What Insurance is Cheapest for 4×4 Vehicles in San Francisco?

The type of vehicle requiring coverage is one of the main factors when comparison shopping for the best car insurance for 4×4 vehicles. Vehicles with high performance, poor safety features, or an increased likelihood of liability claims will cost more to insure than safer models.

The next table shows coverage premiums for a handful of the most economical automobiles to buy insurance for.

Prices based on married male driver age 50, no speeding tickets, no at-fault accidents, $1,000 deductibles, and California minimum liability limits. Discounts applied include homeowner, multi-vehicle, claim-free, multi-policy, and safe-driver. Estimates do not factor in garaging location in San Francisco, CA which can influence prices considerably.

Looking at the rates, we can presume that cars like the Ford Escape, Honda CR-V, and Hyundai Elantra are the most budget-friendly vehicles to insure for off-road vehicles.

Establishing which company has the cheapest insurance rates for 4×4 vehicles may require a little more effort in order to find the lowest price quote.

Each auto insurance company uses a little different formula to determine rates, so let’s take a look at the insurance companies with the overall cheapest rates in San Francisco. We do need to point out that California insurance rates are influenced by many factors that control the policy price. Improving your credit score, having a claim, or getting a speeding ticket can trigger price changes resulting in some rates now being much cheaper than others.

Cheapest Insurance Rates for 4×4’s

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USAA has some of the cheapest car insurance rates in San Francisco at around $1,143 a year. Century National, Wawanesa, CSAA, and Nationwide also qualify as some of the lowest-priced San Francisco, CA insurance companies.

In the above example, if you currently have coverage with Wawanesa and switched to USAA, you may realize a yearly savings of approximately $38. California drivers with CSAA might save as much as $55 a year, and Nationwide customers might lower prices by $120 a year.

To find out how your current rates compare, click here to begin a quote or visit several of the following companies.

These prices are averaged across all insureds and vehicles and do not factor in an exact vehicle garaging location for 4×4 vehicles. So the company that is best for you may not even be in the list above. That points out the importance of why you need to compare as many prices as possible using your own individual information.

Illustration showing the impact of accidents and violations

The common sense way to enjoy cheap insurance rates in San Francisco for off-road vehicles is to be a good driver and avoid getting tickets or having accidents. The information below highlights how traffic violations and fender-benders drive up insurance rates for each different age category. The data is based on a single female driver, comprehensive and collision coverage, $100 deductibles, and no additional discounts are factored in.

In the previous chart, the average cost of an auto insurance policy in California per year with a clean driving record and no accidents is $2,394. Get two speeding tickets and the average cost rises to $3,222, an increase of $828 each year. Now throw in two accidents along with the two speeding tickets and the yearly cost of insurance for 4×4 vehicles goes up to an average of $6,160. That’s an increase of $3,766, or $314 per month, just for being a careless driver!

Cost of full coverage in San Francisco

Finding cheaper insurance should be important to most vehicle owners, and one good way to buy cheap insurance for 4×4 vehicles is to only buy liability insurance. The diagram below compares insurance prices with full coverage and liability only. The rate quotes are based on no claims, a clean driving record, $250 deductibles, drivers are single, and no other discounts are factored in.

Averaged out for all age groups, full coverage costs $2,314 per year over having just liability coverage. That proposes the question if you should buy full coverage at all. There is no definitive formula to exclude comp and collision coverage, but there is a general school of thought. If the yearly cost of comp and collision coverage is more than 10% of the replacement cost minus the deductible, then you may need to consider dropping full coverage.

For example, let’s pretend your vehicle’s book value is $7,000 and you have $1,000 physical damage deductibles. If your vehicle is severely damaged, the most your company would pay you is $6,000 after paying your deductible. If you are paying more than $600 a year for physical damage coverage, the it may be a good time to stop paying for full coverage.

There are some scenarios where buying only liability insurance is not in your best interest. If you haven’t satisfied your loan, you have to carry full coverage to protect the lienholder’s interest in the vehicle. Also, if you don’t have enough money to buy a different vehicle if your current one is totaled, you should keep full coverage on your policy.

The diagram below demonstrates how deductible levels can impact insurance prices when searching for cheap insurance for 4×4 vehicles. The data assumes a married female driver, full physical damage coverage, and no discounts are factored in.

A 40-year-old driver could reduce rates by $420 a year by changing their physical damage coverage from a $100 deductible up to a $500 deductible, or save $634 by switching to a $1,000 deductible. Even younger drivers, like the 20-year-old category, could save $1,042 or even more just by choosing higher deductibles.

If you do decide to increase your deductibles, it is essential to have enough funds in savings to be able to cover the extra out-of-pocket expense. This is the primary disadvantage of choosing high deductibles.