The Best Auto Insurance for Teens

Considering the high cost of auto insurance for teens, you’ll want to find the best deal. With a number of discounts for young drivers and a history of low rates, State Farm is a great option.

Savings for Good Drivers

State Farm offers multiple discounts for good driving habits, including a specially designed discount for teen drivers.

Additionally, when you’ve had a policy with State Farm for at least three years in a row without an accident, you can qualify for an accident-free discount of up to 25 percent.

Discounts for Students

Teen drivers with GPAs of 3.0 or higher can save up to 25 percent on auto insurance, a discount that can last until they turn 25. Homeschooled students may qualify as well, if they have taken certain national standardized tests within the past 12 months and ranked in the top 20 percent.

Regardless of their grades, college students who are away from home can also save. To qualify for a student away from home discount, the driver must be under the age of 25 and must only use the vehicle while at home during school vacations and holidays. If your teen takes their car to college, check out our roundup of the best auto insurance for college students.

Easy Claims Process

If you need to file a claim, State Farm makes the process easier with its mobile app. From start to finish, you can complete the claim in the app by entering details of the incident and uploading photos and documents from your phone. You can receive your payout by either direct deposit or mailed check.

Founded in 1991, Direct Auto offers an impressive multi-car discount, as well as commercial policies for teens who use their cars for work. Students with B averages or higher can save up to 10 percent on car insurance, as can drivers under the age of 21 who complete a state-approved driver education course.

Good for Teens With Their Own Cars

For teens who plan to buy a car (or who will receive one as a gift) when they start driving, Direct Auto offers a nice discount. When you simultaneously add a teen driver and a new car to an existing Direct Auto insurance policy, you may be eligible for a multi-car discount of up to 25 percent.

Commercial Options for Teens With Jobs

It’s common for teens to earn a little side cash, especially during the summer. However, the typical personal auto insurance policy doesn’t cover accidents that happen during work. If a teen driver is using the car to transport goods, like pizzas, groceries, baked goods, sandwiches, or flowers for a fee, they’ll need a commercial policy. Direct Auto offers competitive pricing for commercial policies, and teens may be eligible for their own commercial policies.

Flexible Payment

Auto insurance is a significant monthly expense, especially considering the higher cost of purchasing a policy for a teen. Direct Auto gives customers flexibility around when and how they pay. You can choose the following aspects around payment:

• The day of the month to make your payment depending on your own personal factors, like when you get paid
• How often you’ll pay (i.e., in full or in several installments)
• Whether or not to pay more upfront and lower your subsequent monthly costs, like by making a down payment
• How to pay your bills, including the option to pay with cash at your local Direct Auto location or partner payment location, make one-time payments online with a credit or debit card, set up auto-payments online, or pay by e-check

With several paths to earning a student discount, Allstate is a good option for teen drivers regardless of their report cards. And the more drivers who sign up for Allstate’s Drivewise safe driving app, the greater the discount will be, making it a good option for families with multiple young safe drivers.

Multiple Paths to Student Discount

Allstate offers three routes to earning its student discount, meaning you may not need good grades to earn a lower rate. You qualify if you’re an unmarried, full-time high school or college student under 25 years old, and fulfill one of the following requirements:

1. You have a GPA of 2.7 or higher, or at least a B-minus average.
2. You complete the TeenSMART driver education program successfully.
3. You attend school at least 100 miles away from where your car is garaged (and are younger than 21).

The TeenSMART driving program includes videos, simulations, and parent-teen activities that teach teens how to drive safely and avoid hazards on the road. Allstate customers receive a $50 discount on the program, at $69.95 per driver. Teens who qualify for the student discount can save around 20 percent on premiums.

Roadside Assistance

Mishaps on the road like a flat tire, running out of gas or battery, or locking your keys in the car are stressful for any driver, especially a new one. Allstate offers three types of roadside assistance, which provide teen drivers and their families peace of mind. Roadside assistance includes flat-bed tow trucks for electric cars, tire changes, lockouts, jump-starts, and fuel delivery, although the fuel itself is at a customer’s expense. You can access roadside assistance through Allstate’s mobile app or by phone.

In addition, Allstate’s Drivewise app offers a crash detection safety feature. If the app detects a collision involving a car moving 25 miles per hour or faster, you’ll receive a notification that helps you call 911, request roadside assistance, and start a claim.

