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Some of the best car insurance for 18 year olds is from Erie Insurance with premiums of $241 per month or $2,888 per year for full coverage.
Cheap Car Insurance For Young Drivers
Car insurance for 18-year-olds is expensive, whether you add a teenager to your policy or they buy an individual policy. This is why the best car insurance for 18 year olds should be as affordable as possible.
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We at the Guides team have compared prices from dozens of providers to see which ones offer cheap car insurance for teenagers. Our top pick overall is Geico, with full coverage for $263 per month or $3,161 per year. We’ll cover our top picks and ways to save here.
Car Insurance for Teens Best Car Insurance for New Drivers Cheapest Car Insurance with Kids Average Cost of Car Insurance
The Guides team is committed to providing reliable information to help you make the best decision about insuring your car. Because consumers rely on us to provide objective and accurate information, we’ve created a comprehensive rating system to formulate our rankings of the best auto insurance companies. We collected data on dozens of auto insurance providers to rate the companies on a wide range of rating factors. After 800 hours of research, the final result was an overall ranking of each provider, with the top-scoring insurers topping the list.
According to our rate estimates, comprehensive car coverage for 18-year-olds costs an average of $4,958 a year, or $413 a month. If you add an 18-year-old to your family policy, your rates will go up, but you’ll save money overall. Older drivers also typically get lower rates than 18-year-olds.
Car Insurance For Teens
The cost of car insurance for 18-year-olds is affected by a variety of factors, including gender, driving history, location and credit score. Gender premium differences are particularly pronounced for teenagers and young adults, where 18-year-old males often pay much higher premiums than females of the same age. Some states, however, do not allow auto insurers to use gender as a factor when calculating auto insurance rates.
Car insurance rates are more expensive for teenage drivers because they have less driving experience and are involved in more car accidents. Even an 18-year-old with a clean driving record will likely pay much more for auto insurance than drivers in their 30s and 40s.
According to the AAA Foundation for Highway Safety, 18- and 19-year-olds are more than twice as likely to be involved in a crash as drivers 30 to 39 years old. Below you can see the number of accidents per 100 million miles, broken down by age group.
The average cost of insurance closely follows the accident rate by age. You can see below that 18-year-olds pay, on average, more than double what 35-year-olds pay for comprehensive insurance.
Tips To Get The Best Cheap Car Insurance For Young Drivers
The cheapest car insurance for 18-year-olds is Erie Insurance, which has an average annual rate of $2,888, or $241 per month for full-coverage individual policies. USAA offers similar rates at about $2,897 a year or $241 a month.
*Auto insurance estimates are based on full coverage: $50,000 bodily injury per person, $100,000 bodily injury per accident, $50,000 property damage per accident, and $500 deductible for collision coverage and comprehensive coverage.
Geico, Erie, USAA, and State Farm are affordable options for 18-year-olds nationwide, but different providers may be cheaper in your state. Below are the cheapest providers for 18-year-olds in each state and Washington, D.C., based on our full coverage rate estimates.
18-year-olds in Hawaii, Ohio and Iowa pay the lowest average rates in the country. Hawaii does not allow age to affect car insurance rates in the state.
Auto Insurance For Young Drivers
On the other hand, average rates for 18-year-olds in Michigan, Connecticut, and Florida can be much more expensive for individual car insurance.
Some of the best car insurance for 18 year olds comes from Geico, USAA, State Farm, Erie Insurance and Auto-Owners Insurance. Each score awarded is based on factors such as cost, coverage, reputation, availability and customer experience;
Geico is our top pick for the best auto insurance for 18 year olds. Considering that Erie is only available in about a dozen states and USAA is only available to military members, veterans and their families, Geico is the cheapest company with nationwide coverage. Our estimates show that average Geico prices are about 36% cheaper than the national average for 18-year-olds. Geico also offers driver education and good student discounts that can lower rates for teenage drivers.
USAA is another low-cost option for 18-year-old drivers, with average rates about 42% below the typical cost of car insurance for this age group. Your teen may qualify for USAA if either of you is enlisted or a veteran. You can also transfer eligibility as a parent if you are a USAA member.
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In addition to low fares, USAA offers reliable customer service. It has an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and received the highest score in the J.D. Power 2021 US Auto Claims Satisfaction Study ℠ with a score of 909 out of 1,000.
State Farm made it to our list of the best car insurance for 18-year-olds because of its discounts for students and teenagers. For example, the Steer Clear® program is an educational course for young drivers that offers discounts upon completion. And a good State Farm student discount of up to 25% applies until drivers turn 25. Our estimates show that State Farm’s average prices for 18-year-olds are about 33% cheaper than the national average.
Erie Insurance offers affordable coverage in 12 states and Washington DC. Our estimates show that its average prices for 18-year-olds are around 42% cheaper than the national average. Like USAA, Erie scored well in the J.D Power Auto Claims Satisfaction Study, scoring 901 out of 1,000 points.
Operating in 26 states, Auto-Owners offers a variety of coverage options, plus discounts for teenage drivers. The company’s good student discount is valid if your 18-year-old maintains a B average or better, and it offers up to 20% off. Young motorists can also get a teenage driver monitoring discount if they use a GPS device while driving. Our rate estimates show that Auto-Owners are on average about 41% cheaper than the national average for 18-year-olds.
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Car insurance for teenagers is expensive, but not everything is out of your control. There are things you can do to save money, including adding an 18-year-old driver to your family policy, shopping frequently and looking for special discounts.
If you live in the same household, you can add a teen driver to your family policy to save hundreds or even thousands of dollars a year. This will not work if the 18-year-old has a car registered in his name, in which case he must have his own policy.
Also, it may not make sense if the parents have a bad driving history or very bad credit scores. An 18-year-old can find cheaper rates on their own policy in these cases.
Car insurance discounts can make a big difference in finding good rates for young adults. Young drivers can take advantage of student discounts and parents can save when their children attend school more than 100 miles away without cars.
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Bundling may also be a good idea if you have other types of insurance policies, such as renters. Some auto insurance companies offer safe driving discounts to people with a short driving history, while others require four or five years of claims-free driving to qualify.
The best car insurance companies for 18 year olds offer a number of applicable discounts. When comparing car insurance quotes, look for the following discounts:
Your coverage levels and deductibles directly affect your car insurance rates. Think about what level of protection you would like in the event of an accident and reduce your cover to that amount to save money. You can also raise your deductible to take on a little more risk and lower your total premium. An auto insurance policy with minimum coverage will be the cheapest option.
If you’re thinking about getting a family car for your 18-year-old to drive, consider paying cash for an affordable used sedan or midsize SUV. Without an auto loan, you will not be required to have comprehensive or collision coverage on the vehicle.
Know How To Choose The Best Car Insurance For Young Drivers
You just need to have whatever level of bodily injury and property damage liability coverage is required in your state. Some states require more coverage, but companies are not allowed to sell you less than the base amount.
Telematics insurance programs like State Farm’s Drive Safe & Save™ discounts based on your current driving habits, not your past driving history. Families with teenagers can take advantage of discounts if they all participate in the program. Be aware that some usage-based insurance options can increase car insurance premiums, so research the plans before you start.
In this article, we looked at car insurance costs for 18-year-olds and the factors used by insurance companies to determine rates. We’ve also highlighted the cheapest car insurance and the best companies for 18 years
