Cheapest Car Insurance: How to Get it

According to our data, you are likelier to pay the cheapest car insurance rates if you:

• Live outside the city.
• Are older.
• Have no violations.
• Have a high credit score (in some states).
• Shop around for car insurance.

Even if you don’t match up with these factors, you can save money by knowing what to look out for. In this guide, let’s look at the data and how you can get the cheapest car insurance.

Who has the cheapest car insurance​?

Depending on your circumstances, you’ll find that insurance rates can from insurer to insurer. Here are the top 10 scenarios with the corresponding cheapest insurer:

Cheapest Car Insurance By Age

Age plays a huge factor in determining your insurance rates with the most expensive periods being one’s teens. This trend then heads downwards as one heads towards their 30s and beyond. However, they start to climb upwards once you enter your senior years.

What is the cheapest car insurance for young drivers​ (18-24 years old)?

Younger drivers tend to pay the highest rates in the United States, especially teens aged between 16 to 19 because of their risk profile. Male teens, teens driving with other young adults and newly-licensed drivers tend to be riskier, according to the U.S. Center for Disease Control.

As a driver enters into their mid-20s, their insurance rates become more affordable.

Cheapest Car Insurance For Young Adult Drivers (25-34)

The trend of a steady decline in insurance prices continues between the ages of 25-35.

Cheapest Car Insurance For Adult Drivers (35-44)

While insurance rates do decline over the course of aging into one’s 40s, the savings due to age slow down.

Cheapest Car Insurance For Adult Drivers (45-54)

Still more savings to be had as one approaches and enters into their 50s, but the rate of savings year-over-year slows down.

Cheapest Car Insurance For Adult Drivers (55-64)

The rate of saving more or less stalls as one enters their 60s and beyond.

What is the cheapest car insurance for older drivers​ (65-74)?

As you head into your 70s and beyond, insurance rates are starting to increase. Your state might also require vision, written or road tests at renewal of your license, and you are likely to have to renew your license more frequently.

What is the cheapest car insurance for older drivers​ (>75)?

Insurance rates continue to climb as you go beyond 75 years old.

What state has the cheapest car insurance​?

The three cheapest states where we quoted a policy are Iowa, Wisconsin and Tennessee (first, second, third cheapest respectively). The three most expensive are Connecticut, South Carolina and Delaware.

Methodology: Policies sold from January 2024 and beyond with the following profile: State minimum BI insurance, no full coverage, no claims, no violations, one driver. To reduce outliers, we used the price of our clients at the fifth percentile. States with fewer than 100 samples excluded

What car is the cheapest to insure​?

What you choose to drive represents a major cost component of your insurance, according to the Insurance Information Institute, who adds that the likelihood of theft, cost of repairs, engine size and safety record play a part in the quote.

These parameters are used in the calculation of the average premiums below for a single 36 year-old driver.

Cheapest cars (2015 model year and newer)

Cheapest cars (all model years)

Cheapest car insurance with a low credit score

In most parts of the U.S., insurers can use your credit information in pricing auto insurance. Insurers could use your credit score as part of an insurance score, which helps them build a quote for you.

According to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners:

• Insurers cannot use credit-based insurance scores as the sole reason for increasing rates, denying or canceling policies.
• Some states require insurers to notify applicants or policyholders when credit-related decisions impact coverage or rates.
• Several states, including California, Hawaii, Michigan, Massachusetts and Maryland, have restrictions or bans on using credit scores for determining policy rates.

The following tables considers quotes for policies with minimum coverage levels and a credit score of less than 550.

Cheapest car insurance with bad driving record​

Having a violation on your driving record will cause your insurance rates to rise and the penalty will last for a period of time. According to the Insurance Information Institute, when you make a claim above a specific amount and are at-fault, you will see an increase in insurance prices but this varies from company to company, and this penalty will typically continue for three years. However, if you get into an accident as a result of drunk driving, you’re likely to incur a non-renewal from almost every insurer.

Cheapest Car Insurance with DUI

For a 36-year-old driver with a policy sold in 2024, getting a DUI will increase your average insurance rates by 35.7% from $195.83 to $281.03. You’d be paying almost $100 more per month for having a DUI on your record.

Here are the cheapest car insurers for a driver with a DUI record for a 36-year-old with a policy sold in 2024:

Cheapest Car Insurance with Accident

Shopping around if you have an accident on your driving record can also save you money. Based on Jerry quotes, some of the better companies in this scenario are listed below.