Accident Forgiveness

Due to their inexperience, teens are at a higher risk of causing a car accident than adult drivers.

Allstate offers an accident forgiveness coverage add-on, which ensures premiums won’t increase even if a teen driver is at fault in an accident. And for every six months without an accident, Allstate customers receive a safe driving bonus of up to five percent on their auto insurance bill.

The United Services Automobile Association (USAA) provides insurance, banking, and investment advice for members and veterans of the U.S. military, pre-commissioned officers, and their spouses and children. It’s one of the best auto insurance options for military members and their families, especially families with teen drivers.

Lower-Than-Average Prices

USAA offers some of the lowest auto insurance prices consistently, including for teen drivers. Teens and their families can take advantage of a number of discounts.

• Good student: Drivers under 25 who maintain a B average or higher, a minimum 3.0 GPA, rank in the upper 20 percent of their class, or who made the honor roll or dean’s list qualify for this discount.
• Driver training: Teens who complete a basic driver education course save on premiums.
• Safe driving: Young drivers who maintain a good driving record for at least five years receive discounts.
• Multi-vehicle: If you add another vehicle to your policy, you can save on premiums.

Family Discount for Young Driver’s First Policy

Most teen drivers start off on their family’s policy, which is usually cheaper than buying a separate policy. Eventually, the young driver might want to transition off a family’s policy — maybe because they’ve moved, started a new job, or experienced another life change. USAA makes things easier with its family discount.

When children of USAA policyholders purchase their own auto policies, they may qualify for a 10 percent discount. To be eligible, the driver needs to have been on their parents’ or guardians’ policy for at least three years, be under 25 years old, and have a clean driving record.

Exceptional Customer Satisfaction

USAA received a customer satisfaction rating of 884 out of 1,000 from J.D. Power, significantly higher than the overall satisfaction rating of 835 across other auto insurance providers.³ AM Best, which rates companies for financial strength, awarded USAA a “superior” rating — meaning you’ll never have to worry about its ability to pay for your claim.⁴

The bottom line? If you buy a USAA auto insurance policy for a teen driver, you can feel confident that it’ll pay for claims without issue, and your customer service experience will be stellar.

In business since 1928, Farmers has a history of providing quality auto insurance. One of the things that set Farmers apart is its commitment to customer satisfaction. On the National Association of Insurance Commissioners complaint index, Farmers scored a 0.54 — meaning it receives about half as many customer complaints as the average auto insurance company of its size.⁶ Farmers also offers an extensive number of discounts, including several that benefit teens and their families in particular.

Good Option for Shared Family Cars

Many providers offer multi-car discounts for adding a vehicle to your policy, but Farmers is unique in its shared family car discount. Considering the expense of buying car insurance for a teen, it makes sense that families would want to save on the expense of buying a separate vehicle for their teen. For families that share one or more cars, Farmers offers a discount.

For a household to qualify, there must be at least one unmarried driver 20 years old or under, and more active drivers than there are vehicles. Vehicles in storage don’t count toward the total number of household vehicles. Farmers applies the shared family car discount to all vehicles on the policy. This discount is available in all states except California.

Loyalty Discount for a Young Adult’s First Policy

Like USAA, Farmers offers a discount to young drivers who are transitioning off their parents’ auto insurance policies and buying their own policies for the first time. Unlike USAA, Farmers is available to anyone, regardless of military affiliation. To qualify for the “on your own” discount, you must be under 29 years old and must have been an active driver on the Farmers policy in your prior household for at least a year.

Many Discount Options

Farmers offers an impressive 23 discounts. Many of these discounts offer special savings for teen drivers and their families.

• Signal: Allow Farmers to track your driving habits (phone use, braking, speed), and earn higher discounts when a driver aged 15 to 24 in your household enrolls, too.
• Distant student: Save when a student on the policy leaves for school at least 100 miles away and only uses the vehicle on breaks.
• Youthful driver: Earn a discount when you add a child or grandchild under age 25 to a policy that’s been in force for at least a year.
• Good student: Pay less for students who earn GPAs of 3.0 or higher, make the dean’s list or honor roll, rank in the top 20 percent of the class, or score in the top 20 percent on standardized testing.