Who Has the Cheapest Car Insurance for Seniors in Oakland?

You have surely seen all the ads from companies like Liberty Mutual and The General that guarantee enormous savings, so you just need to pick one at random, right?

Unfortunately, it’s just not that easy, as there are many unknown aspects such as if you have ever had a coverage lapse, if you have a tendency to get pulled over, and the crime level of your neighborhood. This article will discuss the different scenarios that increase car insurance cost and also should give you a good start in finding the cheapest insurance.

The make and model of vehicle you are seeking coverage for is one of the primary factors when shopping around for economical auto insurance for seniors. Vehicles with higher performance, a lack of safety features, or high incidents of liability claims will cost more to insure than more economical and safe models. The next table outlines coverage prices for a number of the cheapest vehicles to insure.

Data based on married male driver age 60, no speeding tickets, no at-fault accidents, $1,000 deductibles, and California minimum liability limits. Discounts applied include homeowner, multi-policy, safe-driver, claim-free, and multi-vehicle. Rates do not factor in the specific area where the vehicle is garaged which can increase or decrease insurance rates significantly.

Based on these rates, you can presume that cars like the Honda CR-V, Ford Escape, and Ford F-150 should be the cheapest vehicles to insure for senior citizens.

For senior citizens, one of the more important considerations that are looked at to determine auto insurance rates is where you live in Oakland. Areas with more people or even just a higher incidence of claims tend to have more expensive auto insurance rates, whereas areas with lower vehicle theft rates and fewer weather claims have the benefit of cheaper car insurance.

The table below ranks the most expensive cities in California for seniors to buy an auto insurance policy in. Oakland comes in at #3 costing $1,755 for the average policy, which is around $146 each month.

Table data uses comparative as the specific area where the vehicle is garaged can change rates considerably.

Determining which companies quote the best insurance rates for seniors takes a bit more work in order to find the best policy. Every auto insurer has a different process to establish rates, so let’s take a look at the most affordable insurance companies in Oakland, CA.

Cheap Insurance Rates for Mature Drivers

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USAA may have some of the lowest car insurance rates in Oakland at around $1,155 each year. This is $496 less than the average policy premium paid by California drivers of $1,651. Wawanesa, CSAA, Century National, and Nationwide also are some of the more affordable Oakland, CA car insurance companies.

In the above rates, if you currently buy coverage from Century National and switched to Wawanesa, you could realize an annual premium reduction of in the neighborhood of $9. Insureds with Nationwide could save as much as $69 a year, and 21st Century customers might lower prices by $144 a year.

These policy rates are averaged for all drivers and vehicles in California and and are not calculated with an exact zip code location for seniors. So the company that fits you best may not even be in the list above. That helps illustrate why you need to compare rates from multiple companies using your own personal information and vehicle type.

How much more does full coverage cost in Oakland?

Reducing the cost of insurance is important to the majority of people, and an effective way to pay less for insurance for seniors is to buy only liability coverage. The illustration below compares car insurance costs when comparing full coverage to liability only. The information is based on no violations or claims, $250 deductibles, marital status is single, and no discounts are applied.

As an average, comprehensive and collision coverage on your policy costs an extra $3,093 per year more than buying just liability insurance. At some point, almost every driver questions when is it safe to stop buying full coverage. There is no clear-cut rule of when to exclude physical damage insurance, but there is a guideline you can consider. If the annual cost of comprehensive and collision coverage is more than around 10% of replacement cost minus your deductible, then it may be the right time to buy liability only.

For example, let’s say your vehicle’s claim settlement value is $8,000 and you have $1,000 full coverage deductibles. If your vehicle is totaled in an accident, the most your company will settle for is $7,000 after paying your policy deductible. If you are paying in excess of $700 annually for physical damage coverage, then it might be time to buy liability only.

Get discount Oakland insurance

Insurance companies that provide policies for seniors may additionally offer premium discounts that could reduce prices by as much as 30% if you are eligible to receive them. A few popular companies and the discounts they provide include:

• 21st Century policyholders can earn discounts including student driver, theft prevention, early bird, driver training, 55 and older, homeowners, and air bags.
• State Farm has discounts for student away at school, multiple policy, good driver, passive restraint, Steer Clear safe driver discount, good student, and defensive driving training.
• AAA offers discounts including good student, multi-policy, multi-car, good driver, AAA membership discount, pay-in-full, and education and occupation.
• Liberty Mutual offers discounts for exclusive group savings, new move discount, newly retired, multi-car, safety features, and new vehicle discount.
• Progressive has savings for continuous coverage, multi-vehicle, homeowner, online signing, and multi-policy.

The example below visualizes the comparison of auto insurance rates with and without discounts applied to the policy rates. The rates are based on a female driver, no driving violations, no at-fault accidents, California state minimum liability limits, full physical damage coverage, and $250 deductibles.

The first bar for each age group shows the average annual price with no discounts. The second shows the rates with safe-driver, homeowner, vehicle safety, claim-free, marriage, and passive restraint discounts applied. When these discounts are applied to the policy premium, theaverage amount saved on insurance for seniors is 30% or $866.

Choosing the best car insurance provider can be rather challenging considering how many different companies there are to choose from in California. The rank data in the next section can help you pick which auto insurers you want to consider comparing prices from.

The ratings below are only comprised of large, nationwide insurance companies, so smaller companies will not be included in the list. To compare rates from these and other companies in California, just click here.