Who Has Affordable Fresno Auto Insurance for 16 Year Olds?

Finding reliable, low-cost car insurance is hard enough, and deciding which companies have the most affordable auto insurance rates for 16 year olds requires a little more work. Every auto insurer has their own guidelines for determining rates, so let’s take a look at the overall cheapest auto insurance companies in Fresno, CA.

It’s important that you understand California auto insurance rates are impacted by many things that control the price you have to pay for coverage. This price variability is why Fresno drivers need to perform a complete rate comparison when trying to find the lowest auto insurance rates for 16 year olds. Rates can be altered by many different factors and change dramatically, so the most economical company the last time you shopped your coverage around may now be costing you a lot of money.

Best Insurance Companies for Teens

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USAA offers some of the best car insurance rates in Fresno at around $1,143 a year. Wawanesa, CSAA, Century National, and Nationwide would also be considered some of the more affordable Fresno, CA car insurance companies.

In the above rates, if you are insured with Nationwide and switched to Wawanesa, you might see an annual premium reduction of approximately $69. Customers with 21st Century could save as much as $222 a year, and Grange policyholders might reduce prices by as much as $290 a year.

Bear in mind that those premiums are averages across all drivers and vehicles and do not factor in a specific location for 16 year olds. So the insurer that has the cheapest price for you may not even be in the top 24 companies in the list above. That emphasizes why you need to get rate quotes from many companies using your own specific driver and vehicle information.

The vehicle you are buying coverage for is one of the main factors when comparison shopping for the most affordable car insurance for 16 year olds. Vehicles with lower acceleration and performance, a plethora of safety features, or a low likelihood of liability claims will cost substantially less to insure than high performance models.

The next list shows insurance rates for a handful of the most cost-effective automobiles to buy coverage for.

Prices based on single male driver age 16, no speeding tickets, no at-fault accidents, $1,000 deductibles, and California minimum liability limits. Discounts applied include safe-driver, and claim-free. Prices do not factor in your specific Fresno, CA location which can increase or decrease coverage rates significantly.

Based upon these rates, you can conclude that cars like the Ford Escape, Honda CR-V, and Honda Accord should be the most budget-friendly vehicles to insure for new drivers. The price for an auto insurance policy will tend to be more expensive just due to the fact that there is more claim risk for 16 year olds, but in general those makes and models will most likely have the least expensive rates compared to other types of vehicles.

One of the many components that are looked at to determine the annual cost of car insurance is where you normally keep your vehicle. Cities with larger populations are more likely to pay higher prices, whereas areas with fewer weather claims and lower vehicle theft rates tend to receive cheaper rates.

The next table sorts the most expensive areas in California for 16 year olds in which to buy car insurance. Fresno is listed at #14 with an annual premium of $1,517 for the average policy, which is approximately $126 monthly.

Rate quotes are estimated as vehicle location can revise price quotes substantially.

Does it make sense to buy full coverage?

Saving on auto insurance is probably important to most vehicle owners, and one of the quickest ways to buy cheap insurance for 16 year olds is to not insure for full coverage. The information below shows the comparison of insurance costs when comparing full coverage to liability only. The premiums assume no claims or driving violations, $1,000 deductibles, drivers are not married, and no discounts are applied.

Averaged for all age groups, physical damage insurance costs an extra $2,501 per year over and above liability only. At some point, about every driver wonders when is the right time to remove full coverage. There is no exact rule of when to stop paying for comprehensive and collision coverage on your policy, but there is a general school of thought. If the annual cost of having full coverage is more than about 10% of the vehicle’s replacement cost less your deductible, then it’s probably a good time to buy liability coverage only.

For example, let’s assume your vehicle’s book value is $7,500 and you have $1,000 deductibles. If your vehicle is totaled in an accident, the most you would receive is $6,500 after you pay the deductible. If you are paying over $650 annually for full coverage, then you may need to consider dropping full coverage.

Impact of careless driving on Fresno auto insurance rates

In a perfect world, the best way to receive low auto insurance rates in California for new drivers is to be a safe driver and not receive tickets or have accidents. The example below illustrates how traffic citations and at-fault collisions impact insurance costs for different age groups. The costs are based on a married female driver, full physical damage coverage, $1,000 deductibles, and no additional discounts are factored in.

The data in the chart shows the average cost of car insurance in Fresno per year with no accidents and a clean driving record is $1,537. Receive one speeding ticket and the average cost swells to $1,793, an increase of $256 each year. Next add two accidents along with the one speeding ticket and the yearly cost of auto insurance for 16 year olds goes up to an average of $4,138. That’s an increase of $2,601, or $217 per month, just for not driving responsibly!

The benefits of price comparisons

Fresno auto insurance rates are impacted by many things that can increase the cost of having a policy. Simply improving your credit, getting married, or getting a ticket for running a stop sign may cause policy rate changes resulting in some companies being more affordable than competitors.

And not only may your rating factors change, but insurance companies change the rates they charge in California every year or even multiple times each year to adjust for gains or losses. Significantly higher losses can result in additional premium costs, while lower claims can result in cheaper Fresno car insurance rates.

The chart below shows the company with the cheapest car insurance in Fresno, CA for a 45-year-old female driver with a clean driving record, no accidents, and solid credit. If we compare prices based on her current risk profile, USAA may have the most affordable car insurance rates in Fresno at $1,283 a year. This is $368 less than the average policy premium paid by California drivers of $1,651. Wawanesa, Century National, CSAA, and Nationwide are also included in the best Fresno, CA auto insurance companies.

Now we will give the driver from the first example a claim surcharge, poor credit, and a stop sign violation. Since each company has a proprietary formula for determining prices, comparing insurance quotes will most likely result in a different list of the cheapest companies as shown below.

Grange now has the cheapest insurance rate in Fresno, CA with Allstate, Mercury, Progressive, and GEICO now being in the top five. This example illustrates why consumers need to compare rates when trying to get the lowest insurance quotes for 16 year olds. Rates consist of many factors and can decrease or increase without notice, so the most affordable company six months ago may now be quite expensive.