Best Cheap Car Insurance For Teens And Young Drivers Of May 2024

The Best Car Insurance for Teens and Young Drivers

• Erie – Best Rates for Adding a 16-year-old Teen Driver
• USAA – Best Overall Rates for Teens and Young Drivers
• American Family – Best for Low Level of Complaints
• Nationwide – Good for Drivers who Want To Try a Mileage-based Program
• Auto-Owners – Great Grade From Collision Repair Professionals
• Geico – Good for Young Drivers Buying Their Own Policy

The Cheapest Car Insurance for Teens and Young Drivers

The cheapest car insurance companies for teens and young drivers between ages 16 and 19 buying their own policy are:

1. USAA – $4,350 a year
2. Auto-Owners – $4,621 a year
3. Geico – $4,761 a year
4. Erie – $5,277 a year
5. American Family – $5,346 a year

Cheapest Car Insurance After Adding a Teen Driver

USAA is the cheapest overall car insurance company after adding a teen driver, among the companies in our analysis. It costs an average of $3,360 a year with USAA after adding a teen driver between ages 16 and 19 to a parent’s policy.

USAA is only available to military members, veterans and their families, making Erie and Geico good choices for others looking for affordable rates when adding a teen driver to their policy.

Company	Average annual cost
USAA*	$3,360
Erie	$3,822
Geico	$4,014
Travelers	$4,259
Nationwide	$4,335

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*USAA is available only to the military, veterans and their families.

Cheapest Car Insurance for a Teen Driver With Their Own Policy

USAA offers the cheapest car insurance rates for teens ages 16 to 19 who have a military connection and are buying their own policy. Auto-Owners and Geico are the cheapest companies for other teen drivers buying their own policy.

Company	Average annual cost
USAA*	$4,350
Auto-Owners	$4,621
Geico	$4,761
Erie	$5,277
American Family	$5,346

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*USAA is available only to the military, veterans and their families.

Cheapest Car Insurance for Teens by Age

• Erie is the cheapest car insurance company for drivers ages 16, 17 or 18 being added to a parent’s policy.
• Auto-Owners is the cheapest for teens ages 16, 17 or 18 who are buying their own policies.
• Geico is the cheapest company for drivers ages 19 who are either being added to a parent policy or buying their own.

USAA is a bit cheaper for teens and young drivers ages 17, 18 and 19 but is only available if you have a military connection.

Age	Cheapest Company when adding teen to parents policy	Average annual cost for parents plus teen	Cheapest company for a teen with their own policy	Average annual cost for teen on own policy
16	Erie	$4,059	Auto-Owners	5,383
17	Erie	$3,854	Auto-Owners	4,844
18	Erie	$3,753	Auto-Owners	4,427
19	Geico	$3,567	Geico	3,702

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*USAA had the cheapest rates for ages 17, 18 & 19 for both adding a teen and a teen buying their own policy but USAA is open only to those who qualify with a military affiliation so the cheapest companies open to all drivers are shown.

Related: Car insurance for 16 year old

It costs an average of $5,367 a year for a car insurance policy for two parents and a 16-year-old driver, an increase of $2,419 over the average car policy cost for a married couple.

Average car insurance cost after adding a teen driver

Situation	Average cost per year
Average cost for married couple	$2,948
Average cost for parents and a 16-year-old	$5,367
Average $ increase for married couple with 16-year-old on policy	$2,419
Average cost for married couple with 17-year-old on policy	$5,011
Average $ increase for married couple with 17-year-old on policy	$2,063
Average cost for parents and an 18-year-old	$4,773
Average $ increase for married couple with 18-year-old on policy	$1,825
Average cost for married couple with 19-year-old on policy	$4,443
Average $ increase for married couple with 19-year-old on policy	$1,495

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Average cost of car insurance for teen drivers, by company

Company	Average annual car insurance cost for parents plus a 16-year-old	Average annual car insurance cost for parents plus a 17-year-old	Average annual car insurance cost for parents plus an 18-year-old	Average annual car insurance cost for parents plus a 19-year-old
Allstate	$8,296	$7,922	$7,767	$7,540
American Family	$5,663	$5,228	$5,110	$4,537
Auto-Owner	$5,412	$4,963	$4,738	$4,514
Erie	$4,059	$3,854	$3,753	$3,621
Farmers	$7,349	$6,956	$6,634	$6,184
Geico	$4,471	$4,129	$3,890	$3,567
Nationwide	$4,502	$4,427	$4,352	$4,058
Progressive	$5,088	$5,169	$4,766	$4,368
State Farm	$5,034	$4,659	$4,378	$4,099
Travelers	$5,065	$4,348	$4,010	$3,615
USAA	$4,103	$3,462	$3,108	$2,766

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Related: Car insurance for 17 year old

Age and gender	Average cost of car insurance per year for a teen on their own policy
16-year-old female	$8,108
16-year-old male	$9,422
17-year-old female	$6,279
17-year-old male	$7,379
18-year-old female	$5,655
18-year-old male	$6,638
19-year-old female	$4,266
19-year-old male	$5,033

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Related: Car insurance for 18 year old

Below you’ll see the average yearly increase in car insurance when adding drivers age 16, 17, 18 and 19 to a parent policy, broken down by state.

