Can’t-Miss San Jose Car Insurance [Comprehensive Guide]

One of the most liberating times in a young person’s life is the moment they are able to get behind the wheel and hit the open road. It’s not always for everyone. Some people find it really enjoyable and even relaxing, while others dread having to make their way through traffic every day.

Whatever the case you fit into, the bottom line is that if you own a vehicle, you’re going to need car insurance.

That’s what here to help you with. We’ve put together this comprehensive guide for those of you out in San Jose, Calif. We’ll discuss different topics on car insurance in the San Jose area, and things you’ll definitely want to know before you make the jump.

This guide will basically help equip you with all of the information you’ll need to ensure that you’ve made the best decision for your car insurance needs.

Already ready to make the jump and start comparing car insurance rates? Use our FREE online tool, all you need is your ZIP code to get started.

The Cost of Car Insurance in San Jose

Alright, let’s get cracking! In this first section of this comprehensive guide, we’ll quickly give you a break down of the typical costs of car insurance that you can expect to see in San Jose.

Male vs. Female vs Age

A tale as old as time, song as old as rhyme. Demographic rates and providers.

Whether we like it or not, what demographic we fall under can highly affect what kind of insurance rates we’ll get. Demographics such as our gender, our age, and our marital status can cost us when it comes to insurance.

You can expect to see demographic rates such as the following in the state of California:

As you can see from the table above, the group paying the most for their car insurance are young male drivers who are single. This is pretty standard, as it is typically young male drivers that providers see as the riskiest drivers.

But it’s definitely something that young male drivers will want to be aware of when shopping for their car insurance needs.

There is a silver lining to this, however. A lot of states have started putting laws protecting citizens from demographic rates. This includes the state of California, which has started enacting regulations that will prohibit gender discrimination when it comes to insurance rates.

So it’s pretty reasonable to expect to see these kinds of differences in your insurance rates to soon be a distant memory!

Cheapest ZIP Codes in San Jose

Where you live can also affect what kind of insurance rate you will get. More populated areas, such as downtown areas, tend to pay more for their car insurance. Meanwhile, less populated areas, such as more rural suburbs, tend to see lower car insurance rates.

Check out the table below to see what the cheapest ZIP codes in San Jose are:

According to the table above, the cheapest ZIP code in San Jose is 95130, seeing rates of about $4,620.35. This is unsurprising, as it’s a little farther from the city, in a suburb.

Meanwhile, the most expensive ZIP code in San Jose is 95122, with rates in this area being approximately $5,391.72. This is also not surprising, due to the fact that it’s located right in the downtown area.

What’s the Best Car Insurance Company in San Jose?

There are so many car insurance providers in the nation that it can definitely feel overwhelming. So many companies desperately wanting your business can be really stressful.

But never fear, that’s where we come in to help. In this section, we’ll break down some of the various factors that you should take into consideration when trying to select the best insurance provider.

Cheapest Car Insurance Rates by Company

Best Car Insurance for Commute Rates

How far you tend to commute on a regular basis can actually cost you some extra cash, depending on your insurance provider.

The idea is that if you travel farther on a regular basis, your chances of getting into an accident are higher than if you were to have a typically shorter commute.

As you can see from the table above, most providers in the state of California will charge you for your commute. So if you tend to have a longer travel time getting to work, you’ll definitely want to compare rates between the different providers.

Best Car Insurance for Coverage Level Rates

Would you like to pay more for something that will give you less coverage? We didn’t think so. But if you aren’t careful, and don’t compare your insurance rates, you could be doing exactly that.

Check out the table below to see what the coverage level rates are for the San Jose area:

So if you were to, for example, get a low-coverage plan with State Farm, you’d be paying about $3,746.49. Counter to that, if you were to get a high cover plan with Geico, you’d only be paying $2,955.16.

That’s a difference of $791.33. So you’d be paying almost $800 more for a coverage plan that would give you less coverage.

Best Car Insurance for Driving Record Rates

If you are a safe driver, this will be an easy discount to put in your pocket. The safer you drive, and the cleaner your driving record, the lower your insurance rates will be.

