Temporary Car Insurance in California

One way car owners can get temporary car insurance in California is to buy a standard policy and cancel it before the term expires. A three-month policy in California may cost an average of $305.

If you are visiting California but do not have your own vehicle, rental car insurance is your best option.

MoneyGeek evaluated certain scenarios where temporary car insurance is most useful. This includes when you’re buying non-owner car insurance while waiting to get your license reinstated or when you’re working for a rideshare company.

Temporary car insurance in California and in other states can mean different things. If you own a car, temporary car insurance could mean getting a six-month policy and canceling early. However, if you don’t own a car, you could get rental car insurance or non-owner car insurance.

Top car insurance companies in California and other states offer policies that typically last for a minimum of six months. The average cost of a six-month policy in California is $610. You can get car insurance for a shorter time by canceling your policy before the said period lapses.

If you cancel before the predetermined period, some companies will refund your unused premiums. A driver who signed up for a six-month policy could pay roughly $305, which is half as much as the six-month policy, if they cancel within 90 days. When using this approach, there is a risk of having coverage lapses, which you want to avoid as it may result in extra charges in the future.

MoneyGeek calculated the costs for a typical policy in California for as short as one month, three months and up to six months.

On average, the cheapest company in California is USAA with an average cost of $169 per 90 days. However, only military members and their families are eligible to buy from this insurer. On average, the cheapest companies in California next to USAA for a 90-day policy are:

• GEICO: $207 per 90 days
• Allstate: $211 per 90 days

MoneyGeek’s calculations exclude cancellation fees since most companies do not charge them. Some insurance companies may provide full refunds for the unused coverages of the remaining months.

The best solution if you need to temporarily add or remove coverage in California is to make alterations to your existing car insurance policy. Short-term car insurance is ideal for families with teen drivers who go away to college, car owners who need to store their car and those who lend their car to another driver.

It can be expensive to include a student driver on your policy, which is a requirement if they live with you in California. Adding an 18-year old to a policy costs an average of $2,654 annually.

To lower the cost of your car insurance, you can take your student off your policy for the months that they live at least 100 miles away, look for distant student discounts or keep them on the policy.

Adding a young driver to a policy in California for two months of the year during the summer costs around $442. This is roughly $2,212 cheaper than having them on your policy for the whole year.

Nationwide offers the biggest discount at an average of $3,115 for temporarily removing a student from your policy.

There are two ways that you can save money if you are storing your car temporarily. You can either switch your policy to comprehensive-only or find a vehicle storage discount.

To save money, you can drop your liability insurance coverage and switch to a comprehensive-only policy. Comprehensive and collision insurance with a $1,000 deductible costs roughly $407 per year in California. This is already cheaper compared to a policy with comprehensive, collision and liability insurance, which averages at $914 per year.

If you are a current military member, you can save more using discounts for car storage from USAA, which already has cheap policies at around $677 per year.

If someone else in your household will be driving your car, you need to add them to your policy. However, if you let someone outside your household drive your car, they are automatically covered under your policy.

If you are renting a car in California, you can get temporary car insurance from the car rental company. Almost all rental companies offer basic liability insurance policies where you can add collision damage waivers, supplemental liability insurance and personal accident insurance. The average cost of adding all these coverage is $46 to $60 per year depending on the company. Based on your needs, you can mix and match these coverages for cheaper costs.

MoneyGeek collected data in California from Birmingham and found that the average rental car insurance cost can cost around $46 to $60 per day depending on the company. Enterprise costs roughly $46 per day, Avis costs around $49 per day and Hertz costs approximately $60 per day. Rental car insurance from these companies includes all protections, including supplemental liability, collision damage waiver and personal accident insurance.

If you already have car insurance, you may already be covered for liability, collision and medical payments. You can also check if your credit card provider has collision damage waiver coverage for rental cars.

Non-owner car insurance may be a good option for drivers who need proof of insurance coverage when filing an SR-22 to get their license reinstated. The average cost of non-owner car insurance in California is $573 per year.

Non-owner car insurance is the cheapest way to get insurance if you don’t have a car and you need to file an SR-22 in California.

If you are working with a rideshare company, one of the questions you may ask is, “Can you get temporary car insurance in California?” With rideshare insurance, you are only covered when you accept a fare or are transporting a passenger. This means that there will be temporary gaps in your coverage.

Not all states offer rideshare insurance policies. MoneyGeek listed the companies with the best rideshare insurance policies.

Here are some questions you might have about temporary car insurance in California.

Car insurance and non-owner car insurance quotes across California were collected with the help of Quadrant Information Services. The rates stated are based on a 40-year-old driver with full coverage as described on our methodology page. The cost stated for student drivers represents the additional cost to add an 18-year-old driver to a regular policy.

In presenting the averages for a one-month and three-month policies, we calculated the full cost on a pro-rated basis, assuming the insurer provides a full refund. Lastly, the rental insurance costs in California were manually collected online through tools of Avis, Enterprise and Hertz.