Average Cost of Adding a Teen Driver by State

State	Average cost per year for two parents	Average annual $ increase for adding 16-year-old teen driver	Average annual $ increase for adding 17-year-old teen driver	Average annual $ increase for adding 18-year-old teen driver	Average annual $ increase for adding 19-year-old teen driver
Alabama	$2,954	$2,630	$2,364	$2,081	$1,730
Alaska	$3,328	$2,755	$2,427	$2,083	$1,803
Arizona	$2,968	$3,005	$2,635	$2,256	$1,982
Arkansas	$3,349	$2,426	$2,179	$1,906	$1,618
California	$3,683	$3,212	$2,809	$2,604	$1,608
Colorado	$3,527	$2,793	$2,385	$2,217	$1,882
Connecticut	$3,269	$2,971	$2,615	$2,325	$2,008
Delaware	$3,250	$2,547	$2,342	$2,118	$1,747
Florida	$4,804	$3,424	$3,118	$2,763	$2,481
Georgia	$3,222	$2,644	$2,379	$2,031	$1,636
Idaho	$1,827	$1,766	$1,371	$1,203	$979
Illinois	$2,782	$2,314	$1,993	$1,722	$1,572
Indiana	$2,396	$2,031	$1,759	$1,558	$1,173
Iowa	$2,265	$1,506	$1,336	$1,158	$958
Kansas	$3,067	$2,314	$1,940	$1,710	$1,470
Kentucky	$3,735	$3,050	$2,753	$2,404	$2,041
Louisiana	$5,518	$4,724	$4,179	$3,632	$3,019
Maine	$1,931	$1,817	$1,618	$1,424	$1,141
Maryland	$3,311	$2,612	$2,349	$2,056	$1,682
Massachusetts	$2,644	$2,399	$2,138	$1,956	$1,118
Michigan	$3,799	$2,624	$2,439	$2,154	$1,704
Minnesota	$3,197	$2,365	$2,042	$1,714	$1,800
Mississippi	$3,037	$2,312	$2,042	$1,769	$1,449
Missouri	$3,252	$2,765	$2,141	$1,834	$1,572
Montana	$2,788	$1,899	$1,611	$4,140	$3,933
Nebraska	$2,793	$1,630	$1,388	$1,251	$1,068
Nevada	$3,584	$3,655	$3,106	$2,712	$2,138
New Hampshire	$2,063	$1,690	$1,498	$1,336	$1,194
New Jersey	$3,473	$2,865	$2,622	$2,408	$1,741
New Mexico	$2,889	$2,386	$2,092	$1,962	$1,530
New York	$4,320	$3,231	$2,973	$2,582	$2,074
North Carolina	$1,905	$1,735	$1,052	$866	$276
North Dakota	$2,651	$1,676	$1,374	$1,175	$948
Ohio	$2,015	$1,839	$1,627	$1,414	$1,127
Oklahoma	$3,365	$2,176	$1,901	$1,674	$1,425
Oregon	$2,455	$2,105	$1,785	$1,501	$1,391
Pennsylvania	$3,378	$3,193	$2,834	$2,506	$2,090
Rhode Island	$3,447	$2,760	$2,530	$2,067	$1,728
South Carolina	$3,323	$2,777	$2,462	$2,192	$1,814
South Dakota	$3,001	$1,574	$1,353	$1,160	$924
Tennessee	$2,533	$2,391	$2,066	$1,735	$1,420
Texas	$3,573	$3,075	$3,022	$2,665	$2,181
Utah	$2,609	$2,537	$2,128	$1,861	$1,507
Vermont	$1,723	$1,164	$1,047	$937	$825
Virginia	$2,050	$1,715	$1,529	$1,333	$1,134
Washington	$2,642	$2,528	$2,247	$1,993	$1,502
West Virginia	$2,822	$2,114	$1,919	$1,722	$1,484
Wisconsin	$2,335	$1,701	$1,508	$1,269	$1,026
Wyoming	$2,419	$1,767	$1,429	$1,285	$1,085

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Note: Hawaii doesn’t let insurers use age to set rates.

Related: Car insurance for 19 year old

Auto insurance companies offer multiple types of car insurance discounts, and a handful of them are related to teens and young drivers.

Student car insurance discounts and “student away at school” discounts are common discounts related to teens. Here’s how much you can potentially save, depending on the company.

	Average good student discount	Average student away at school discount
Allstate	5%	1%
American Family	5%	16%
Auto-Owners	8%	14%
Erie	0%	4%
Farmers	5%	4%
Geico	5%	20%
Nationwide	4%	5%
Progressive	4%	4%
State Farm	7%	16%
Travelers	3%	3%
USAA	3%	10%

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Related: Best Car Insurance for College Students

You won’t be able to escape a considerable rate increase when you add a teen driver to your car insurance policy, but there are ways to minimize the hit to your wallet.