Insurance providers love customers they don’t have to worry sending out claims to all the time, so the more traffic violations and accidents you have on your record, the more you’ll be shelling out for your rates.

Geico, for example, as you can see from the table, only charges $1,925.76 for a clean driving record. Even one speeding violation on your record, though?

That jumps you up to $2,388.93. That’s almost $1,000 just for one speeding violation. So the best advice we can give you is to make sure you drive safely while out on the road or you could pay for it in more ways than one.

Car Insurance Factors in San Jose

What other car insurance factors should you take into consideration for the San Jose area?

In this section, we’ll break down other factors for you to consider such as the city’s metro report, median household income, homeownership in the area, and more.

Metro Report

What in the world is a Metro Report, and why should you know about it?

Well, the Brooking’s Institution annual Metro Monitor Report basically gives you the economic performance of the top 100 largest metropolitan regions across the nation.

It takes in data for some of these major regions, based on different facts such as growth, prosperity, and even inclusion of a region, and gives it a rating for increments of the previous year, the previous five years, and the previous 10 years. All of this combined breaks down to give an overall performance rating for every major city in the nation.

The data below displays the information for the San Jose area:

• Prosperity: (overall ranking of 1 of 100)
  • Productivity: +6.2% percent (1 of 100)
  • Standard of living: +8.3% percent (1 of 100)
  • Average annual wage: +5.4% percent (1 of 100)
• Growth: (overall ranking of 3 of 100)
  • Jobs: +2.4% percent (22 of 100)
  • Gross metropolitan product (GMP): +8.7% percent (1 of 100)
  • Jobs at young firms: -0.7% percent (88 of 100)

Yes, you read that right. San Jose is currently one of the highest rated cities in the entire nation.

The only area that San Jose needs to work on is jobs at young firms. Otherwise, however, San Jose leads the pack on prosperity and growth.

Median Household Income

Considering how highly ranked San Jose is for prosperity and growth, how does that translate to the median household income?

Well, good news for those of you currently in, or looking to move to the San Jose area.

The current median household income in the San Jose is $117,474.

Pretty good, right? This is even an increase from the previous year by 6.76 percent. How good is this? Well, the national median household income is only $60,336.

Meaning that San Jose citizens tend to earn almost twice the national average.

If you want to break down exactly how much of your income will go to car insurance, use the tool down below.

Homeownership in San Jose

Yes, you’re reading this right. Homeownership in San Jose. You wouldn’t think so at first glance, but whether people own homes in a particular area can actually affect what your insurance rates will be.

Not sure what we mean? We’ll break it down for you.

For starters, let’s start with how many people in the San Jose area actually own their home.

In San Jose, only 57.2 percent of the population own their home. The rest rent. This is actually lower than the national average of 63.9 percent of citizens being homeowners.

Why would this be? With such fantastic growth and prosperity, why wouldn’t people want to own their own home?

Well, it comes down to the fact that in San Jose, the average property value is $957,700. Which has even risen from the previous year of $911,900.

Houses in California are nationally known for being more expensive, as the cost of living in the state is much higher than many other states in the nation. But such a high property value definitely could scare away potential home buyers.

Don’t let this discourage you, however, as a decrease in home prices in the San Jose area is in the formidable future.

Education in San Jose

If you’re looking for education opportunities in the San Jose area, you certainly won’t find a shortage.

In fact, immediately in the area, you have these three major universities to choose from:

• San Jose State University: 9,010 degrees awarded
• Stanford University: 5,198 degrees awarded
• Santa Clara University: 3,000 degrees awarded

This is wonderful for in-state students, as tuition is only $3,434. In-state students have it pretty good as compared to out-of-state students, who pay a whopping $47,112 for their tuition.

For these students enrolled, what they study can determine what career paths they will follow. It can highly affect what jobs they’ll inevitably get, and what salaries they’ll earn.

Not only that, but it can even determine which area they live in, as they will want to be closer to where job opportunities are for what they’ve studied.

