Find the cheapest rates for your best coverage.
With an annual average price of $662, Metromile is the cheapest insurance provider in the U.S. Its prices are 212 percent lower than the national average.
While Root has the second most affordable rates in the country ($829 annually), it’s selective in who it insures and bases its pricing primarily on driving history.
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One of the first questions drivers want to know when searching for car insurance is how to save money and find the most affordable car insurance with the most car insurance discounts. However, depending on your zip code, coverage levels, and driver profiles (that is, a poor driving record versus a clean one), the cheapest car insurance for you may not be the same insurance as it would be for someone else.
That’s why we’re here. We’ve compared some of the biggest providers out there to help you find the cheapest car insurance in general. You can either read this list, or call AutoInsurance.com directly to find cheap insurance over the phone.
Best Cheap Auto Insurance Overall: Metromile
Best Cheap Auto Insurance for Drivers With a Great Record: Root
Best Cheap Auto Insurance for Customer Satisfaction: Erie
Best Cheap Auto Insurance for Rideshare Drivers: Clearcover
Best Cheap Auto Insurance for Military Families and Veterans: USAA
Features | Metromile | Root | Erie | Clearcover | USAA |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cheapest auto insurance ranking | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | Average annual cost | $662 | $829 | $1,084 | $1,119 | $1,151 |
Student discounts
for full-time students with at least a B average |
No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Bundling discounts (renters or homeowners insurance) | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
Discounts by age | Yes, for senior drivers | No | Yes, for teenagers and older drivers | No | Yes |
Other discounts | Low mileage | Good driver discounts | Diminishing deductible, vehicle storage, and safety saving | Good driver, military, anti-theft, multivehicle, and more | Military and veterans |
Metromile is, on average, the cheapest auto insurance provider in the country. Its annual costs are $662, or $55 a month. Part of the reason Metromile can offer such low rates is because its pricing model is based on how much you drive, also known as per-mile insurance. The less you drive, the lower your rates will be.
However, Metromile is currently available in only eight states:
Metromile only sells pay-per-mile car insurance. If you’re a low-mileage driver, Metromile could be a great option for you.
Metromile takes into account factors like credit score, driving history, and age to calculate your per-mile cost. Still, you might find better rates with Metromile if you’re a teen driver or have a bad driving record. Metromile claims you could save as much as $1,000 a year on car insurance if you drive less than 50 miles per week.1
Metromile bills you by tracking how many miles you drive through its Metromile Pulse device. When we tested the device, it only took us a few minutes to plug it in and activate it. As soon as we saw the red light on the Pulse device, we were ready to take it for a short drive to calibrate the GPS system.
From here, Metromile could track where we drove, how far we drove, how fast we drove, and other key driving behaviors that it used to come up with a quote later on. We communicated with the company through its intuitive mobile app. If you are tech savvy and appreciate managing your account from the comfort of your phone, Metromile could be the choice for you.
Drivers with pets might be glad to learn that nearly every Metromile insurance plan comes with pet injury protection. Unless you’re a driver in Virginia or Illinois, you will receive up to $1,000 in injury fees if your dog or cat is injured in an accident.
Root is a solid option for drivers with safe track records. Although Root is the second-cheapest insurance on our list at $829 annually, signing up comes with a few caveats. Root is able to offer great rates because it denies coverage to high-risk drivers. It primarily bases your costs on your driving record, so it’s a great choice if you’re a safe driver with a clean history.
Part of why Root can offer such low rates is its strict vetting process. You must sign up for a test drive and allow Root to track your driving behavior for up to 30 days to get a quote.
Root connects to your smartphone and uses already available features — GPS, accelerometer, and gyroscope — to measure your driving habits across those 30 days. Its tracking system will identify what time of day you’re driving, how many miles you’ve driven, your turn speed, and more. If your driving habits meet its standards, it will approve you and offer you some of the cheapest rates available today.
Root has a unique discount mode. The safer you drive and the better your driving record is, the cheaper your prices will be. While it offers bundling discounts for car and renters insurance, most of the company’s safe-driver discounts will be built into your final quote automatically. Drivers with the best driving records and test drive scores will be eligible for the lowest prices.
Like Metromile, Root has a robust online and mobile app platform. You can manage elements of your insurance policy like claims, discounts, and coverage options through the app, as well as roadside assistance. Root is ideal for a tech-savvy customer who would rather use an app than speak to a human.
Erie has an average annual cost of $1,084 and ranks highly for customer satisfaction and service. In both 2021 and 2022, Erie ranked second highest in customer satisfaction, with ratings of 878 out of 1,000 for midsize auto insurance providers.
J.D Power ranks Erie highly on customer service and satisfaction. Part of what gives Erie the edge in customer service is its network of independent agents.
As a customer, you will need to work with an agent directly to help you narrow down the best insurance policy, make claims, and manage your current policy. The availability of independent agents is great for direct contact with someone who can walk you through the auto insurance process step by step.
Erie has a unique rate-lock perk. If you qualify for a policy, Erie won’t raise your rates year over year unless you change your policy, drivers, or address. This means your rates won’t go up even if you have a claim on your vehicle.
