Cheap Car Insurance for Teens and Young Drivers
Auto-Owners has the best rates for parents who add a teen to their policy. State Farm has the cheapest car insurance for teens.
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Best car insurance for young drivers
Teens and young drivers could save an average of 62% by joining a parent's car insurance instead of getting their own car insurance plan. Teenagers typically have high insurance rates, and an 18-year-old pays an average of $410 per month for their own full-coverage car insurance.
To find the cheapest rates for teens and their parents, we collected thousands of quotes across three of the largest states in the country: Illinois, Pennsylvania and Georgia.
The best companies are the ones that offer cheap rates for teenagers, discounts for young drivers and accident forgiveness programs. Full methodology
Cheapest car insurance for teen drivers
State Farm has the cheapest car insurance for most teens.
A State Farm auto insurance policy costs an average of $293 per month for an 18-year-old buying full coverage. That’s about one-third less than the national average of $410, making it the cheapest company that’s available in all 50 states.
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If they’re available for you, Country Financial, Erie and USAA are the cheapest insurance companies overall for young-adult drivers. However, Erie is only available in 12 states and Washington, D.C., while Country Financial is in 19 states. USAA only offers policies to current and former military members and certain family members.
Teen drivers almost always have expensive auto insurance rates because they have less experience behind the wheel and are more likely to make driving mistakes.
Teen drivers pay triple what a 50-year-old pays for full coverage car insurance.
Cheapest car insurance for parents of young drivers
Auto-Owners has the cheapest car insurance for teenagers on a parent’s policy, costing $153 per month for an 18-year-old and a 50-year-old.
That means it’s only $42 to add the young driver to the adult’s policy. That’s less than what other companies charge for an adult and teen and much less than a teenager buying their own policy.
Erie, Farm Bureau and State Farm also have cheap car insurance for young drivers when they’re added to a parent’s policy.
Including a teenager on a family insurance policy can save you an average of $3,108 per year compared to the cost of the same 18-year-old getting their own policy. That’s a savings of 62%.
Cheap car insurance for young drivers on a family policy
Company | Price with a teen | Annual savings | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Auto-Owners | $1,832 | $3,634 |
| USAA | $2,078 | $1,965 |
| Erie | $2,088 | $2,015 |
| Farm Bureau | $2,277 | $3,195 |
| State Farm | $2,613 | $2,001 |
Cheapest car insurance for young adults by age
Auto-Owners is most often the cheapest option for parents adding a young driver because the company has a flat rate for drivers under 19 years old. It’s the cheapest company for adding a 16-,17- and 18-year-old and the second-cheapest for a 19-year-old, behind USAA.
However, other companies’ rates can vary widely, depending on the age of a young driver. For example, adding a 19-year-old to a USAA policy costs $1,395 less per year than adding a 16-year-old.
Insurance rates for a parent with a young driver
16-year-old
17-year-old
18-year-old
19-year-old
Company | Annual cost |
|---|---|
| Auto-Owners | $1,832 |
| Erie | $2,271 |
| Farm Bureau | $2,297 |
| Nationwide | $3,104 |
| State Farm | $3,149 |
| USAA | $3,202 |
| Country Financial | $4,003 |
| Geico | $4,294 |
| Progressive | $5,396 |
| Farmers | $5,943 |
| Allstate | $6,836 |
16-year-old
Company | Annual cost |
|---|---|
| Auto-Owners | $1,832 |
| Erie | $2,271 |
| Farm Bureau | $2,297 |
| Nationwide | $3,104 |
| State Farm | $3,149 |
| USAA | $3,202 |
| Country Financial | $4,003 |
| Geico | $4,294 |
| Progressive | $5,396 |
| Farmers | $5,943 |
| Allstate | $6,836 |
17-year-old
Company | Annual cost |
|---|---|
| Auto-Owners | $1,832 |
| Erie | $2,099 |
| Farm Bureau | $2,297 |
| USAA | $2,583 |
| State Farm | $2,856 |
| Nationwide | $3,104 |
| Country Financial | $3,345 |
| Geico | $3,978 |
| Progressive | $5,396 |
| Farmers | $5,594 |
| Allstate | $6,296 |
18-year-old
Company | Annual cost |
|---|---|
| Auto-Owners | $1,832 |
| USAA | $2,078 |
| Erie | $2,088 |
| Farm Bureau | $2,277 |
| State Farm | $2,613 |
| Country Financial | $2,873 |
| Nationwide | $3,104 |
| Geico | $3,644 |
| Progressive | $4,494 |
| Farmers | $5,300 |
| Allstate | $5,456 |
19-year-old
Company | Annual cost |
|---|---|
| USAA | $1,807 |
| Auto-Owners | $1,825 |
| Farm Bureau | $2,007 |
| Erie | $2,077 |
| State Farm | $2,409 |
| Nationwide | $2,730 |
| Geico | $3,307 |
| Progressive | $3,771 |
| Country Financial | $4,032 |
| Farmers | $4,947 |
| Allstate | $4,955 |
Best car insurance companies for young drivers
Best insurance for teens on their own: State Farm
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Editor rating
Why it’s great
State Farm is a good company for teen drivers looking to get their own policies.
