What Auto Insurance is Cheapest for Business Use in San Jose?

Wouldn’t it be awesome if we could tell you the one perfect auto insurance company that has the cheapest coverage for business use? That is not the case, however, as there are a whole slew of unknown elements like your financial responsibility, your date of birth, and the crime level of your neighborhood. The content below covers these things and will hopefully give you some help in finding cheaper rates.

For using your car for business, one of the more important components that are looked at to help calculate the annual cost of car insurance is where you live. Cities with larger populations or higher claim trends tend to have more expensive auto insurance rates, whereas areas with fewer weather claims and lower vehicle theft rates get the luxury of paying less.

The table below ranks the most costly cities in California for business use to buy car insurance in. San Jose is ranked #18 with an annual cost of $1,437 for the average insured, which is around $120 each month.

Information shown are approximated as the specific area where the vehicle is garaged can change price quotes greatly.

The make and model of vehicle you are insuring is one of the biggest factors when comparing the lowest-priced coverage for business use. Vehicles with lower performance, an excellent safety record, or a low likelihood of liability claims will cost significantly less to insure than fast, unsafe models. The information below estimates insurance prices for a number of the cheapest vehicles to insure.

Data based on single 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, multi-policy, claim-free, and safe-driver. Premium costs do not factor in vehicle garaging location which can impact coverage rates noticeably.

Looking at the numbers, models like the Honda CR-V, Honda Accord, and Ford F-150 are likely to be a few of the more affordable vehicles to insure for using your car for business. The price for an auto insurance policy will be more expensive because there is more liability exposure for business use, but in general those vehicles will tend to have the best rates compared to other vehicles.

Types of discounts on San Jose auto insurance rates

Auto insurance companies that provide coverage for business use may additionally offer rate discounts that could potentially reduce rates by as much as 25% or more if you can meet the requirements. The best insurance companies and their possible discounts are outlined below.

• GEICO has discounts for multi-policy, emergency military deployment, daytime running lights, defensive driver, good student, driver training, and multi-vehicle.
• Auto-Owners Insurance includes discounts for good student, mature driver, group or association, paid in full, and safe vehicle.
• American Family may include discounts for good student, mySafetyValet, accident-free, TimeAway discount, early bird, bundled insurance, and air bags.
• Esurance offers discounts for defensive driver, emergency road assistance, good driver, claim free, homeowner, and anti-theft.
• Progressive has savings for multi-vehicle, continuous coverage, online quote discount, good student, and online signing.
• State Farm offers premium reductions for student away at school, multiple autos, good student, multiple policy, good driver, accident-free, and defensive driving training.
• AAA discounts include AAA membership discount, good student, anti-theft, pay-in-full, multi-car, multi-policy, and good driver.

The example below visualizes the comparison of insurance costs with and without discounts applied. The costs are based on a male driver, no claims or driving citations, California state minimum liability limits, full physical damage coverage, and $100 deductibles.

The first bar for each age group shows the average rate with no discounts. The second shows the rates with anti-theft, claim-free, homeowner, defensive driving course, multiple vehicle, and vehicle safety discounts applied. When these discounts are applied, theaverage amount saved on insurance for business use is 28% or $698.

Picking the best company is difficult considering how many choices there are in San Jose. The rank data shown next can help you choose which companies to look at comparing prices from. These rankings only include companies that write coverage in many states, so companies that may only write in California are not taken into consideration for this list.

Top 10 Major Auto Insurance Companies in San Jose Ranked by Customer Service

1. AAA of Southern California
2. GEICO
3. State Farm
4. The Hartford
5. Mercury Insurance
6. The General
7. Progressive
8. Allstate
9. AAA Insurance
10. American Family

Top 10 Major Auto Insurance Companies in San Jose Ranked by A.M. Best Rating

1. USAA – A++
2. Travelers – A++
3. State Farm – A++
4. GEICO – A++
5. Esurance – A+
6. Nationwide – A+
7. Allstate – A+
8. Mercury Insurance – A+
9. Progressive – A+
10. Titan Insurance – A+

Rate increases following a ticket or accident

The obvious way to score the most affordable insurance rates in San Jose for using your car for business is to drive safe and avoid accidents and keep your driving record clean. The example below demonstrates how speeding tickets and accidents impact annual premium costs for each different age group. The data is based on a married male driver, comp and collision included, $500 deductibles, and no discounts are factored in.

In the prior example, the average cost of a car insurance policy per year with no accidents or violations is $2,396. Receive one speeding ticket and the average cost surges to $2,757, an increase of $361 each year. Then include one accident along with the one speeding ticket and the yearly cost of insurance for business use goes up to an average of $3,764. That’s an increase of $1,368, or $114 per month, just for not paying attention while driving!

Here’s why price comparisons are so important

San Jose insurance rates are influenced by many factors which can substantially decrease or increase the cost of your policy. Simply having a birthday, becoming a homeowner, or getting a couple of tickets can produce rate changes that can cause some rates to be affordable when they were higher priced.

Not only may your risk profile change, but insurance companies change their prices every year to adjust for unexpected claims or profits. Significantly higher claims may result in rate increases, while better underwriting may cause lower-priced San Jose car insurance rates.

For instance, the graph below analyzes the cheapest car insurance in San Jose, CA for a 40-year-old female driver with a clear driving record, no claims, and excellent credit. When quoting prices based on her current risk profile, USAA has the lowest car insurance rates in San Jose at $1,235 per year. This is $416 less than the average premium paid by California drivers of $1,651. Wawanesa, CSAA, Century National, and Nationwide are also on the list of the cheapest San Jose, CA auto insurance companies.

In the next rate comparison, we’ll give the driver from the above example an accident surcharge, bad credit, and an imperfect driving record. Since each insurance company has a unique approach to set their prices, comparing insurance quotes may result in a significantly different list of the cheapest car insurance companies in San Jose as shown below.

Grange now has the lowest price on auto insurance in San Jose, CA with GEICO, Progressive, Mercury, and Allstate also having competitive pricing. This example proves why it is critical to compare as many rates as possible to get the lowest car insurance quotes for business use.

Rates can be altered by many different factors and can increase or decrease at any time, so the cheapest option when you bought your policy may now be quite expensive.