How can I find cheap car insurance in the USA?

Ask the duck.
Or that lizard.
Or Flo, ask Flo.

I'm doing this for my mom. I'm interested in a website that will help me find the cheapest car insurance because most insurance companies charge her too much due to an accident some years ago. She can't afford anything but the cheapest nowadays due to the bad economy...

I forgot, also look into what discounts the offer. When I was looking into motorcycle insurance Progressive was paying for the cost of having the bike lojacked and giving a discount from then on out. Insurers often times have discounts for things like that which pay back all or some of the investment to reduce the risk of theft or damage.

Also, not all vehicles cost the same amount of money to insure. If you get a more sturdy vehicle or one that's less likely to be stolen, you'll pay less.

Assuming you don't already own the vehicle in question or have a choice. That's understandable, that will be tough, but she may need to go to an agent and have a policy tailored to her needs. She may need to have coverage that's limited or agree to monitoring while driving.

I don't like the idea, but in some parts of the US, you can agree to allow the insurance company install a tracking device and receive a substantial discount on coverage. Basically it would probably track how often she slams on the brakes or hits the accelerator and such.

hmmm...well most insurance searches will not give you accurate details on cost or will be skewed to a certain company.

I will say this about Progressive, it will not be the overall best insurance company but when it comes to saving money its pretty good. I remember 10 years ago after having 3 accidents and a totaled car in a 6 month period. My insurance with State Farm was around $5000 for the year, a year later with Progressive it was half that and the cheapest at the time.

I currently have progressive, they offer fairly decent discounts and you can get your insurance down pretty cheap depending on your state requirements. It is not the cheapest overall for me when I shopped around, but out of the bigger companies(Progressive, All State, State Farm, Liberty Mutual, Geico) it is the cheapest for myself.

There is also that insurance with the General dude that is pretty cheap.

The only way to really shop around for insurance is to go to each site and enter the exact same numbers and see what your estimates come to. If you use any other site but the main insurance companies you are basically giving all your info to a spammer and you will get a ton of spam calls, and spam mail...

Also some insurance companies also now use credit rating as another factor which is retarded.

I also forgot to mention: You can of course go with a cheap local company but be careful as some might be fake. I remember being warned about a couple companies in Georgia that were selling fake car insurance. In the end you get what you pay for, most large companies depending on what you need can get you within a certain price range. But there are so many factors, so just start working your way down a list. Also do a search for locals and see if you can get a good deal but make sure they are legit.

Thank you all for providing me with solutions. I decided to give the credit to hedwards because he responded first.

Good luck, may it not be too much of a headache

If you can access USAA, their rates are usually significantly better than others without compromising service.

I've had issues with GEICO, but good luck with Progressive (I never made a claim with Progressive, though).

The duck is what company? So you think GEICO isn't really a good choice?

Live in a centralized city such as Chicago or New York. Having a car there isn't a nessesity like it is in Los Angeles.

Maybe I should have clarified.

I filed claims with GEICO and they were fine. They weren't easy to deal with but I've had worse experiences.

Their rates OTOH, are a different story. I was a customer of theirs for 3-4 years and when I switched, I did so because their rates were literally double what I was quoted for the same coverage by other companies.

So service wise, they are fine, but I'd make sure you compare their rates before going with them right off the bat.

Amica used to have one of the best ratings in the US for low hassle payouts. I don't find them hideously expensive, but they certainly aren't the cheapest you could find. I think "cheap" isn't the only metric (me personally) so I use them.

State Farm has that "no accidents in years, you get a rebate" policy now, not sure how cheap that ends up making them. It does mean they must be charging above what the actuarial tables say they absolutely need to charge, though. If they're charging industry standard rates, either the industry is screwing everyone (likely) or they deny claims at a higher rate, or are simply very efficient in other ways (e.g. investments in tech).

It's tough to recommend one company over another, at least where cost is concerned, since the price can vary so much from so many factors. For instance, you might get quotes for driving in St. Louis from three different companies with the same coverage, and find a 50% spread. Compare those same companies and same coverage in, say, Portland and the high-premium insurer in St. Louis might be the lowest in Portland.

It's friggin' goofy that way.

Other than that, the advice above is good stuff. Independent agents are good if you have driving record problems, while a single provider can be good for multiple-policy discounts (to tie in with homeowners / renters coverage).

Orcish: the refund policy of State Farm is based on your geographical location, and is all about the claims in your area for that year. The premium refunds haven't been large for us; I think the highest was around $40 for our six vehicles, and we haven't gotten them each year. In these parts, it's all about the amount of snow and the deer population. When both are high, we probably aren't getting a refund since the claims will most likely be higher. As far as an accident-free refund from SF, I don't remember getting one of those and I've had a clean record with them since the '90s.

I've heard good stuff about Amica, too. Might be worth checking out if SF ever pisses us off.