Based on this, the most common college majors in San Jose are as follows:

• General psychology: 524 degrees awarded
• Computer science: 408 degrees awarded
• General business administration and management: 1,457 degrees awarded

Employment by Occupations

Once you have that diploma in your hand, you’re going to want to be on the hunt for job opportunities. So what kinds of employment opportunities will you have in the San Jose area?

The most common job groups, according to Data USA, in San Jose are as follows:

• Management = 142,602 people
• Computer and mathematical = 117,587
• Office and administrative support = 102,530

If you’ve been studying to ascend into a management job, you’ll be in luck in San Jose. These opportunities lead the pack at number one.

Wage by Gender in Common Jobs

We know about the pay gap that goes on in the United States. As much as we fight it, there is a noticeable pay gap between the genders.

In San Jose, men typically earn an average of $75,050 while women in the same jobs typically only earn $59,658.

This means that men typically earn 1.26 times more than women in the San Jose area. But how does this translate to the most common jobs in the area?

Well, according to Data USA, the following are the most common jobs in the San Jose area, and how that translates to genders:

• Miscellaneous managers
  • Men: 318,294 employees at an average salary of $125,706
  • Women: 185,706 employees at an average salary of $94,699
• Elementary and middle school teachers
  • Men: 76,703 employees at an average salary of $68,823
  • Women: 220, 608 employees at an average salary of $63,657
• Retail salespersons
  • Men: 122,853 employees at an average salary of $47,957
  • Women: 88,574 employees at an average salary of $35,791
• Driver/sales workers and truck drivers
  • Men: 300,346 employees at an average salary of $46,287
  • Women: 17,783 employees at an average salary of $32,578
• Cashiers
  • Men: 59,704 employees at an average salary of $27,490
  • Women: 109,032 employees at an average salary of $26,863

So as you can see, even in the most common jobs, there is a significant pay gap between men and women.

Poverty by Age and Gender

So we’ve talked about those who are making money in the San Jose area. Now let’s switch gears quickly to talk about the flip side of this coin—those who are living in poverty.

Estimates show that 8.67 percent of the entire population of San Jose live in poverty.

This seems pretty high, but considering that the national average is 13.4 percent, San Jose is actually more well off than a lot of other cities in the nation.

Of this population that is living in poverty, however, the largest demographic are females from the ages of 18 to 24 years old.

Poverty by Race and Ethnicity

Of those in poverty, how does this split up based on race and ethnicity? Of this 8.67 percent living in poverty in the San Jose area, what group has the highest count?

Well, according to Data USA, the following demographics have the highest poverty rate:

• Hispanic = 70,292
• White = 69,962
• Asian = 48,017

So according to the data, the highest population of those in poverty are Hispanic citizens, followed closely by whites and Asians.

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Driving in San Jose

There are so many roads out there that it’s hard to keep track, but in this section, we’ll give you a taste of some of the more well-known highways and roads you’ll want to familiarize yourself with while in San Jose.

 Major Highways

Highways are the heart of most transportation in any major metropolitan area. The question here is, what are the major highways that you’ll be seeing in San Jose?

Well, the state of California has 12 active routes with over 2,457.34 miles of roadway. That’s a lot.

Of these major active routes, San Jose citizens will only need to concern themselves with the following highways:

• I-80
• I-280
• I-380
• I-580
• I-680
• I-780
• I-880
• I-980

Roads in San Jose

When you’re driving, you want to make sure you are driving on a safe street, right? No, we don’t mean neighborhoods, but literally the streets. If you are driving on a really bumpy road, filled with potholes, that can do damage to your vehicle. Damages you’ll have to pay for.

So what kind of roads are out there in San Jose?

Road Conditions

Who wants to go out driving and constantly worry about damaging their car because of poor road conditions? No one, that’s who.

Not only is it just inconvenient for driving reasons, but it can also be hazardous for your vehicle. Poor road conditions can lead to costly damages to your vehicle if you’re not paying attention.

What kind of road conditions are in San Jose? Check out the table below to see the data for road conditions in the area state.

As you can see, it looks like San Jose needs to step up when it comes to road conditions. A majority of roads fall under the poor share category, meaning that road conditions are pretty poor for drivers. So the next time you’re out for a stroll in the area, keep a close eye out for any hazardous road conditions out there.

