.

Auto insurance prices can be determined by many risk factors and change dramatically, so the cheapest option the last time you shopped your coverage around may now be wasting a lot of money.