7 Best Car Insurance Companies (June 2024) | Insurify (2024)

The cheapest car insurance doesn’t always equal the best car insurance. Finding the right auto insurance means considering your lifestyle, driving habits, coverage needs, and budget, but these insurers show it’s possible to find low rates without sacrificing quality.

Finding the best car insurance company for you can be time-consuming, but comparing rates will always help you find the best fit. Insurify analyzed 155 insurance companies, considered 19 data points on factors like financial strength, customer satisfaction, and affordability, and chose our top seven so you know where to start as you’re looking for coverage.

Best car insurance companies

The best insurance company for you depends on your needs, but we prioritized a quality customer experience and affordable premiums. Our editorial team reviewed company complaint information, customer satisfaction rates, financial strength, and availability. Affordability strongly factors into our analysis, so these insurers also have competitive average rates below the monthly national averages of $105 for liability-only and $215 for full-coverage car insurance.

State Farm: Best overall car insurance

American Family: Best for discount seekers

Nationwide: Best for low-mileage drivers

GEICO: Best for drivers with an incident

Travelers: Best for young drivers

USAA: Best for members of the military community

NJM: Best for mid-Atlantic region drivers

How to find the best car insurance for you

Lifestyle and unique driver profiles factor significantly into what the best car insurance would be for you. These are some things to consider as you look for the right policy:

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  Coverage levels

  The legally required minimum liability coverage differs by state, but insurance professionals generally recommend buying more than the minimum liability for greater financial protection. And if you lease or finance your car, your leasing company or lender will require you to have full coverage. Research to understand what you do and don’t need.

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  Discounts

  Most insurers offer discounts for bundling policies, insuring multiple vehicles, driving safely, and more. Look for an insurer with discounts that apply to you. You may qualify for multiple discounts that could add up to significant savings.

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  Driving habits

  Your driving record affects your rates, and whether you have a clean record or a history of incidents will inform which insurer is right for you. If you don’t drive much or very far, a pay-per-mile or pay-as-you-go car insurance policy might be the best option.

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  Location

  Where you live affects your premiums. Factors like population density and accident, fatality, and vehicle crime rates can affect the price of car insurance. Regional insurers in your state may offer competitive rates and discounts, so it can pay to look locally.

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  Comparing quotes

  Shopping around can help you find the right coverage, discounts, and insurers for your needs.

Best car insurance company by state

Car insurance rates and available discounts can vary from state to state, so comparing quotes will help you sort through national and regional insurance companies to find the best policy for you. For this table, we chose insurers with competitive rates, superior coverage options, ample discounts, good financial strength, and customer service to identify the best cheap car insurance rates for each state.

Average cost of car insurance

The average cost of car insurance is increasing. Rates rose by 24% in 2023, and Insurify predicts another 7% increase in 2024. The current national averages are $105 per month for liability only and $215 for full coverage.

While the national average is increasing, rates vary widely among insurers and across geographic areas. Many drivers can get much lower rates, so it’s always worth comparing quotes if you’re looking for the cheapest car insurance. These are the national average liability-only and full-coverage car insurance rates by insurer.

Why is car insurance so expensive?

Numerous factors, including the rising cost of repairs, more severe car accidents,^[6] and increasingly extreme weather events, contributed to record losses for insurers. Regional legislation and insurance fraud may have also led to higher rates in New York, Nevada, and Florida, the most expensive states for car insurance, per Insurify data.

Car insurance is also becoming less affordable: Rates increased 638% more than wages in 2023, and low-income states were hit hardest, Insurify research shows. Drivers in Mississippi, the lowest-income state in the country, spend 3.4% of their income on car insurance, while Utah drivers spend 1.8%, according to an Insurify analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data.

With many factors influencing premiums, it’s a good idea to compare car insurance quotes to find coverage that fits your needs.

How much car insurance coverage you need

State laws require minimum liability coverage in every state but New Hampshire, and even then there are some financial requirements. You need to buy at least your state’s minimum coverage, but if you want more financial protection in the event of an accident or weather damage, you’ll need to purchase more coverage.

If you finance or lease your vehicle like most U.S. drivers, your lender will require full coverage. Drivers with rare or higher-value cars may want additional protection even if they own the car outright, because repairs will be more specialized and expensive.

Types of car insurance coverage

Here are some common coverage options so you know what you need and don’t pay for what you don’t.

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  Liability only

  This covers bodily injury and property damage you cause to someone else. Every state but New Hampshire requires some amount of liability coverage.

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  Full coverage

  This typically includes collision and comprehensive coverage in addition to liability insurance. Collision covers damage to your car in an accident, even if you’re at fault, and comprehensive covers damage to your car from non-collision incidents.

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  Uninsured/underinsured motorist

  Uninsured motorist coverage pays for damage from hit-and-run accidents and protects you if the at-fault driver has no coverage. Underinsured motorist coverage protects you if the at-fault driver has too little coverage to pay for your injuries and damages.

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  Personal injury protection (PIP)

  This typically covers medical expenses, lost wages, and funeral expenses for you and your passengers, no matter who’s at fault. If you live in a no-fault state, PIP may be part of your minimum coverage requirements.

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  Medical payments (MedPay)

  This add-on helps pay for medical and funeral expenses for you and your passenger in an accident, even if you’re at fault.

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  Guaranteed asset protection (gap)

  Gap insurance covers the difference between your outstanding loan or lease balance and your claim payout if your car is declared a total loss following an accident.

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  Accident forgiveness coverage

  This insurance add-on can prevent your premium from increasing after your first at-fault accident.

State-minimum vs. full coverage

Car insurance ideally protects you financially when something unexpected happens, whether it’s an accident or a flood. The right coverage for you depends on your budget and financial flexibility, location, driving history, and type of vehicle.

If you practice safe driving habits, live in a less populated area, drive a paid-off vehicle, and have the assets to cover significant unexpected expenses, a liability-only policy could be a good option to save money. If you live in an area prone to natural disasters, lease or finance your vehicle, or live in an area with high accident or vehicle crime rates, then a full-coverage policy with comprehensive insurance will ensure you’re not paying out of pocket if a weather event damages your car.

Best car insurance FAQs

Insurify data scientists analyzed more than 90 million quotes served to car insurance applicants in Insurify’s proprietary database to calculate the premium averages displayed on this page. These premiums are real quotes that come directly from Insurify’s 50+ partner insurance companies in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Quote averages represent the median price for a quote across the given coverage level, driver subset, and geographic area.

Unless otherwise specified, quoted rates reflect the average cost for drivers between 20 and 70 years old with a clean driving record and average or better credit (a credit score of 600 or higher).

Liability-only premium averages correspond to policies with the following coverage limits:

• Bodily injury limits between state-minimum rates and $50,000 per person, $100,000 per accident
• Property damage limits between $10,000 and $50,000
• No additional coverage

Full-coverage premium averages correspond to the same bodily injury and property damage limits in addition to:

• Comprehensive coverage with a $1,000 deductible
• Collision coverage with a $1,000 deductible

Quotes for Allstate, Farmers, GEICO, State Farm, and USAA are estimates based on Quadrant Information Services’ database of auto insurance rates.

1. J.D. Power. "J.D. Power 2023 Auto Insurance Study."
2. J.D. Power. "J.D. Power 2023 U.S. Insurance Shopping Study."
3. Nationwide. "SmartMiles."
4. National Association of Insurance Commissioners. "Property and Casualty Insurance Industry 2023 Top 25 Groups and Companies by Countrywide Premium."
5. Trustpilot. "USAA Reviews."
6. U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. "Early Estimate of Motor Vehicle Traffic Fatalities For the First Quarter of 2023."