Does San Jose use speeding or red light cameras?

Depending on where you’re out, your state may have speeding or right light cameras installed. The purpose of them has been to catch drivers driving dangerously, but a lot of states have been doing away with them altogether.

Well, according to the Insurance Insitute for Highway Safety (IIHS), the state of California has the following laws on speeding/red light cameras:

The reason why red light cameras are as popular as they are, across the nation, can be summed up nicely by the following quote by the IIHS:

“Previous research in Oxnard, California, found significant citywide crash reductions followed the introduction of red light cameras, and injury crashes at intersections with traffic signals were reduced by 29 percent (Retting and Kyrychenko, 2002).”

Vehicles in San Jose

When you’re out on the open road, depending on where you live, you might see more of certain vehicles than others. Which cars will you see in San Jose? Is it more known for fancy sports cars? Are there more hybrid vehicles?

Keep reading to find out.

Most Popular Vehicles Owned

Depending on where you live, there are going to be different vehicles that you’ll see on the road alongside you. According to a YourMechanic survey, sports cars are the most popular in San Jose.

Did you know that the most popular vehicle owned in the San Jose area is a BMW 540i?

That’s right, in fact, sports cars are so popular in the area, that even the Porsche index from the same survey indicates that San Jose is the number five city in the nation with Porsches at 0.3 percent.

That’s not all, though. Despite the fact that this sports car is the most popular in the area, there is no shortage of green/hybrid vehicles in the area.

In fact, according to the survey mentioned above, San Jose actually ranks as the number two city in the nation for the number of hybrid vehicles, at a whopping 2.5 percent of the entire population of vehicles.

How many cars per household

All of these vehicles belong to someone, right? So, how many cars are in each household in San Jose? According to Data USA, the average number of vehicles per household in San Jose is two. This is a typical average, as most other cities in the nation also average at the same number of vehicles per household.

Households without a Car

On the flip side of this coin is, how many households in the area are without vehicles?

As you can see from the table above, about 5 percent of the population in San Jose is actually without vehicles.

Vehicle Theft in San Jose

With all of these really awesome sports cars in the San Jose area, the one thing a lot of drivers have to worry about is whether they will get stolen. It’s one of the major worries of many car owners, but knowing what your odds are can help give you a better idea of how to keep your car safe.

A study conducted by the FBI was done to find out which cities in the nation are more prone to vehicle theft. San Jose had the following data:

That’s a pretty decent number of vehicle thefts in the area, even considering how many people are actually in the San Jose area. This information does bring in another point that you’ll want to keep in mind. Just how much crime is in the San Jose area?

According to Neighborhood Scout, the map below shows the crime index for the entire area of San Jose.

So, what areas are the safest for you to be in?

Well, according to Neighborhood Scout, the following areas are considered the safest in the city:

1. Aborn Road / Quimby Road
2. English Town
3. Mcabee Road / Leyland Park Drive
4. Quimby Road / Chaboya Road
5. San Felipe Road / Meadowlands Lane
6. Almaden Expressway / Via Valiente
7. Silver Creek Road / Country Club Parkway
8. Coyote
9. Evergreen
10. Camino Robles Way / Paso Los Cerritos

Traffic

Traffic can be one of the most frustrating aspects of getting behind the wheel, especially in some of the more heavily populated metropolitan areas.

So what can you expect for San Jose traffic?

According to INRIX Scorecard, San Jose actually doesn’t make the list for traffic congestion. What does this mean? It essentially means that while the area may experience some traffic, it’s not enough to put it onto any national traffic lists.

TomTom, on the other hand, has traffic congestion for San Jose as seen below:

On Numbeo, San Jose has the following traffic data:

Transportation

There’s a lot of hustle and bustle when you’re trying to get from point A to point B. How you get there varies highly based on where you live.

In this section, we’ll very briefly touch on the most common transportation used in San Jose, and just how long (on average) it takes most citizens to get to where they’re going in their commute.

According to Data USA, the most common method of transportation in San Jose is to drive alone.

