The Best Auto Insurance in Arkansas

If you’re a high-risk driver — a new driver, a teen driver, someone with a history of traffic violations, and so on — you might have difficulty finding a car insurance company willing to provide you with coverage. Direct Auto, unlike most providers, caters to high-risk drivers by offering customizable payment plans, several sizable discounts, and a team of agents trained to work with unsafe drivers.

Below, we’ll break down what it means to be a high-risk driver and how Direct Auto can help you gain quality coverage at an affordable price.

Support for High-Risk Drivers

Unfortunately, Arkansas ranks higher than average in several categories that insurance providers look for when assessing risk. Below we’ll break down some of those numbers and see how they compare to the national averages.

Other factors that might be categorized as high-risk drivers include the following:

• People with high-value vehicles
• Teen drivers
• People with several past insurance claims
• People who haven’t been covered in the past six months
• Recent driver’s license recipients

Direct Auto can help you curate an affordable plan with flexible payment options if you find yourself in one of the above categories.

Flexible Payment Plans

Because Direct Auto caters to high-risk drivers, its average rate (about $2,500) is nearly $1,500 more than the national average ($1,047).⁷ One way to lessen the sting of high rates is to customize your insurance payment options. You can personalize your payment options to fit your budget by adjusting the following factors:

• Payment dates
• Payment frequencies
• Down payment rate (the higher your down payment, the lower your premiums will be)
• Payment method, including cash (physical locations only)

Ample Discounts

Direct Auto offers one of the longest lists of discounts among any provider, small or large. You can earn savings of up to 25 percent in multiple categories, which is more than most large providers offer. Whether you’re a teen driver, active military member, full-time student, or homeowner, Direct Auto probably has a discount for you. Here’s the full list:

USAA is consistently our top pick for active military service members, veterans, and military families because of its affordable rates, specialized military coverage, and excellent customer service scores. If you’re one of the 252,000 veterans or 3,000 active military members in Arkansas, you can apply for USAA’s exclusive military-only membership.⁸ Whether you need to figure out the best way to store your vehicle during deployment, transfer your insurance overseas, or save more on your domestic policy, USAA will have you covered.

Big Savings With USAA SafePilot

You can earn up to 30 percent off on your car insurance with USAA’s SafePilot program, one of the company’s top saving opportunities. Here’s how it works.

1. Enroll in the SafePilot program online or with an insurance agent (you get 10 percent off your insurance just for enrolling).
2. Download the SafePilot app, which is available on both iOS and Android. The app has a 4.4 out of five-star rating for iOS and a 4.1 out of five for Android.
3. Drive and allow the app to track your driving habits and score your trips. You don’t need to turn on the app every time you drive; it will track your driving automatically.
4. During the renewal period, USAA will review your score and add any discounts to your policy. You can earn up to 30 percent off at renewal. Also, your rates won’t increase if you exhibit poor driving habits, which isn’t always the case for safe driving programs.

Special Offers for Deployed Military Members

If you’re deployed overseas or in a different state, you can keep your car stored in Arkansas and save money in the process. Here are the three main ways to save if you’re deployed out of state:

• If you’re on deployment and are storing your vehicle back home, you can earn up to 60 percent off your car insurance policy.
• You can earn an additional 15 percent off on your comprehensive coverage if you’re garaging your vehicle on a military installation.
• Finally, if you’re coming in and out of Arkansas between deployments, you can earn a discount for driving fewer miles per year. The less you drive, the more you can save.

Deployed military members can also extend their USAA policies overseas if they plan on driving away from home. You can keep using your USAA insurance if you’re deployed to one of the following countries/territories:

• Azores
• Belgium
• Cuba
• France
• Germany
• Greece
• Guam
• Italy
• Netherlands
• Portugal
• Puerto Rico
• South Korea
• Spain
• U.S. Virgin Islands
• United Kingdom

Coverage for Multiple Types of Vehicles

Whether you’re waiting to insure your favorite classic car, have your own golf car, or want to offroad on an ATV, USAA covers several types of motor vehicles. On top of regular cars, trucks, SUVs, and sports cars, you can also gain coverage for the following vehicles:

• ATVs
• Classic cars
• Dirt bikes
• Golf cars
• Motorcycles
• Motorhomes
• RVs
• Snowmobiles
• Trucks

If you plan on insuring two or more vehicles with USAA, talk to your agent to see what kind of multivehicle savings you’re eligible for.

Nationwide is a well-known and highly rated car insurance provider that’s been around for nearly a century. