South Carolina has one of the lowest car insurance rates in America. Uninsured Motorists at 11% is below national average as well. Perhaps low premiums help in affording to buy at least liability coverage. However, Alcohol related traffic deaths in this state are pretty high at around 40%. This is a serious issue and one that you should pay extra attention to. When there are known problems of drinking and driving it is best not to travel late at night especially Friday and Saturday. Watching out for obvious signs of impaired behaviour on the roads can save lives. Agreed that this is one problem the authorities have to tackle but you should do whatever you can to avoid accidents.
Living costs don’t appear to be concerning either in this state. Life is better when you are not pressured with high costs of living. That shouldn’t stop you from trying to get cheap automobile insurance in South Carolina. When you start getting too comfortable with spending, your pocket turns into a bucket with too many holes. Everyone can save some money by shopping around attentively. Finding most of the discounts you qualify for and a company that offers the largest overall savings could cut rates substantially.
So, it is not something people should ignore since the price difference can be as much as $1,000 between the cheapest and most expensive carriers in the Palmetto State. Shopping for vehicle insurance is one of the easiest and most effective means of reducing premiums. Also, worth noting that rate structures change regularly that results in shifts in competitiveness. Once cheap provider can quickly fall behind in the pecking order. You should always get a few quotes online and see the latest rates. It shouldn’t be any trouble for you since it only takes 5 – 10 minutes to get a proper quote.
Minimum Liability Auto Insurance Requirements in SC
- $25,000 for bodily injury or death per person.
- $50,000 total for bodily injury or death per accident.
- $25,000 for property damage.
Check the DMV website for further information and updates. You can verify penalties for driving without insurance as well there. You can see that it is not recommended to take chances since fines and penalties are only one part of the problem.
Remember that you will still be liable for third party claims against you regardless of having coverage or not. The injured people and people you caused financial losses will not simply go away when they learn you don’t have a liability policy. They will sue you until they get the last dime in your pocket. If you have nothing they will wait until you earn and keep taking money from wages until they are fully paid off.
Increasing liability limits and arranging additional coverage is advisable, especially when you own a fairly valuable automobile. Make sure to discuss all the details if you have a broker to help you. Otherwise, there is plenty of information online to guide you through. Motorists can also use comparison websites, which allow them check prices and arrange coverage just like a broker would do. So, you don’t have to rely on or wait for an intermediary any more no matter where you live and what your circumstances are.
Affordable Vehicle Insurance Companies in South Carolina
So, here are 3 of them that are known to be the cheapest in SC. Start the search for the best prices with them and work your way through at least a few more auto insurers. You never know you may find a better deal somewhere else.
- GEICO, $659
- Auto-Owners, $731
- Hartford, $760
Sometimes you may need to be a member of an association or trade body to qualify for discounts. For example, you may need to pay a small membership fee to the South Carolina Farm Bureau to be eligible for Southern Farm Bureau’s services. It may be worth the money if you aren’t already a member because you can get good rates from them. There are a few examples like this and the other one may be the AAA. These discounts are great, especially when you cannot get others because of a recent claim, traffic tickets or young age.
This is another state where premiums are pretty uniform among its cities. They gather around the average nicely with no city being a lot cheaper or much more expensive.
Average Cost of Car Insurance in South Carolina
It is almost bang in the middle in terms of average premiums paid in the US at $794. It is the same if you are looking for full coverage and the estimated cost is $1353. You need to spend nearly 90% more for a full policy than liability only ($717). It suggests many people go for the latter or a variation of it here. The costs depend on many things and one of them is the level of coverage you choose. You may be paying much more or little less than those figures depending on the level of protection required.
As discussed above, you may end up paying a lot more if you cannot qualify for enough discounts. Your credit score is another factor that can influence rates, along with age, gender, education, occupation, yearly mileage and zip code. Most motorists qualify for some sort of discounts no matter how bad their records are. So, you should stick around and check for ways of finding as many of them as possible.
Driving is a pleasure and almost an essential part of our lives. It is best to take care of risks involved with auto ownership so that you can enjoy it more with peace of mind. Most people cannot even sleep comfortably knowing that anything can happen to their automobiles while they aren’t watching.
Many people make the mistake of getting too bothered with the premium payment. You should pass that part and concentrate on how automobile insurance works to help motorists in their most difficult times. It may not be a big deal to have a fender bender but you would desperately need it to rescue you when you have a big accident. Think what would happen if you didn’t have sufficient coverage. Who would help you recover from such financial losses and huge claims against you?