If you are a teen driver buying your own car insurance policy, State Farm offers cheap rates and good customer service. Among widely available companies, State Farm’s average rate of $293 per month is one of the best you’ll find.
You can save even more with the good student discount or the Steer Clear program, which is a safety course for new drivers to improve driving habits. Plus, you can add roadside assistance to give you peace of mind if you need a tire changed, you lock your keys in the car or you break down.
The company, however, does not offer accident forgiveness or gap insurance, which can both help you avoid out-of-pocket expenses after a crash.
Best car insurance for young driver discounts: Erie
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Editor rating
Why it’s great
Erie lets younger drivers lower their rates with a wide set of discounts.
Discounts are a key way to reduce the cost of insurance for teen drivers, and Erie offers a good set of discounts for young drivers.
- Young driver discount: For drivers under 21 still living with their parents.
- Young driver longevity discount: For unmarried drivers who spend two years on another person’s Erie policy (usually a guardian or parent).
- Driving training discount: For young drivers who take a defensive driving class.
Erie has some of the lowest rates, $256 per month for a teen driver on their own and $174 for an older driver adding a younger one to their policy. However, the company only offers coverage in 12 states.
Best accident forgiveness for young drivers: Auto-Owners
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Editor rating
Why it’s great
Auto-Owners offers young drivers a way to avoid paying more after an accident.
Young drivers are more likely to get in a car crash than older drivers. Auto-Owners’ accident forgiveness program will protect you from higher insurance rates if you cause a car accident. It does cost more to enroll in the program, but the potential savings may be worth it over time.
Accident forgiveness isn’t available to new drivers. But if you’ve shown that you’re a good driver in your first three years behind the wheel, you can enroll and be protected in your early 20s or during college.
Auto-Owners also offers cheap rates for a teen on their own and the lowest rates for adding a young driver to a parent’s policy. One drawback is the lack of digital tools — you will have to work through an agent and can’t manage your policy online.
How to get the cheapest insurance for teen drivers
There are several key ways that young drivers can lower the price of their auto insurance and save money.
The first is by qualifying for discounts, which could save you up to 20%.
Discount | How you get it |
|---|---|
| Good grades | Have at least a 3.0 or B average |
| Safety course | Take a defensive driving class |
| Away at school | Leave your car at home while you’re at school |
| Safe driving | Avoid accidents and speeding tickets |
You can also see if your insurance company offers accident forgiveness at a reasonable price. It will cost more in the short term, but you’ll avoid the 49% increase in rates if you cause an accident.
Teen drivers can also reduce insurance costs by choosing a policy with less coverage. For example, you can get a minimum-coverage policy that covers what’s required in your state and cancel collision insurance, which pays for damages to your car when you cause an accident.
Collision insurance is expensive for teen drivers because they’re more likely to get into an accident and file an insurance claim than experienced drivers.
It’s important to remember that if you cause an accident without collision coverage, you’ll have to pay to repair your car. That’s why dropping collision coverage is only recommended if you have an older car that’s worth a few thousand dollars.
Expert insights for young drivers
An exclusive panel of professionals, spanning various areas of expertise, can help you understand difficult subjects and empower you to make smarter financial decisions.
Teen driver survey questions
- Do you feel that parents having their teen children take on the responsibility of a big purchase, such as a car, provides a teachable moment that is worth the monetary cost? Why or why not?
- Some states prohibit the use of gender to determine insurance rates, even though the motor vehicle death rate of male 16- to 19-year-olds is nearly double that of females of the same age. How do male and female teens pose different levels of risk to insurers?
