The Best Auto Insurance for No-License Drivers

Acceptance Insurance prides itself on providing coverage for all types of drivers. The company started as a single desk in Texas in 1969 and now serves 200,000 customers in 15 states. It has over 700 agents ready to help you throughout more than 300 neighborhoods.

Acceptance is an excellent option for unlicensed individuals because of its focus on nonstandard drivers and its long list of other policy types with which you can bundle. It also has a roadside assistance program that can refund your traffic tickets.

Options for Nonstandard Drivers

There are many reasons someone might be a nonstandard driver — including teens, seniors, drivers who have had their license suspended or revoked, and people with excessive driving violations or DUI convictions.

Not every insurance company accepts nonstandard drivers, but Acceptance focuses on them. It doesn’t turn away motorists often and advertises specific discounts for bad-credit drivers, high-risk drivers, non-owners, seniors, SR-22 drivers, and teen drivers.³ The company even offers discounts for favorable behaviors.

• Good grades: If you have a B average or higher in school and are between the ages of 16 and 24, the good grades discount is a viable option.
• Loyalty: The loyalty discount is great for all types of nonstandard drivers — the longer you stay with Acceptance, the greater your discount.
• Safe driver: While no-license drivers can’t take advantage of this discount, if someone else in your household is driving your vehicle and has a good record, it can help you save on your policy.

Bundling Options

Need more than just auto insurance? You may be looking to bundle your insurance options. In that case, Acceptance offers a handful of other protections.

• Renters insurance: If you’re renting a home or living space, renters insurance offers personal property and liability coverage. Personal property covers the cost of repairing or replacing any of your personal items, such as clothing or furniture. Liability covers the cost of damage to the landlord’s property or a guest’s medical bills if you’re liable for their injuries.
• Homeowners insurance: Homeowners insurance covers the cost of damages caused by fires, theft, vandalism, smoke, and floods. Acceptance offers coverage for your personal belongings as an add-on, such as an engagement ring, to a homeowners insurance policy.
• Vehicles for sport: Acceptance provides coverage for motorcycles, snowmobiles, travel trailers, off-road vehicles, and water vehicles. Customize your outdoor vehicle insurance plan to your needs by choosing the Saver, Plus, or Elite plan, which include a selection of various coverages depending on the plan, such as safety apparel, towing, and accident forgiveness.
• Life insurance: Acceptance offers term life insurance and whole life insurance. Term life insurance is ideal because it lasts for a set period of time, while whole life insurance is typically more expensive and covers you for your lifetime.
• Mexico tourist auto insurance: If you take your vehicle across the Mexican border, your regular auto insurance won’t follow you. However, Mexico tourist auto insurance guarantees coverage for your car, truck, motorhome, travel trailer, RV, ATV, or UTV while you drive in Mexico.
• Commercial insurance: Acceptance offers many types of commercial insurance, including commercial liability umbrella, commercial vehicle, general liability insurance, inland marine, professional liability insurance, business owner’s policy, property insurance, surety bonds, and worker’s compensation.
• Pet insurance: Humans are not the only ones who need insurance coverage. Acceptance boasts three policy types for your four-legged friends, plus add-ons. Coverage options include medical treatment, vaccinations, and cancer treatments, among others.

This bundling can be useful, as nonstandard drivers typically have higher premiums.

Bundling options are unavailable for telemedicine and hospital indemnity — two other coverage programs Acceptance Insurance offers. However, these are worth considering to keep all of your insurance policies under one provider.[/tip]

All-Inclusive Roadside Assistance

If someone else will be driving the car you’re insuring while you’re without a license, it can be useful to have roadside assistance coverage. Acceptance Insurance offers this coverage as an optional policy add-on, which includes mechanical first aid, towing, lockout assistance, fuel delivery, and tire service.

Founded in 1922, State Farm has grown to become the largest auto insurer in the United States by providing fair insurance coverage at affordable prices. Not only does it have a good reputation, but the company has local agents ready to help you in 48 states.

State Farm is a great option for teen drivers with a permit working up to becoming fully licensed drivers. State Farm is easy to contact, offers a wide range of coverages, and provides significant discounts for those learning to drive.

