Variance in Auto Insurance Rates in California

 

October 21, 2007 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Car Insurance Companies 

Progressive auto insurance company says that  car insurance buyers would be able to save around five hundred dollars on their six month car insurance premium if only they shopped around for their prices. However, many don’t, which is why the majority of Americans and those who own insurance policies are paying too much for their car insurance.

Progressive said it got its information from a study of over seventy thousand customers over a six month period. The study relates the lowest  car insurance rate possible versus the highest, and notes the gap (five hundred dollars in the case of car insurance). Depending on what state you are in, the degree of separation in dollars between the highest and the lowest car insurance premium can be more than many preferred car insurance pays in a year. In Houston, where I’m from, the variation is as much as $838 of variation for a six month policy.

Putting aside car insurance, some other areas in California had huge variances between auto insurance rates as well. Notable, San Francisco:

  • $514 of variance

And Los Angeles:

  • $616 of variance

Progressive went a little with its study and tried to see how aware California car insurance policy holders were of this rate variance. According to their findings, 65% didn’t realize that the variations between rates was so huge–most estimated it to be around one or two hundred dollars on average. And 60% of the people asked had not made an effort to shop around for a good insurance policy in several years.

Even if the company that you are with now had the best rates several years ago, that doesn’t mean that the same will be true today. New companies rise up and offer cheaper prices, and older companies find new ways to pass the savings on to their customers. The best thing to do to ensure that you get a cheap California car insurance quote is to shop around at least every six months.

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