Keep your teen on your policy

Parents looking for the cheapest car insurance should be aware that it’s usually less expensive to add a teenager to a parent’s auto insurance policy rather than putting the teen on their own policy. If you’re in doubt, have your insurance agent run quotes for both scenarios or compare quotes online for the total cost of two separate policies. Quotes are free, so there’s no downside to checking which way is the cheapest.

Make sure you’re getting discounts

Common discounts relevant to teens include good student discounts (typically for a B average or above) and, for college students, a “student away at school” discount. If the student attends school 100 miles or more away from home, without a car, you could qualify for a price break on their rates.

In addition, teen driver insurance programs can provide both a discount and valuable driving skills training. Keeping accidents off a teen’s record will safeguard your future rates.

Shop around

Having a teen driver is a good time to compare car insurance quotes, especially if you haven’t done so in a few years. For example, we found that Erie and USAA charge slightly over $4,000 a year for two parents and a 16-year-old. That’s compared to over $7,000 a year at Farmers and over $8,000 at Allstate, on average.

Consider companies that offer accident forgiveness

Car insurance companies increase rates by an average of 40% if you have caused an accident involving an injury and 38% after an accident with property damage.

Some companies offer accident forgiveness insurance. With this feature, the insurer won’t increase rates based on one accident. The crash remains on your driving record and the accident could still affect your rates if you change companies later.

Car insurance companies that offer accident forgiveness don’t allow every driver to take part in the program. Drivers listed on the policy must have a clean driving record for a certain number of years.

Accident forgiveness programs will likely increase your car insurance rates. Our analysis found that the cost varies from about $15 to $60 a year.

Consider companies that offer new car replacement coverage

New car replacement coverage provides reimbursement for a brand-new car of the same make and model (minus your deductible) if your car gets totaled. With this coverage, you won’t have to pay the difference between the value of a brand-new vehicle and the depreciated value of your totaled vehicle.

New car replacement coverage can be beneficial for families with teen drivers, who are more likely to crash cars.

Not everyone is eligible for new car replacement coverage. You’ll typically have to have collision and comprehensive coverage, which pays for damage to your own vehicle. Insurers also usually require that your vehicle is under a certain model age and also under a specific mileage, such as 24,000 miles. Older vehicles and cars with a lot of miles won’t be eligible for new car replacement coverage.

Wait it out

Car insurance rates will generally start dropping around age 25. See Forbes Advisor’s analysis of auto insurance rates by age and gender.

Getting a driver’s license gives teens a sense of freedom, but it can also give parents stress and anxiety. Without parental supervision, inexperienced teen drivers are faced with an assortment of distractions that often result in poor driving and car accidents.

While the only way for a young driver to gain experience on the road is to keep driving, some auto insurance companies have programs to help teens curb bad driving behaviors and improve driving skills. As an added bonus, some insurers offer a discount when a teen successfully completes its program.

Some teen driver programs include:

• SmartPath: A Hanover Insurance mobile app tracks a teen’s driving habits and gives a score based on factors, such as distracted driving, hard braking, speeding and the time of day they’re driving. As teens improve their driving scores, they can receive Amazon rewards and you can get a discount on your car insurance.
• Steer Clear: This State Farm car insurance program offers five hours of training modules, including driving scenarios, puzzles and videos. To get a certificate of completion, teens must complete five hours of practice driving with at least 10 trips. Upon completion, you can forward the certificate to your insurance agent for a discount.
• TeenSmart: TeenSmart was originally developed in partnership with Allstate. The program utilizes interactive learning videos, driving simulations and parent and teen activities to help address some of the top behavioral and social factors that lead to car accidents.
• Teen Safe Driver: A free American Family Insurance app that monitors a teen’s risky driving behaviors. Once a teen drives 3,000 miles or completes one year of the program, you’ll get a discount on your premium from American Family. The discount is automatically applied until renewal after your teen turns 21.

Related: Best Car Insurance for High Risk Drivers

Forbes Advisor’s ratings of the best car insurance companies for teen drivers are based on the following measurements.

Auto insurance rates: 50% score. Because having a teen driver on an insurance policy is often wildly expensive, we gave weight to this category. We used data from Quadrant Information Services.

Average rates are based on a policy with a new Toyota RAV4 and coverage of:

• $100,000 for injuries to one person, $300,000 for injuries per accident, $100,000 for property damage (known as 100/300/100).
• Uninsured motorist coverage of 100/300.
• Collision and comprehensive coverage with a $500 deductible.

Complaints (20% of score): We used complaint data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). Most auto insurance complaints center on claims, including unsatisfactory settlements, delays and denials.

Accident forgiveness (10% of score): Car insurance companies earned points for offering an accident forgiveness program, which can be valuable when you have a teen driver.

New car replacement (10% of score): Car insurance companies earned points for offering new car replacement coverage.

Collision repair score (10% of score): We used grades provided by CRASH Network, a weekly newsletter covering the collision repair and auto insurance market segments. CRASH Network’s Insurer Report Card has grades from more than 1,000 collision repair professionals that gauge the quality of auto insurance companies’ collision claims service.

Read more: How Forbes Advisor rates car insurance companies

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