Variety of Coverages

State Farm’s coverage options go beyond the basics of liability, medical, uninsured motorist, collision insurance, and comprehensive coverage. The provider offers a wide variety of add-ons, which can be useful for families adding a new teen driver to their policy:

• Rental car coverage: This add-on covers the cost of replacing your vehicle when it’s in the shop under a covered claim.

• Emergency roadside assistance: Roadside assistance covers mechanical labor; towing; delivery of gas, oil, or battery; change of tire; and locksmith labor. You’ll have to pay your own labor costs after an hour of service.

• Transportation expense coverage: If you’re in an accident more than 50 miles from home, transportation expense coverage will pay for meals, lodging, and transportation.

Apps That Can Save You Money

Safe driving habits will save you money now and in the future when these practices result in a clean record. State Farm offers two apps to encourage and reward safe driving habits, one of which is specifically designed for young drivers.

While you must have a valid driver’s license to enroll in these programs, families who add teens to a State Farm policy while they’re learning to drive can plan to take advantage of these discounts once the teen passes their driver’s test:

• Steer Clear app: Available to drivers younger than 25, the Steer Clear app gives you an opportunity to track your driving hours. You and your driving mentors can access the app to prepare for your driver’s test. The app offers a safe driving certification for finishing five safe driving training modules. Once you receive your certificate, send it to your State Farm agent to apply the discount.

• Drive Safe & Save app: This app tracks quick acceleration, hard braking, fast cornering, speeding, and distracted driving as you hit the road. The safer you drive, the higher your discount.⁴

Large Local Agent Network 

Walking through the insurance process on your own can be challenging when you’re a new driver. State Farm has 19,000 local agents across the country that teens and their families can meet with in person, online, or over the phone to discuss their options.

Like Acceptance, Direct Auto specializes in providing nonstandard auto insurance to drivers who may be considered high risk or need SR-22 certifications. If you’ve been convicted of a serious driving violation and your license has been suspended, Direct Auto will help you file for an SR-22 certification and provide you with the insurance coverage you need. As such, it may be more likely to cover certain high-risk drivers than standard carriers like Progressive.

Direct Auto is a particularly good option for drivers with suspended licenses who need non-owner coverage, as the company provides coverage for this situation as well. The company offers flexibility with pay schedules and prices, convenient contact options, and various inclusive discounts.

Non-Owner Coverage

Direct Auto offers non-owner coverage to drivers who don’t own a vehicle, including those who have had their license suspended. In many cases, if you’d had your license suspended due to a serious violation like a DUI, you’ll need to file an SR-22 in order to get it reinstated — even if you don’t own a vehicle.

Drivers in this situation can get a non-owner policy through Direct Auto and file an SR-22 with the help of the provider. Non-owner policies typically include bodily injury and property damage liability, which cover you if you cause an accident while driving a car you don’t own.

Inclusive Discounts

Being a nonstandard driver can take a toll on your wallet, but taking advantage of Direct Auto’s many discounts can save you up to 25 percent on your car insurance premiums.

• Senior drivers: You can save up to 5 percent if you are 55 or older and complete a motor vehicle accident prevention course. Learn more about the best car insurance for seniors.
• DynamicDrive: Save up to 10 percent if you download the Routely app and enroll in the DynamicDrive program. This app tracks your driving behavior and calculates a driver performance score. The safer you drive, the better your score; the better your score, the higher your discount.
• Bundling: Direct Auto sells bundled policies to make your premiums cheaper. You can bundle your auto insurance with another insurance policy, including motorcycle and commercial auto.
• Driver’s education: You can receive up to 10 percent off if you complete a qualifying accident prevention course.
• Multi-car policy: Save up to 25 percent when you insure more than one vehicle on your Direct Auto policy.
• Vehicle equipment: If your vehicle has qualifying anti-theft and safety features, you could see discounts up to 10 percent.
• Prior coverage savings: You can receive up to 25 percent off your premiums if you can prove you’ve been with another insurance company for at least six months and have not had more than a 90-day lapse in prior coverage.⁵

Flexible Payment Options

When working with Direct Auto, you can customize both when and how you pay. Not only can you choose your payment date, but you can also choose how often you pay, your monthly amount, and how you want to pay, using these options:

• Cash at your local Direct Auto or a partner payment location
• Online payments with a credit or debit card
• Autodraft
• E-checks

Progressive is one of the largest standard insurance companies in the U.S., with a strong reputation and financial stability. It also happens to be one of the best insurers for drivers with DUIs, offering some of the most affordable average rates and generally offering coverage to many high-risk drivers.