Cheapest Car Insurance with Speeding Ticket

If you get a speeding ticket, you can expect to pay an average of 28.% more than a driver with a clean record. Here’s the numbers for a 36-year-old driver with a policy purchased in 2024:

Here are the cheapest insurers if you have a speeding ticket.

Most Affordable Liability-Only Car Insurance

You can get affordable liability car insurance from a variety of insurers. Here are some of the cheapest quoted to Jerry customers.

Methodology: 36 years old, only driver listed on policy, does not have full coverage. Policy sold in 2024 and beyond

Most Affordable Full-Coverage Car Insurance

You can often find affordable full coverage for under $150 per month. Here are some of the top companies who have quoted Jerry customers recently.

Methodology: 36 years old, only driver listed on policy, does not have full coverage. Policy sold in 2024 and beyond

Rideshare insurance

As a rideshare driver, your personal auto insurance company might require you to add rideshare coverage to your policy. This goes hand-in-hand with the insurance provider by the rideshare company. Here are the insurers that offer rideshare coverage, and which states they offer it in:

Because you still need coverage while you’re working, you should know about the commercial auto insurance offered by Lyft and Uber. Coverage varies by state for both Lyft and Uber.

How to get cheap car insurance

While there are several factors that you can’t control, for example, your age, gender and the inflation of insurance costs, you do have some control over your insurance rates. Here are some quick tips on how you can reduce your insurance rates:

Drive the right car

Firstly, go for a cheaper-to-insure car. Different cars tend to have different premiums. According to our data, a Chevrolet Malibu costs only $155/month to insure while a Jeep Grand Cherokee costs $244 (almost $90 more). You can see a sampling of vehicles and their average insurance rates here.

Bundle policies

You can also bundle your auto policy with other insurance policies like home or renter’s insurance, and companies often give discounts in this scenario.

Optimize your coverage

Consider whether you need full coverage as collision and comprehensive insurance are optional coverages that you can drop to save money, unless you have a car loan, where it’s typically required. The downside – you’re exposed to more possible out-of-pocket expenses. For example, if a branch falls on your car, smashing your headlight, that becomes an out-of-pocket expense.

Another way to optimize your coverage is by considering raising your deductibles as it typically reduces comprehensive and collision insurance costs. If you have the tolerance and financial ability to pay for smaller repairs, it might make sense to raise your deductible to reduce costs.

Finally, consider these discounts:

• Enrolled student discounts: If you are in high school or college, some insurers will reduce your rates, especially if you have good grades.
• Telematics programs: Use GPS technology to track your driving and get a discount for good driving. Some examples include Progressive’s Snapshot, State Farm’s Drive Safe & Save and GEICO’s DriveEasy. Note that some telematics programs will raise your rates for bad driving.
• Choosing electronic documents instead of mailed documents
• Automatic billing discounts
• Discounts for paying in full: If you pay monthly and add up the total cost, you might find that it’s more expensive than just paying in full for the six months or year.

Risks of cheap insurance

Cheap insurance comes with two-sided risks. First, one way to reduce your insurance cost involves reducing your coverage which exposes you to more out-of pocket expenses. The second aspect involves customer service a cheaper insurer might have poorer customer satisfaction.

Reducing insurance coverage saves money, but exposes you to more risks

When you buy insurance, you will be required to have a specific minimum amount of coverage. You could buy the minimum amount of insurance and legally drive on the road, but it only offers a bare minimum of coverage. In some states, the bare minimum required for property damage might not even cover the replacement cost of a newer car, such as a $5,000 property damage liability coverage. In such cases, you’ll pay for the damages out of pocket, exposing you to financial risks.

Consider prioritizing claims satisfaction

When you get into an accident, your experience with your insurer can vary a lot. According to a study on customer satisfaction by J.D. Power, Amica Mutual, Erie and NJM Insurance rank at the top three in terms of customer satisfaction, but they tend not to show up as the cheapest insurers. State Farm, Auto-Owners, Allstate and USAA rank above average, but GEICO, Travelers, Progressive, National General rank below average in claims satisfaction.

Methodology

We used the average Jerry customer’s profile to build the statistics above including: 36 years old, only driver listed on policy, does not have full coverage. Policy sold in 2024 and beyond.