• Drove alone: 74.1 percent
• Carpooled: 10.8 percent
• Worked at home: 5.21 percent

This statistic is fairly standard, as most drivers in any major metropolitan area prefer to drive alone, especially for areas that are more spread out, such as San Jose.

So, with San Jose citizens tending to drive alone on their commutes, what does that mean for average commute time?

According to Data USA, on average, the commute time in San Jose is 28.5 minutes.

The national average for commute time is only 25.5 minutes, so this means that San Jose actually has a slightly longer commute than most others in the nation.

How safe are San Jose streets and roads?

No one likes getting into an accident. Unfortunately, they do happen, so knowing your chances of getting into an accident may help you prevent it from happening in the first place.

Through state crash reports from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), we can find out some of the most common factors in car accidents, and how high those numbers are for the San Jose area.

The table below displays the crash report statistics for the San Jose region:

As you can see, single-car crashes lead the pack for the number of vehicle-related fatalities in the San Jose area. It’s followed closely by drunk driving-related fatalities.

Allstate America’s Best Drivers Report

Everyone likes to think that they are better drivers than everyone else.

We all complain about how poor the other drivers around us are, but did you know that based on where you live, you can actually find out exactly how good other drivers around you are? Yourself included.

Every year, Allstate comes out with an annual Best Drivers Report that collects data on the average time between claims for drivers in a specific city, and how many hard-braking incidents that same city tends to have.

So how exactly does San Jose compete according to this report? Check out the table below to find out.

As you can see, San Jose ranks as the 170th city in the nation for driving.

The national average for the time between claims is about 10.57 years, while San Jose drivers tend to average at about 7.3.

This means that San Jose citizens actually submit claims more often than other cities in the nation.

Estar Repair Shops

Estar Repair shops are repair shops that have been deemed top-notch for their services and for their customer service. So if you’re in a pickle, it’s handy to know exactly where these facilities are.

For the table below, we used the ZIP code 95122, which is located in the downtown area.

Weather

A weather section in a guide about car insurance. Really? Yes, really. Driving conditions out on the road often are heavily impacted by what the weather is.

Those cities that are in typically colder climates have to worry about driving in the snow and the wear and tear associated with that. The cities in typically hotter climates have to worry about driving in severe heat conditions that will affect your car.

According to U.S. Climate Data, San Jose tends to see the following weather conditions:

• Annual high temperature: 72.6°F
• Annual low temperature: 50.5°F
• Average temperature: 61.55°F
• Average annual precipitation (rainfall): 15.09 inches

Knowing the weather is helpful when gauging what kind of conditions you could potentially find yourself in. The same goes for natural disasters.

It allows you to know what kind of natural disasters you’ll more often find yourself in for the area, and to know what kind of coverage you need to have for your vehicle for those disaster situations.

The number of natural disasters that have occurred in the San Jose area has been 15, which is only slightly higher than the national average of 13 natural disasters.

In San Jose, the following number of natural disasters have occurred:

• Major Disasters (Presidential) Declared: 10
• Emergencies Declared: 3
• Floods: 7
• Fires: 4
• Storms: 4
• Winter Storms: 3
• Landslides: 2
• Drought: 1
• Earthquake: 1
• Freeze: 1
• Hurricane: 1
• Mudslide: 1
• Tornado: 1

The highest number of natural disasters in San Jose by far are for floods. In most major cities in the nation, flooding is typically the number one natural disaster seen.

Public Transit

If you need to take public transit in the San Jose area, you’ll be dealing with the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority. All of the area’s rail and bus systems are run and operated through them.

Should you live just outside the city, you can use the Caltrain, which goes from San Jose all the way up to San Francisco.

If you would like a ticket, the average ticket prices are as follows:

• Adult single: $2
• One-day ticket: $6
• Monthly season ticket, unlimited: $70
• Annual season ticket, unlimited: $770

Parking in Metro Areas

Another aggravating thing that drivers have to deal with is where they’re going to park when in a heavily populated area such as downtown San Jose. So what is available for drivers?

Parkopedia provides live reservations for both street parking and garage parking. It provides information on the price of parking, how long you’re allowed to park, and how far to various locations that parking is.

