Who Has the Cheapest San Diego Auto Insurance Rates for Hybrid Vehicles?

The words “cheap” and “auto insurance” probably shouldn’t be used in the same sentence, in particular when you are looking for the cheapest car insurance for hybrid vehicles. Because it’s so expensive, let’s start the ball rolling by going over some situations that have a considerable impact on car insurance rates, and find a few ways to reduce the cost of the next policy you buy.

The car, truck, or SUV on the policy is a large factor that determines if you can find low-cost insurance for hybrid vehicles. Vehicles with limited top-end speed, an excellent safety record, or a low likelihood of having liability claims will cost substantially less to insure than high performance models.

The next table features car insurance rates for a number of the most budget-friendly automobiles to insure.

Prices based on single female driver age 30, no speeding tickets, no at-fault accidents, $1,000 deductibles, and California minimum liability limits. Discounts applied include claim-free, homeowner, multi-policy, multi-vehicle, and safe-driver. Price estimates do not factor in specific location information which can influence premiums significantly.

Based on these rates, cars like the Ford Escape, Honda CR-V, and Ford Edge will definitely be a few of the cheaper vehicles to insure for hybrids.

Establishing which company offers the lowest-priced auto insurance rates for hybrid vehicles takes a bit more effort than just getting one or two price quotes. Every insurance company uses different criteria to establish rates, so to begin we’ll rank the auto insurance companies that tend to have lower prices in California.

It’s a good idea to know that San Diego auto insurance rates are based on many factors that will increase or decrease the price you pay. Simply having another birthday, filing a claim, or getting a couple of tickets can trigger price changes that can make some companies cheaper than others.

Best Insurance Companies for Hybrids

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Wawanesa offers some of the most affordable car insurance rates in San Diego at around $1,146 per year. This is $505 less than the average rate paid by California drivers of $1,651. USAA, Century National, CSAA, and Nationwide would also make the list of some of the cheaper San Diego, CA insurance companies.

As the rates illustrate above, if you buy coverage from CSAA and switched to Wawanesa, you could earn a yearly savings of approximately $76. Customers with Nationwide may save as much as $117 a year, and 21st Century policyholders might reduce rates by $179 a year.

To see if your current coverage is too expensive, click here to get a free quote or visit any of the low-priced companies below.

These estimates are averages for all drivers and vehicles and and are not calculated with a vehicle location for hybrid vehicles. So the insurer that has the cheapest rates for you may not even be in the top 24 companies in the list above. That point stresses why you need to compare prices as often as possible using your own driver information and specific vehicle type.

One of the more important things that help determine insurance cost is where you call home. More populated areas tend to have more expensive auto insurance rates, whereas areas with lower vehicle theft rates and fewer weather claims have the gratification of cheaper auto insurance rates.

The information below lists the most expensive cities in California for hybrid vehicles to purchase auto insurance in. San Diego is ranked at #20 with the yearly price of $1,368 for coverage, which is around $114 per month.

Premium costs are comparative as the specific garaging location can increase or decrease insurance rates considerably.

The diagram below demonstrates how choosing different deductibles can raise or lower insurance prices when researching cheap insurance for hybrid vehicles. The costs are based on a married female driver, full coverage, and no discounts are taken into consideration.

In the chart above, a 30-year-old driver could cut expenses by $350 a year by switching the physical damage coverage from a $100 deductible to a $500 deductible, or save $530 by changing to a $1,000 deductible. Younger drivers, like the 20-year-old example, could drop their prices $750 each year just by using higher deductibles. If you do decide to increase your deductibles, it will be required to have enough savings set aside to enable you to pay the extra out-of-pocket expense. That is the one drawback of using higher deductibles.

Full coverage or liability only

Saving money when shopping for auto insurance should be important to most drivers, and one easy way to pay less for insurance for hybrid vehicles is to not pay for full coverage. The information below compares insurance rates with full physical damage coverage compared to only buying liability only. The premium estimates are based on no driving violations, no at-fault accidents, $250 deductibles, drivers are single, and no other discounts are factored in.

If averaged out across all ages, comprehensive and collision coverage on your policy costs $2,314 per year over and above liability only. That raises the question if you should buy full coverage at all. There is no set rule of when to drop physical damage insurance, but there is a general school of thought. If the annual cost of your full coverage insurance is about 10% or more of the replacement cost of your vehicle minus the policy deductible, then you might want to consider buying only liability coverage.

For example, let’s assume your vehicle’s claim settlement value is $7,500 and you have $1,000 deductibles. If your vehicle is destroyed, the most you would get paid by your company is $6,500 after the policy deductible has been paid. If premium cost is more than $650 annually for comprehensive and collision coverage, then it might be time to consider dropping full coverage.

There are some cases where buying only liability insurance is not financially feasible. If you still have a loan on your vehicle, you are required to maintain full coverage in order to prevent the bank from purchasing higher-priced coverage. Also, if you cannot afford to purchase a different vehicle if your current one is totaled, you should keep full coverage on your policy.

Impact of speeding/accidents on auto insurance rates

The obvious way to earn good auto insurance premiums for hybrids is to be an attentive driver and maintain a clean driving record. The example below highlights how traffic violations and at-fault accidents influence auto insurance rates for each age group. The prices are based on a married female driver, comp and collision included, $250 deductibles, and no other discounts are factored in.

In the previous chart, the average cost of a car insurance policy in California per year with no accidents and a clean driving record is $1,785. Add in one speeding ticket and the average cost surges to $2,078, an increase of $293 each year. Then add in two accidents along with the one speeding ticket and the yearly cost of auto insurance for hybrid vehicles jumps again to an average of $4,613. That’s an increase of $2,828, or $236 per month, just for not keeping your driving record clean!