Who Has Cheap Los Angeles Auto Insurance for 19 Year Olds?

Deciphering which companies quote the cheapest car insurance rates for 19 year olds takes a little more sweat in order to find a policy that fits your budget. Each insurer uses different criteria to determine premium rates, so let’s take a look at the car insurance companies that tend to have lower prices in Los Angeles, CA.

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USAA may have some of the most affordable car insurance rates in Los Angeles at around $1,143 per year. This is $508 less than the average premium paid by California drivers of $1,651. Century National, Wawanesa, CSAA, and Nationwide also make the cut as some of the best Los Angeles, CA insurance companies.

As the rates illustrate above, if you currently have coverage with Century National and switched to USAA, you might realize annual savings of roughly $35. Customers with Wawanesa may save as much as $49 a year, and CSAA policyholders might realize rate reductions of up to $79 a year.

To get a quick, customized rate comparison, click here to get a free quote or quote rates from the companies below.

Understand that those premiums are averaged for all drivers and vehicles in California and do not take into consideration a specific zip code for 19 year olds. So the company that fits your needs best may not even be in the top 24 companies shown above. That helps illustrate why you need to get rate quotes using your own specific driver and vehicle information.

For teenage drivers, one of the more important components that are looked at to help calculate the amount you pay each year for auto insurance is where your car is garaged. Areas with increased crime or more people tend to have more expensive auto insurance rates, whereas areas with less congestion have the luxury of cheap car insurance rates.

The next table rates the most expensive areas in California for 19 year olds to buy auto insurance in. Los Angeles shows up at #2 costing $2,104 for the average policy, which is around $175 monthly.

Price information shown is approximated as the specific geographic location can revise premium rates greatly.

The vehicle model requiring insurance is one of the largest factors that determines if you can find low-cost car insurance for 19 year olds. Vehicles with lower performance, an excellent safety record, or a low likelihood of having liability claims will cost significantly less to insure than fast, unsafe models.

The list below features coverage prices for a number of the cheapest vehicles to insure in California.

Above prices assume single female driver age 19, no speeding tickets, no at-fault accidents, $1,000 deductibles, and California minimum liability limits. Discounts applied include safe-driver, and claim-free. Premium costs do not factor in specific garaging location which can lower or raise insurance rates noticeably.

Looking at the rates, you can figure that models like the Honda Accord, Honda CR-V, and Hyundai Elantra are most likely going to be some of the cheaper vehicles to insure for teenage drivers. The price of auto insurance will be more expensive because there is more exposure for 19 year olds, but overall those specific models will tend to have the lowest insurance rates possible.

Should you buy full coverage?

Finding the cheapest car insurance is important to the majority of people, and one way to save on the cost of insurance for 19 year olds is to only buy liability coverage. The diagram below illustrates the comparison of insurance prices with liability coverage only compared to full coverage. The price estimates are based on no violations or claims, $500 deductibles, marital status is single, and no discounts are factored in.

On average, physical damage coverage on your policy costs $2,075 per year more than insuring for liability only. Many drivers will wonder if paying for full coverage is a waste of money. There isn’t a steadfast formula to stop paying for physical damage coverage on your policy, but there is a general school of thought. If the annual cost of having full coverage is more than around 10% of any settlement you would receive from your insurance company, then you might want to think about dropping full coverage.

There are a few cases where dropping physical damage coverage is not advised. If you haven’t satisfied your loan, you are required to maintain full coverage to protect the lienholder’s interest in the vehicle. Also, if your emergency fund is not enough to purchase a different vehicle if your current one is totaled, you should keep full coverage on your policy.

Discounts on Los Angeles auto insurance

Insurers that provide policies for 19 year olds could also offer policy discounts that could potentially reduce rates by 40% or more if you meet certain criteria. A few of the larger companies and some of their more popular discounts are detailed below.

• State Farm has savings for anti-theft, multiple policy, passive restraint, multiple autos, good student, and safe vehicle.
• Nationwide has discounts for anti-theft, easy pay, multi-policy, defensive driving, and accident-free.
• GEICO policyholders can earn discounts including five-year accident-free, anti-theft, emergency military deployment, good student, and federal employee.
• AAA offers discounts for good driver, good student, multi-car, pay-in-full, and AAA membership discount.
• 21st Century may have discounts that include student driver, anti-lock brakes, teen driver, theft prevention, air bags, and good student.
• The Hartford includes discounts for defensive driver, bundle, good student, air bag, vehicle fuel type, driver training, and anti-theft.

The example below illustrates the comparison of auto insurance rates with and without some available policy discounts. The rate quotes are based on a female driver, no claims or driving violations, California state minimum liability limits, comp and collision included, and $500 deductibles. The first bar for each age group shows the average rate with no discounts. The second shows the rates with defensive driving course, marriage, homeowner, claim-free, passive restraint, and anti-theft discounts applied. When these discounts are applied to the policy premium, theaverage amount saved on car insurance for 19 year olds is 28% or $708.

Drive responsibly or pay higher rates

A great way to snag the most affordable car insurance premiums in Los Angeles for teenage drivers is to drive cautiously and avoid accidents and violations. The chart below demonstrates how citations and at-fault collisions impact car insurance rates for each age group. The data is based on a single male driver, full physical damage coverage, $100 deductibles, and no discounts are applied to the premium.

In the previous example, the average cost of a car insurance policy in Los Angeles per year with a clean driving record and no accidents is $2,525. Get one speeding ticket and the average cost surges to $2,844, an increase of $319 each year. Next add one accident along with the one speeding ticket and the 12-month cost of car insurance for 19 year olds increases to an average of $3,742. That’s an increase of $1,217, or $101 per month, just for not being more responsible behind the wheel!