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Insurance Rates for South Florida’s Most Popular Cars

Insurance Rates for South Florida’s Most Popular Cars

Itching for a getaway? Fill up your gas tank, roll down your windows, and hit the road. Pack some snacks, and view the sights from your car window. If you want to do a popular scenic drive from Miami to Fort Myers via Clewiston and LaBelle, show your South Florida pride by motoring in one of South Florida’s most popular cars.

What is the price of popularity? Compare the top cars that are most popular in the region with the top cars that provide the most affordable insurance rates, and see if there are any perfect matches.

Let’s get you started by looking at the reasons behind the variety of insurance rates by car make and model.

Basic Car Insurance in Florida

Let’s start with the basics. The bare minimum of car insurance for Florida drivers is:

  • Bodily injury per person car accident of $10,000
  • Bodily injury for all persons per accident of $20,000
  • Property damage liability of $10,000
  • Personal injury protection (PIP) of $10,000

The less costly and safer your vehicle, the cheaper it is to insure. The primary reason for this is the lower cost for replacing parts and lower chance of severe injuries from a car accident. 

A car with anti-theft features can also help you lower your premium.

Florida Factors Affecting Your Car Insurance Rate

Sorry to share this news, but the Sunshine State regularly grabs third place in the list of most expensive car insurance by state. What’s the problem? Well, popularity.

Everyone’s flocking to Florida. There are 21.3 million people in a state ranked 22nd in size among the U.S. states but third in population. (California and New York are the top two).

This dense population is also replete with what insurance companies consider high-risk drivers seniors, tourists, and university students. There is also a relatively high number of uninsured drivers, which creates big headaches. 

If you add comprehensive coverage to your policy, it’s very expensive because of the higher risk from weather. Severe weather and hurricanes can cause major vehicle damage, and insurers have to repair or replace those vehicles.

Other Factors Affecting Your Car Insurance Rate

Your insurance premium changes if you opt for more coverage. On the plus side, if you can afford to pay more out-of-pocket if you are ever in an accident, then by all means raise your deductible because it will lower your premium.

But if you want to supplement the minimum requirements to help protect yourself from monetary loss, then obviously your rates will increase. What else could you get? 

  • Higher amounts of Liability
  • Collision and Comprehensive (required by the lender if you are financing your car)
  • Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist
  • Medical Payments (MedPay)
  • Rental Car
  • Roadside Assistance

There are several factors beyond your car and your coverage that insurance underwriters take into consideration to determine your rate. There’s also age, gender, address, marital status, credit, driving history, mileage, prior claims, and if you use your car for business.

And don’t forget the variety of insurance discounts like if you bundle your auto and home policies, for example, lower your mileage, drive safely, pay in full, go paperless, and ask about occupation discounts. 

Every little bit helps.

The Most Popular Cars in Florida

Here are the sports cars most loved by South Floridians, but what is the rundown across-the-board of what they actually buy?

Foreign brands rule, specifically Japanese automakers. As frequent commuters, South Floridians love Toyota and Honda sedans the former for those who go the straight sensible route; the latter for those who want something a little sportier.

The top car is the Corolla. Why does Corolla wear the crown? It’s simple, reliable, comfortable, quiet, fuel-efficient, long-lasting, and affordable. This line of subcompact and compact cars also takes the top spot in Australia, South Africa, Argentina, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. It’s also No. 1 in its home country of Japan, so what more proof is there? 

Now that you know the most popular car models in Florida, you’re probably already thinking about how to add your own personal touch. Florida is known for being quirky, so go ahead and check out these interesting ideas to make your ride your own.

Do any popular Florida cars also have the cheapest insurance?

How did we do? The news may not be great, but it’s still good!

Florida drivers will pay an average of $1,350 to $1,660 per year for the popular choice, the Toyota RAV4,  in Florida. This is close to 5-to-6 percent below the national average.

Please note again, it could be higher or lower based on the factors we talked about earlier. This quote is also done as a 40-year-old, married driver with a clean record. 

The low average is for Florida minimum liability limits; the latter is for full coverage. Also included are the following discounts: 

  • Multi-vehicle
  • Multi-policy
  • Claim-free
  • Safe-driver
  • Homeowner (bundling)

Florida drivers will pay an average of $1,654 per year for a Ford F Series, another popular Florida car choice. This is a little over 6 percent below the national average.

This is also taking into account the factors above and is the price for full coverage.

Now there are a lot of Toyotas and Hondas in the list of the lowest-insurance makes and models, so you’re still doing well with picking those brands. Camry, Civic, and Accord were in the top 30, as well as Silverado, and Corolla and Rogue were in the top 40.  

You already compared and shopped around when you’re out to get a new car. So if there’s one takeaway from all of this data, it is that your best bet to find the most affordable auto insurance is to do the same. 

Auto insurance is a very competitive industry, so use that to your advantage. Once that dream car is yours, go show it off by starting in on that Southern Florida bucket list of the 10 best things to do in South Florida!

 

Karen Condor is a writer, editor, and researcher for the car insurance comparison site, QuoteInspector.com

 

Karen Condor is a writer, editor, and researcher for the car insurance comparison site, QuoteInspector.com

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