Drivers who have had their license suspended due to a DUI may find good coverage options with nonstandard insurers like Direct Auto and Acceptance as well, so it’s worth it to get a quote from multiple companies if they’re available to you. A major benefit of Progressive is that it operates in all 50 states.

Snapshot Telematics Program

Drivers with violations pay more for auto insurance on average than drivers with clean records. If you’ve had your license suspended, you can likely expect your auto insurance rate to increase. However, once your license is reinstated, you can take advantage of Progressive’s telematics discount program, Snapshot.

Snapshot will track your driving — including braking, acceleration, amount of night driving, miles driven, and phone use — via the Progressive mobile app or a plug-in device in your vehicle. You can get a discount just for signing up and an additional discount depending on how safely you drive, though Progressive doesn’t advertise the maximum discount amount.

However, be aware that in some states, Progressive may increase your rates if it detects unsafe driving. Especially if you have a history of violations, make sure you work to improve your driving habits to avoid a rate hike.

Disappearing Deductible

Progressive offers a disappearing deductible, which is available as a policy add-on. The deductible is the amount you pay out of pocket before the insurance policy kicks in. This coverage can be useful if you expect to file a claim, but you need to maintain a clean record for a period of time to be able to take advantage of it.

The longer you go without a violation, the more your deductible decreases. Specifically, Progressive will lower your deductible by $50 per six-month period (or $100 per year for annual policies) without a violation. For example, if you start out with a deductible of $500, it will go down to $0 if you make it five years without a violation.

Bundling Property Insurance

Although Progressive doesn’t offer as many bundling options as some other standard insurers, it does offer discounts for purchasing an auto policy along with either a homeowners or renters policy. This can be beneficial for high-risk drivers who also need one of these types of property insurance. Although Progressive doesn’t advertise its average bundling discounts, these types of discounts are usually around 10 to 20 percent.

When 25 U.S. Army officers met up and decided to insure each other’s vehicles in 1922, USAA was born. Today, USAA insures 13 million military customers throughout the U.S. It’s a great choice for unlicensed military members who need coverage while storing or shipping their cars. Additionally, it’s a great provider for retired military members who own cars but have someone else drive them.

Great Discounts

Not only does USAA have fantastic prices for service members and their families, but it offers a variety of discounts to lower your cost even further. You could attain a discount if you fall into  one of these scenarios:

• You garage your vehicle on a military installment.
• You store your insured car in a garage.
• You download and participate in USAA’s SafePilot app.
• You are under 25 and hold a clean driving record as a former dependent of a USAA member.

Domestic and International Insurance

USAA knows the ins and outs of insurance for military members. It understands that you may have to move often or go overseas for a permanent change of station (PCS), so it will protect your car while you’re away, offering liability coverage, personal injury protection, and vehicle storage.

If you’re planning to bring your car with you when you move, you still need auto insurance when shipping your vehicle.

Bundling Options and Perks

Great auto insurance options are only a small part of the benefits USAA offers. It also provides these policy options:

• Homeowners insurance
• Renters insurance
• Life insurance
• Umbrella insurance
• Small business insurance
• Medicare plans
• Health insurance
• Vision insurance
• Dental insurance

Additionally, USAA offers its members several perks.

• Bank loans: You can manage a bank account, take out loans, or obtain a mortgage through USAA.
• Investment options: Not only does USAA provide financial planning, but you can also set up a mutual fund, IRA, or a 529 education plan through the company.
• Travel deals: Just for being a USAA member, you get discounts on rental cars, hotels, theme parks, and flights.
• Online shopping: TurboTax, Active & Fit Direct, and a handful of other businesses partner with USAA to give you great deals.
• Entertainment discounts: Certain phone plans, streaming services, and amusement parks are all discounted for USAA members.

Check if you qualify to be a USAA member by taking the qualification quiz on the company’s website.⁶