How Much Is Car Insurance?

How much is car insurance? It’s a tough question to answer given all the components that determine a driver’s rates. Wondering how much car insurance costs might make it hard to shake the feeling you’re paying too much for coverage. Knowing the average car insurance cost for different types of drivers can help answer this nagging question.

However, your own car insurance price will vary based on several factors, such as your age, driving history, location, coverage you select, and car make and model. We break down how these and other factors may affect your rates below.

Keep reading to find the average car insurance costs for:

The national average cost of car insurance is $1,982 per year, according to NerdWallet’s 2024 rate analysis. That works out to an average car insurance cost of about $165 per month. These rates are for full coverage insurance, which includes liability, comprehensive, collision and additional insurance a state requires drivers to carry.

But that’s for a 35-year old driver with a clean driving record and good credit — rates vary widely depending on your driving history and level of coverage you select.

Here’s a snapshot of national average car insurance costs based on credit history, driving history, and breadth of insurance coverage:

As you can see, average car insurance costs for full coverage insurance are generally much higher than minimum coverage.

But averages can only say so much about your own car insurance costs. Several personal factors, within and outside your control, ultimately impact how much you pay.

NerdWallet can’t anticipate which factors apply to you, so we used a specific driver profile throughout this article (unless stated otherwise):

• Good driver. Defined as a person with a clean driving record, meaning no accidents, DUIs or other traffic violations.

• Good credit. Drivers with a good credit rating. Insurers use a credit-based insurance score, which is similar to your regular credit score, to calculate rates in most states.

Where you live can have an enormous impact on car insurance costs because each state has different regulations. Use our interactive state map to find average annual rates for your state below.

Here are the cheapest states for full coverage auto insurance:

1. Wyoming: $1,069 per year, or about $89 per month, on average.

2. Vermont: $1,251 per year, or about $104 per month, on average.

3. Massachusetts: $1,348 per year, or about $112 per month, on average.

4. Idaho: $1,361 per year, or about $113 per month, on average.

5. Ohio: $1,380 per year, or about $115 per month, on average.

These are the most expensive states for full coverage auto insurance:

1. Florida: $3,797 per year, or about $316 per month, on average.

2. Louisiana: $3,608 per year, or about $301 per month, on average.

3. Rhode Island: $3,341 per year, or about $278 per month, on average.

4. Texas: $2,966 per year, or about $247 per month, on average.

5. Kentucky: $2,965 per year, or about $247 per month, on average.

Every car insurance company sets rates based on dozens of factors, including your driving history, location, vehicle and demographics. They’re making an educated guess about how likely you are to file a claim and setting your price accordingly.

Each insurer treats each factor differently. If you have poor credit, one insurer might charge you 10% more for the policy, while another would charge 40% more. A discount for being claim-free in recent years might earn you a 20% discount with one company and 5% at another.

All this results in different prices from one person to the next. This is why the company that gives your friend a super-low premium might not be the cheapest for you.

Small insurers may have cheaper rates than nationwide carriers. However, many regional insurers are available in only a few states. We analyzed rates from large insurers to provide the most relevant information for all readers.

A recent ding on your driving record can make your auto insurance rates go up, as insurers see you as a risky driver compared to one with a clean record. Traffic violations and car accidents can stay on your record for three to five years.

Here are the average car insurance costs for drivers with an at-fault accident, a DUI or a speeding ticket on their records.

After an accident, average car insurance costs for an at-fault driver are:

• $2,936 per year for full coverage.

• $817 per year for minimum coverage.

On average, car insurance costs for full coverage are about 48% higher for a driver who has caused a wreck than for one who hasn’t, according to NerdWallet’s analysis.

How much your rates will rise also depends on the severity of damage and whether you have accident forgiveness on your policy or any “good driver” discounts you stand to lose. The hypothetical accident in our analysis was relatively minor, resulting in $10,000 worth of property damage and no injuries. Accidents resulting in medical costs can be expensive and result in steeper rate increases.

It’s important to shop for the cheapest insurer after an accident because each company considers factors like a crash differently when setting prices.

Speeding not only contributes to more traffic deaths on roadways, but it may also mean higher car insurance premiums for those who get ticketed. On average, a driver with a recent speeding ticket pays 25% more for full coverage than a driver with a clean record, according to NerdWallet’s analysis.

And it may take some time before you can put the past behind you — speeding tickets can stay on your record for three to five years, depending on the state you live in.

Getting caught drinking and driving will mean significantly higher rates for car insurance. On average, auto insurance costs for full coverage go up about 86% for a driver with a recent DUI, NerdWallet’s analysis found. This translates to an average increase of about $1,712 a year for full coverage car insurance after a DUI nationally.

