How Much Is The Best Car Insurance? Average Costs. December 2022

According to the Best Car Insurance 2022 Rate Estimate, vehicle insurance costs $1,630 on average annually. That’s $136 each month in auto insurance.

These rates include liability, comprehensive, collision, and any other state-required insurance.

Your vehicle insurance quote depends on your driving record, location, coverage, and car make and model. These factors may alter your rates.

How Much Is Car Insurance?

Vehicle insurance costs an average of $1,630 per year, according to our 2022 price estimate.

But that’s for a good driver with good credit; premiums vary based on history and coverage level.

Full-coverage auto insurance premiums are:

decent driver, good credit, $1,630

Good driver with bad credit: $2,792.

$2,462 for an at-fault driver with good credit

$3,139 for a good-credit DUI driver

Minimum automobile insurance premiums are:

decent credit, a good driver, and $561.

Good driver with bad credit: $973

Good credit, an at-fault accident, $862

$1,134 for a good-credit DUI driver

Our data shows that full-coverage insurance is often twice as expensive as minimum coverage.

Averages don’t reflect your own vehicle insurance prices. Several personal characteristics, both within and outside your control, affect your pricing.

To predict which criteria apply to you, we used a unique driver profile throughout this article.

A good driver is someone with no accidents, DUIs, or traffic offenses.

Good-credit drivers. In most states, insurers use a credit-based insurance score to compute premiums.

A credit score is an excellent predictor of a credit-based insurance score.

Authors and editors follow stringent editorial guidelines to ensure fairness and accuracy.

Our data analysts clean up pricing data from anywhere in the country where coverage is available and data can be gotten.

When comparing rates, we modify one variable at a time so you can understand how each affects pricing. Methodology.

Average Car Insurance Costs By Company

Every auto insurer bases rates on your driving record, location, vehicle, and demographics. They guess how likely you are to file a claim and adjust your premium accordingly.

Each insurance company handles factors differently. One insurance company may charge 10% more for low credit, while another charges 40% more.

A claim-free discount may be 20% at one company and 5% at another.

This causes widely varying interest rates. The provider that gives your friend affordable rates may not be the lowest for you.

Small insurers may have lower rates than large ones. Many regional insurers only serve a few states.

We analyzed large insurers’ rates to provide useful information.

Liberty Mutual, one of the country’s largest insurers, isn’t included in our analysis because it doesn’t offer

provide rate data.

After An Accident, Average Vehicle Insurance Prices

After a collision, at-fault drivers pay:

• Full coverage costs $2,462 annually.
• Minimum coverage costs $862/year.
• A driver who has caused a wreck has 50% higher vehicle insurance rates than one who hasn’t.

State-by-state, accident-related rate hikes range from 30% to 60%. California, North Carolina, and Texas had average accident rate increases of 70% or greater.

In California, that is $1,372 more in car insurance.

How much your rates climb depends on the damage and whether you have accident forgiveness or “good driver” discounts.

Our fictional event caused $10,000 in property damage but no injuries. Accidents with high medical bills might cause substantial rate hikes.

Each provider evaluates a crash differently when calculating costs, so it’s crucial to shop around after an accident.

American Family raises vehicle insurance prices by around 7% following a wreck, whereas Geico raises rates by 63%.

Depending on the provider, causing an accident can raise auto insurance rates for three to five years.

This is why it’s a good idea to get car insurance quotes on the third and fifth anniversaries of your collision.

Average Car Insurance Costs For Good And Bad Credit

In most states, bad credit affects auto insurance prices. Poor-credit drivers pay 71% more for vehicle insurance than good-credit drivers.

Poor-credit drivers pay:

• Annual coverage costs $2,792.
• Minimum coverage costs $973/year.

Average Car Insurance Rates After A DUI

Driving drunk raises vehicle insurance rates. The FM investigation found that a DUI increases auto insurance prices by 93%.

Average vehicle insurance after a DUI for a 35-year-old driver:

• Coverage costs $3,139 annually.
• Minimum coverage costs $1,134/year.

Average Car Insurance Rates For Young Drivers

Insurers regard inexperienced drivers as a risk and charge them more. Young drivers may be 16 to 25 years old, or under 30. We evaluated 20-year-old drivers’ rates.

Age lowers rates. Our investigation indicated that 20-year-olds pay $1,700 more in auto insurance than 35-year-olds.

• Coverage costs $3,325.
• Minimum coverage: $1,191.

Young drivers with poor credit or a spotty driving record pay more for car insurance.

Average Car Insurance Costs By Gender

Car insurance premiums vary less by gender than by firm, state, credit score, and driving record.

That doesn’t mean a gender-related cost difference is insignificant, merely that national statistics don’t show it.

California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania restrict gender-based pricing.

Young individuals have a larger gender-based price difference than senior drivers. In all age categories, men pay more than women.

In jurisdictions where the practice is legal, we averaged men’s and women’s full coverage insurance rates and found:

20-year-old men pay $434 more than women.

Men pay $30 more than women at 30.

Men pay $13 extra each year at age 35.

TheFM uses “gender” instead of “sex” in this article. Gender is how you identify socially, but sex is biology.

Some insurers conflate the words. Car insurance applications may ask for your gender when they mean sex.

They may ask for gender-incorrect ID. A company may want your insurance “gender” to match your driver’s license sex.

In other research, we used a 3-year-old Toyota Camry to show how rates differ by personal history and demographics.

Create and test effect rates.

Certain automobiles, including:

• high-speed sports automobiles. People drive faster, increasing the risk of a crash or traffic violation.
• Speeding tickets make insurance companies worry you’ll cause an accident, which raises rates.
• Luxury cars have pricey elements and embellishments that are expensive to replace if damaged.
• Electric cars feature pricier engine parts. Each battery costs thousands.
• Popular makes and models are regularly stolen.

Comprehensive insurance costs more for these cars because it covers damage caused by things like floods, fire, and vandalism, as well as theft. Except for loans or leases, it’s optional.

In a separate 2021 investigation, we compared average auto insurance costs for the top-selling models.

The Camry isn’t the cheapest model, as shown below. Subaru Outback insurance costs $1,336 on average per year.

What Else Affects My Car Insurance Cost?

Additional factors affect insurance rates. Examples:

• ZIP code or city.
• Many states’ occupation.
• Former insurer. Some firms may charge more for nonstandard, high-risk insurance.
• Coverage continuously. Drivers with coverage gaps pay extra.
• Per-car miles.

Status married. Because some insurers believe married people drive more responsibly, singles – including widows, widowers, and divorcees – pay higher premiums.

• Education level.
• Company-specific discounts.
• Your roommates. Some firms won’t let you eliminate housemates or non-driving adults.

How To Get Cheap Car Insurance

Average auto insurance costs have little to do with yours. Your rates will likely differ from the averages.

You can still discover affordable vehicle insurance by looking around every year and whenever something major happens, such as marriage, a new job, moving, or buying a new automobile.

If you’ve recently had an at-fault collision, DUI, or other traffic offense, shop on the third and fifth anniversaries.

Check out the cheapest firms in your state for driver profiles if you’re ready to shop.

Frequently Asked Questions