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Edited by Jackie Cohen | Reviewed by licensed insurance agent, Amber Benka
Last Updated June 15, 2022
Why you can trust Insurify
The Great Plains: home to some of the longest, straightest, most breathtaking roads in the United States. Even better to be cruising with the bison in a new car or lease. But have you thought about gap insurance? Whatever your insurance policy needs, Insurify has the quotes you need from the best South Dakota auto insurance companies—it’s quick, easy, and free.
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Best Companies for Gap Insurance in South Dakota
How much is gap insurance in South Dakota?
The average policyholder in South Dakota pays $165 per month for a car insurance policy with gap insurance. However, what you pay for car insurance will depend on a variety of factors, such as your age and your driving record.
Shown in this table are two companies that any South Dakota driver should put on their list when looking for an auto insurance company to underwrite a full-coverage policy on their leased vehicle.
Even if they don’t always offer the best rates, legacy insurance companies like State Farm, Allstate, Liberty Mutual, and USAA also sell gap insurance, boast high J.D. Power customer service rankings, and have discounts for teen drivers and bundling opportunities with renters and homeowners insurance, too.
Insurance Company | Average Monthly Cost for Leased Cars in South Dakota |
---|---|
Midvale Home & Auto | $140 |
Dairyland | $183 |
See More: Cheap Car Insurance in South Dakota
What is gap insurance?
Gap insurance is an addition to your automobile insurance that is only for cars purchased or leased through a lender. You need it if the amount you owe on your loan or lease is greater than the actual cash value of your motor vehicle. If you’re not sure this is you, check for your car’s value in Kelley Blue Book or another trusted reference.
Gap insurance—which stands for “guaranteed asset protection”—protects the “gap” between your car’s value and the balance of your loan. That way, if your car is totaled or stolen and the reimbursement (minus the deductible) isn’t enough to pay off the rest of the loan, you’ll have insurance coverage for the difference, up to the coverage limits you set on your policy.
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Who should buy gap insurance in South Dakota?
If you have a car loan, you definitely need full-coverage auto insurance: that means liability coverage along with comprehensive coverage and collision insurance. Your lender probably requires this. And if your loan is going to be “underwater”—which is when the loan balance exceeds the value of the car at the time—you’ll want to have gap insurance.
Auto-owners who took out a car loan with a low down payment or a long lease term are especially likely to need gap insurance as an additional coverage to their full-coverage policy. You’d hate to have financial responsibility for a loan on a car that doesn’t even exist after it gets totaled or stolen! But be watchful: after a while, your loan won’t be underwater, and you’ll want to cancel.
Consider gap insurance if:
- Your lender requires it.
- You’re leasing your vehicle.
- You financed your vehicle loan over 60 months or more.
- You put less than 20 percent down on your car (or didn’t make a down payment at all).
- Your loan has a high interest rate.
- You rolled over negative equity from your last auto loan.
- You’re driving a luxury vehicle or other high-value vehicle that depreciates faster than a standard car.
South Dakota Gap Insurance Laws
South Dakota doesn’t require gap insurance. But your lender most likely will. The South Dakota state minimum liability coverage is only $25,000 for bodily injury liability per person ($50,000 per accident) and $25,000 in property damage liability per accident. You don’t even need medical payments or underinsured/uninsured motorist coverage, which some states require.
How much gap insurance do I need in South Dakota?
The best car insurance only insures you for what you need. So take a look at your car’s value and how quickly you expect to pay off your loan. Gap insurance is usually sold with limits that are a percentage of your car’s value. An insurance agent can answer most FAQs and help you decide the cheapest auto insurance for you that includes gap coverage.
See More: How Much Car Insurance Do I Need?
How Gap Insurance Works in South Dakota
To find gap insurance that meets their car insurance requirements, many lenders will try to sell you gap coverage of their own. But to get the best rates, you’re better off getting an auto insurance policy from an insurance company that includes gap coverage along with the rest of your full coverage. That’s the way to get the cheapest auto insurance rates.
How Much Gap Insurance Costs in South Dakota
Good news! South Dakota has some of the cheapest auto insurance in the country. The average monthly premium for a leased vehicle is only $165, beating the national average cost for the same policy ($289) by light-years. A clean driving record (no DUIs) and a great credit score will help you get the cheapest car insurance in the state of South Dakota.
How to Buy Gap Insurance in South Dakota
Cheap car insurance comes to those who get a lot of car insurance quotes before signing up for an auto insurance policy. If you need gap insurance, you can’t settle for minimum coverage: you need collision coverage and comprehensive coverage, too, and that makes it harder to keep your auto insurance rates down. Insurify is here to help you get real quotes, fast and free.
Frequently Asked Questions: Gap Insurance in South Dakota
Gap insurance is not required in the state of South Dakota. However, lenders often require you to have gap insurance. South Dakota drivers are required to have minimum liability insurance: $25,000 in liability coverage for bodily injury per person (and $50,000 per accident) and $25,000 in property damage liability. Beyond these state minimum requirements, the rest is optional.
Cancel your gap insurance policy once your car’s cash value is higher than the outstanding balance on your loan. That will help lower your car insurance rate for the rest of the car’s lifetime, and you won’t be paying for a car insurance policy you don’t need! If you paid the gap insurance premium up front, you’ll get it back prorated—but make sure you’re timely.
Gap insurance or not, buying South Dakota car insurance is a pain—but it’s also an important chance to save money. Whatever side of the Missouri River you live on, you can benefit from Insurify’s free car insurance quote comparison service that finds you personalized car insurance rates from the most important South Dakota car insurance companies.
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The car insurance quotes displayed are based on an analysis of Insurify’s database of over 40 million quotes from 500 ZIP codes nationwide. To obtain representative rates, Insurify’s data science team performs frequent comprehensive analyses of the factors car insurance providers weigh to calculate rates including driver demographics, driving record, credit score, desired coverage level, and more.
Insurify’s analysis also incorporates the Insurify Composite Score (ICS) assigned to each insurance provider. The ICS is a proprietary rating that weighs multiple factors reflecting the quality, reliability, and health of an insurance company. Ratings used to calculate the ICS include Financial Strength Ratings from A.M. Best, Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s, and Fitch; J.D. Power ratings; Consumer Reports customer satisfaction surveys and customer complaints; mobile app reviews; and user-generated company reviews.
With the above insights and ranking methods, Insurify is able to offer car insurance shoppers insight into how various insurance providers compare to one another in terms of both cost and quality. Note, actual quotes will vary based on unique attributes including the policyholder’s driver history and their garaging address.