Some restrictions and limitations apply. For example, you can only lock your rates for three years in Virginia, so speak to an agent to get the most accurate information for your plan and location.2
Erie has a long list of discount and coverage options that appeal to a wide variety of drivers. Erie offers dozens of bundling options, including multiple-vehicle, home insurance, life insurance, and business insurance. While Erie offers all the most common coverage options — liability, collision, medical payment (PIP), comprehensive, and underinsured/uninsured motorist — it also offers a wide range of add-ons, including the following:
Priced at $1,119 on average annually, Clearcover offers affordable rates, has great options for rideshare drivers, and offers unique perks. One of those perks is the company’s lightning-fast claims payouts. While it can take most auto insurance companies weeks to pay a claim, Clearcover pays claims in less than a week on average (its record is seven minutes).
With most big insurance providers, you need to ask an agent about their discounts to see what you qualify for. Clearcover simplifies this process by integrating discounts into its standard pricing. Clearcover automatically builds discounts like safe driving, vehicle features, paying upfront, and more into its final price. Beyond its integrated discounts, you can also receive up to 25 percent off if you’re an active member of the military.
Rather than offering 12-month policies, Clearcover covers you for six-month periods. At the end of the six-month period, it will evaluate your driving history and let you know what discounts you may be eligible for. If you had a good driving record across the previous time period, you could qualify for more savings, more frequently.
Clearcover offers a rideshare endorsement add-on that allows you to drive for a rideshare service like Uber or Lyft under its plan. Rates can be as low as $10 a month, but note that your rideshare insurance won’t extend to food delivery services like DoorDash, UberEats, or Postmates, only ridesharing services.
While most rideshare companies offer some coverage in their plans, their options are often limited to specific driving situations. For example, some companies will only insure you between when you’re dropping off and picking up a passenger, not when the passenger is in the car with you. Other plans insure you only when you have a passenger in the car, but not when you’re alone or driving to pick up a new passenger. Clearcover makes sure you’re covered in any rideshare situation.
The United Services Automobile Association, also known as USAA, offers the cheapest rates out of the top 10 largest insurance providers. However, its auto insurance program is available only to active U.S. military members, veterans, pre-commissioned officers, and their spouses and children.
If you fall into that category, you can enjoy affordable rates, financial advice, and a number of other exclusive benefits like travel deals, shopping rewards, and car rental discounts. You must be a USAA member to sign up with USAA, but membership is free.
USAA members don’t just get to enjoy some of the cheapest rates in the country; they also get a long list of discounts. The average driver saves $725 a year with USAA. These are some available discounts:
Outside of affordable rates and attractive discounts, you gain access to a number of membership perks as a USAA member:
USAA understands the unique challenges that military members, veterans, and their families face. Leaving your family behind is one of the most difficult aspects of deployment, and USAA is dedicated to making that process as seamless as possible.
You won’t have to cancel your insurance policy if you’re deployed for a permanent change of station (PCS). USAA will protect your vehicle while you’re away with liability coverage, vehicle storage, and personal injury coverage. USAA will also provide guidance about deployment to the following countries and territories:
Our focus throughout this guide was to find the cheapest rates for the various unique needs that you may have as a driver. It’s important to note that depending on your location, age, gender, driving record, or vehicle type, the rates you’ll find might differ from the averages we’ve presented. Based on the company information, quotes, and data we’ve collected, we think these rates will apply to most drivers within their respective categories (military families, seniors, students, and so on). Our approach for finding these rates involved the following sources.
If you’re an 18-year-old USAA member, you can get competitive rates for around $120 a month. If you’re a safe teen driver, try a quote with Root Insurance. With an affordable rate of $69 a month, Root appeals to younger drivers with no driving records or credit scores because its prices are based on how safely you drive.
According to 2020 data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, North Dakota has the cheapest rates, with an average annual rate of only $692. That’s 34 percent less than the national average.
On average, USAA offers some of the cheapest rates (around $100 monthly) for full coverage among the larger providers. If you’re not a USAA member, State Farm has great rates for full coverage at around $115.
After one at-fault accident, both USAA and State Farm have the lowest insurance rate increases at around $300 each. GEICO will increase insurance rates by about $700 on average after an at-fault accident. You can expect a 10 percent increase on average if you’re not at fault in an accident, but this will depend on your state and its local laws.
Both GEICO and USAA charge around $1,800 annually for drivers with bad credit, which is $1,000 cheaper than the national average.
Everything You Need to Know About Pay-Per-Mile Car Insurance. Metromile. (2021, July 16).
https://www.metromile.com/blog/pay-per-mile-insurance/#how-does-pay-per-mile-auto-insurance-work
Car Insurance Coverage Explained. Erie Insurance. (2022).
https://www.erieinsurance.com/auto-insurance/car-insurance-coverage-explained
Facts + Statistics: Insurance company rankings. Insurance Information Institute. (2022).
https://www.iii.org/fact-statistic/facts-statistics-insurance-company-rankings