The Cheapest Car Insurance in California

Reviews.com Staff
Reviews.com Staff
4

California has an average annual premium of $733 for the state minimum coverage and $2,065 for full coverage, according to 2021 data from Bankrate.com. The cheapest car insurance company in California is Capital, with an average full coverage premium of $1,582 per year.

Your location, among other factors, will impact your insurance rates. In California, drivers who live in Los Osos and Weed have the cheapest car insurance premiums for full coverage, at $1,561 and $1,576 respectively.

Most states, including California, require drivers to carry car insurance. Depending on their budget, drivers may opt to get the state’s required minimum coverage, a policy that provides full coverage, or something in between the two. In this review, we’ll compare the cheapest car insurance in California and some of the factors that determine your insurance rate. 

Cheapest Car Insurance in California

Compared to other auto insurers in California, Capital and Wawanesa are the cheapest insurers for full coverage, based on Bankrate’s 2021 data. 

ProviderAverage Annual Full Coverage Premium*Average Annual Minimum Coverage Premium*
Capital$1,582$743
Wawanesa$1,599$652
Geico$1,615$521
Mercury$1,636$624
Travelers$1,794$675
Progressive$1,808$668
Infinity$1,859$847
State Farm$1,943$663
Alliance United$2,115$756
Allstate$2,119$801

Information accurate as of 01/27/22

* Data provided by Bankrate.com

Cheap Car Insurance in California by City

If you live in the Californian cities of Weed or Trinidad, you may pay among the cheapest insurance rates for minimum coverage. Cities with the cheapest full coverage include Los Osos, Weed, and Cambria.

A number of factors are used to determine a person’s car insurance rate. Location is one of these factors, so people will see a difference in their rates if they live in urban areas. This is largely due to higher vandalism, accident and theft rates in urban areas than those in small or rural towns. 

29 cities with the cheapest insurance in California

CityAverage Annual Full Coverage Premium*Average Annual Minimum Coverage Premium*
Los Osos$1,561$566
Weed$1,576$509
Cambria$1,586$552
Mount Shasta$1,587$532
Yreka$1,604$547
Solvang$1,608$587
Buellton$1,609$567
Bishop$1,613$546
Dixon Lane-Meadow Creek$1,613$546
West Bishop$1,613$546
Round Valley$1,613$546
Lompoc$1,620$574
Vandenberg Village$1,620$574
Mission Hills$1,620$574
Avila Beach$1,626$586
Morro Bay$1,628$587
Nipomo$1,630$571
Los Alamos$1,632$560
Arroyo Grande$1,634$588
Callender$1,634$588
Los Ranchos$1,636$611
Big Pine$1,642$528
Pismo Beach$1,645$598
Trinidad$1,646$519
Westhaven-Moonstone$1,646$519
Santa Ynez$1,652$601
San Ardo$1,653$523
Vandenberg AFB$1,653$596
Oceano$1,657$606

* Data provided by Bankrate.com

Cheapest Car Insurance Rates in California With a Prior Accident

If you have a previous accident, the cheapest car insurance in California for you might be with Capital or Wawanesa. The companies with the lowest average increases after an accident are Capital and State Farm.

Driving record is one of many factors that determine your car insurance rate. If you are a California driver who has a car accident on your record, even if it is just one, you will likely pay more for insurance than a driver with no accidents on their record would pay. 

Average Annual Full Coverage Premiums Before and After an Accident

ProviderNo Accident*1 Accident*Difference
Capital$1,582$2,01727%
Wawanesa$1,599$2,27242%
Geico$1,615$2,37747%
Mercury$1,636$2,74768%
Travelers$1,794$2,82057%
Progressive$1,808$3,813111%
Infinity$1,859$3,47487%
State Farm$1,943$2,65136%
Alliance United$2,115$4,620118%
Allstate$2,119$3,97588%

* Data provided by Bankrate.com

California Car Insurance FAQs

Methodology

Reviews.com reviews products, services and companies based on five criteria to help readers understand how companies compare based on similar metrics. For the best car insurance companies, our editorial team compared affordability, customer support, coverage options, customer satisfaction scores and online resources from each company to determine top providers. 

As for average pricing, we used Bankrate.com’s data of car insurance in California, based on the profiles of a 40-year male and female. For full coverage, the details used were the following:

  • $100,000 bodily injury liability per person
  • $300,000 bodily injury liability per accident
  • $50,000 property damage liability per accident
  • $100,000 uninsured motorist bodily injury per person
  • $300,000 uninsured motorist bodily injury per accident
  • $500 collision deductible
  • $500 comprehensive deductible

To determine minimum coverage limits, Bankrate used minimum coverage that meets each state’s requirements. Our base profile drivers own a 2019 Toyota Camry, commute five days a week and drive 12,000 miles annually. 

These are sample rates and should only be used for comparative purposes. 

Incidents: Rates were calculated by evaluating our base profile with the following incidents applied: clean record (base), at-fault accident.

About the Authors

The Reviews.com staff is dedicated to providing you with all the deep-dive details. Our writers, researchers, and editors came together from Charlotte, Seattle, San Juan, Fort Worth, Fort Lauderdale, San Diego, and Chicago to put this review together.