Car Insurance

Starting April 1, low-income drivers in Alameda County will be able to get auto insurance for under $350 a year as part of a move to expand an existing program to get more drivers insured in California.

The program is also expected to be expanded by mid-summer to San Mateo, Contra Costa, San Joaquin, Santa Clara, Sacramento, Stanislaus, Imperial and Kern counties. While rates have not yet been set for those other locations, Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi said Wednesday he expects they will be priced at under $400.

A state law opened the door for the low-cost auto insurance program to be started in San Francisco and Los Angeles counties in 2000. Rates in San Francisco — where it’s estimated 19 percent of drivers are uninsured — are $314.

An estimated 23,000 uninsured motorists have signed up for the program in those two counties, with the vast majority signing up in Los Angeles.

The passage of SB 20 last year has allowed for the program to be expanded to 14 other counties where there are high numbers of uninsured motorists and high levels of poverty.

The idea is to provide low-income motorists with a limited liability policy for under $400 a year in hopes of increasing the number of insured motorists in California.

The state has more than 3 million uninsured motorists. The percentage of uninsured motorists is 12 percent in Alameda County, 7 percent in Contra Costa County, 12 percent in San Joaquin County and 16 percent in San Mateo County.