Air Quality

Breathing is kind of an important thing, right? So if you’re going to live anywhere, you’re going to want to know what kind of air quality you can expect.

More highly populated cities are going to have less than stellar air quality, in huge part due to vehicle emissions.

According to the EPA Air Quality Index, San Jose has the following air quality:

So as you can see, San Jose is a lot different from some of the other major cities in the state of California. You often hear of the smog that plagues cities such as Los Angeles, but as you can see from the chart above, San Jose doesn’t have such worries.

The air quality in San Jose has the highest number of days out of the year in the Good and Moderate categories, which is a really good thing.

Military/Veterans

Being in the military is stressful enough as it is, so why worry about your car insurance?

In this section, we’ll break down the things you can expect about military personnel/veterans in the San Jose region, and how it can affect your car insurance.

Veterans by Service Period

There are a good number of veterans living in the San Jose region

According to Data USA, San Jose veterans fall heavily within these service periods:

• Vietnam: 19,289
• Gulf War (2001-): 7,776
• Korea: 6,661

The highest number of veterans in the area served during the Vietnam War. The number of these veterans in San Jose is actually even higher than the national average.

Military Bases

With all of these veterans in the area, it’s no surprise that the state of California has a number of military bases present.

According to Military.com, the following military bases are located in the state of California:

• Beale Air Force Base
• China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station
• Coast Guard Training Center Petaluma
• Edwards Air Force Base
• Fort Irwin
• Los Angeles Air Force Base
• March Air Reserve Base
• Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center – Twentynine Palms
• Marine Corps Air Station Miramar
• Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton
• Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego
• Naval Air Station Lemoore
• Naval Air Station North Island
• Naval Amphibious Base Coronado
• Naval Base Coronado
• Naval Base Point Loma
• Naval Base San Diego
• Naval Base Ventura County
• Naval Postgraduate School
• Presidio of Monterey
• San Diego Military Bases
• Travis Air Force Base
• US Coast Guard Station San Diego
• Vandenberg Air Force Base

Military Discounts

If you’ve been in or still are in the military, you deserve a little something back. This is why a good number of insurance providers will provide military discounts to those who are active duty or retired.

You can find the insurance providers in the table below who offer military discounts:

San Jose, CA Car Insurance FAQs

Do you still have a few questions about car insurance in San Jose? Check out some of the most frequently asked questions down below.

What are the housing costs in San Jose like if you’re renting?

We mentioned what the housing costs are like for those trying to buy a home, but for those who are renting, it’s a different story.

On average, you can expect to see the following rental prices:

• One-bedroom apartment (downtown): $2,200
• One-bedroom apartment (outside of downtown): $1,750
• Three-bedroom apartment (downtown): $3,400
• Three-bedroom apartment (outside of downtown): $2,900

So in total, the closer to the downtown area you are, the higher rent prices will get.

How much is gas typically in San Jose?

Gas prices have risen over the past several years, particularly in the state of California.

In San Jose, you can expect to pay about $3.04 per gallon of gas.

This is definitely not cheap.

Can I keep my driver’s license if I move to San Jose?

You actually can keep your driver’s license from the state you’ve moved from. The only thing you will be required to do is to transfer your license by updating the address on your license to match your new address in San Jose.

If I get in an accident, whose insurance do I file a claim with?

The state of California is considered an at-fault state. What does this mean?

At-fault states are states where if you are the one who caused an accident, it is your insurance coverage that will cover the costs of that accident.

So, in turn, if you’re in an accident that you didn’t cause, you’ll rely on the other driver’s insurance to cover the damages from that accident.

What is the situation on windshield coverage?

Having that additional coverage can certainly be beneficial, especially in a region where mudslides are a common occurrence.

The state of California allows you to select where the repair is done. If you do have repairs done, aftermarket parts are only allowed if they are at least equal in cost to the OEM parts used.

You’ve done it! You’ve made it to the end of this comprehensive guide for San Jose car insurance. We hope we were able to make your decision a little easier.

If you’re ready to get started with comparing car insurance, use our FREE online tool today. All you need is your ZIP code.

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