Having poor credit has a large impact on auto insurance rates in most states. On average, car insurance costs for full coverage are about 63% higher for drivers with poor credit than for people with good credit.

Average car insurance costs for a driver with poor credit are:

• $3,222 per year for full coverage.

• $866 per year for minimum coverage.

Insurers use a credit-based insurance score, similar to a regular credit score, to help set rates in most states. The insurance score uses all the same factors as a regular credit score — things like on-time payments and delinquencies — but weighs them differently.

Insurance companies point to data linking poor credit to more frequent insurance claims to justify higher prices. The score’s impact on your premium depends on where you live and which car insurance company you choose.

Drivers of different ages have different average annual car insurance rates. Here’s how they compare:

Insurers see less experienced drivers as a bigger risk and typically charge them heftier prices. Insurers may categorize young drivers as anyone 16 to 25 years old and sometimes anyone under 30 years old. For our analysis, we analyzed rates for 20-year-old drivers. As you age past your 20s, rates tend to go down until you reach your 70s.

For a 20-year-old driver with good credit and a clean driving record, average car insurance costs are:

• $4,110 for full coverage.

• $1,174 for minimum required coverage.

But young drivers with poor credit or a less-than-perfect driving history are likely to shell out more for car insurance.

Nearly 40% of Americans between ages 20 and 24 have no credit history or too little to generate a score, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau^[0]

Knowing average costs gives you an idea of what to expect, but it’s only a starting point for a young driver looking for affordable car insurance. Rates can vary by hundreds of dollars a year, depending on where you live and which insurer you choose. Here are average rates for the largest auto insurance companies for 20-year-old drivers.

On average, car insurance costs differ little by gender compared with differences seen by company, state, credit score and driving history. That doesn’t mean that a cost difference based on your gender would be insignificant, however. Gender-based pricing of car insurance is banned by law in seven states: California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

In general, young adults have a much wider price discrepancy based on gender than older drivers. Men pay more than women across all age groups we analyzed for full coverage insurance.

For example, in states where gender-based pricing is allowed, we averaged full coverage insurance rates for men and women separately and found that:

• At age 20, men pay about $696 more than women per year.

• At age 30, men pay around $34 more than women per year.

• At age 35, men pay about $27 more than women per year.

In our analyses, we used a 3-year-old Toyota Camry (the most popular sedan in America by sales in recent years) to show how rates vary by personal history and demographics. But the make and model of your vehicle will certainly affect rates.

Insurers charge more to cover certain cars, including:

• Sports cars, which have higher top speeds. People tend to drive them faster, increasing the likelihood of a wreck or traffic violation. If you get a speeding ticket, insurers think you’ll be more likely to cause an accident, which increases rates further.

• Luxury cars, which tend to have expensive parts and details that are costlier to replace if damaged in a crash.

• EVs, which also have more expensive engine parts to replace. The batteries for electric vehicles alone can cost thousands each.

• Cars that are stolen often, which tend to be the nation’s more popular makes and models. These vehicles generally have higher rates for comprehensive insurance, the part of an auto policy that pays out when your car is stolen or damaged by something not traffic-related, such as floods, fire and vandalism. It is typically optional unless you have a loan or lease.

To see how costs differ depending on your vehicle, we looked at average car insurance costs for the most popular vehicles based on sales in a separate analysis from 2022. As shown below, the Camry is far from the cheapest model. That honor goes to the Subaru Outback, with an average car insurance cost of $1,512 per year.

• More specific location data such as your ZIP code or city.

• Your occupation, in many states.

• Your previous insurance company. If it was a nonstandard insurer specializing in high-risk drivers, you might see higher insurance rates with some companies.

• Continuous insurance coverage. Companies charge more for drivers with lapses in coverage.

• Annual mileage driven per car.

• Your marital status. Some insurers believe married people drive more responsibly, which means single people — even widows, widowers and divorced folks — tend to have higher insurance rates.

• How much education you’ve completed.

• Discounts you’re eligible for, which vary widely by company.

• Whom you live with. Some companies won’t allow you to exclude people such as roommates or nondriving adults from your policy.

No matter how many averages you look at, your premium will likely be different.

But you can still find cheap car insurance by shopping around for rates every year and every time something major happens in your life, including marriage, a new job, moving or buying a new car. Additionally, if you’ve had a recent at-fault accident, DUI or other traffic violation, be sure to shop in the month after the third and fifth anniversaries of the incident.

If you’re ready to shop, you can check out the cheapest companies in your state for several driver profiles.