- The North Carolina Department of Transportation has the right under law to suspend teens’ driving privileges if they drop out of school or do not pass at least 70% of their courses. Should academics play a strong role in a teen’s eligibility to drive? Why or why not?
- What is the psychological difference between learning in the classroom and learning “on the road” as a driver?
Emily Barkley-Levenson, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Psychology, Hofstra University
Do you feel that parents having their teen children take on the responsibility of a big purchase, such as a car, provides a teachable moment that is worth the monetary cost? Why or why not?
A lot of the attributes that make up what it means to be responsible, like self-control and delayed gratification, are still developing during adolescence and into early adulthood. In fact, the part of the brain that is responsible for these processes, the prefrontal cortex, is still maturing until around age 25. These are also skills that can be trained and improved with practice, which means that the teen years are a great time to work out those self-control muscles, so to speak. Taking on increased responsibility and autonomy with a car can provide an adolescent with lots of chances to build up their self-control and delayed gratification skills. There’s also a phenomenon called the endowment effect, where we value things more if they belong to us or we have a sense of ownership over them. So having your teen pay for their car themselves (or at least contribute their own money toward it) should increase the value they place on it, leading to safer and more responsible behavior.
Some states prohibit the use of gender to determine insurance rates, even though the motor vehicle death rate of male 16- to 19-year-olds is nearly double that of females of the same age. How do male and female teens pose different levels of risk to insurers?
The research is quite clear that men engage in more risky behaviors than women, including wearing seat belts less frequently and running yellow lights more often. Women perceive a higher likelihood of negative consequences and less enjoyment from these actions than men do, which leads to less risk-taking behind the wheel. I expect these findings would play out similarly with adolescent boys and girls as well. That said, statistical averages can’t predict the actions of any particular individual; teens of all genders can be reckless and risk-taking, and there are many teen boys who are extremely safe drivers.
The North Carolina Department of Transportation has the right under law to suspend teens’ driving privileges if they drop out of school or do not pass at least 70% of their courses. Should academics play a strong role in a teen’s eligibility to drive? Why or why not?
The reasons why driving privileges are revoked typically have to do with safety (underage possession of alcohol, speeding or reckless driving, etc.). In this case, if there isn’t a strong connection between dangerous driving and poor academic performance, then linking the two in terms of policy doesn’t seem particularly effective. Academic performance does relate to other health-risk behaviors (like violence and drug use), but this is one of those cases of correlation not being the same thing as causation: Other factors such as family stress and poverty can make teens more likely both to underperform academically and to engage in health-risk behaviors, but skipping school doesn’t cause you to drive more poorly.
What is the psychological difference between learning in the classroom and learning “on the road” as a driver?
Something that shows up over and over again in research with adolescents is a big difference in behavior between “cold” settings (nonemotional, intellectual contexts like a lab or a classroom) and “hot” settings (emotional situations in the real world, especially when peers and social pressure are involved). A teen may make entirely rational and safe decisions in the classroom (or when a driving instructor is in the car) but take risks on the road when they are more “amped up” by the presence of their friends.
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest car insurance for teens?
State Farm has the cheapest car insurance rates for teens with their own car insurance policy. Auto-Owners has the lowest rates for adding a teen to a family policy.
How much is car insurance for teens?
Teen drivers with their own policy pay an average of $410 per month. However, adding a teen to a parent’
How can you save money on auto insurance for teens?
Insurance companies often offer discounts to teen drivers for getting good grades, taking a safety course beyond basic driver’
Methodology
ValuePenguin averaged car insurance quotes from thousands of ZIP codes across Illinois, Pennsylvania and Georgia. Rates are for an 18-year-old man and a 50-year-old man who is adding an 18-year-old to his policy. All of them drive a 2015 Honda Civic EX and have a full-coverage policy.
Coverage | Limits |
|---|---|
| Bodily injury liability (BI) | $50,000 per person/ $100,000 per accident |
| Property damage | $25,000 per accident |
| Uninsured/underinsured motorist BI | $50,000 per person/ $100,000 per accident |
| Uninsured/underinsured motorist property | $50,000 per accident |
| Comprehensive & collision | $500 deductible |
Recommendations are based on coverage options and rates.
ValuePenguin’s analysis used insurance rate data from Quadrant Information Services. These rates were publicly sourced from insurer filings and should be used for comparative purposes only — your own quotes may be different.
Editorial Note: The content of this article is based on the author’s opinions and recommendations alone. It has not been previewed, commissioned or otherwise endorsed by any of our network partners.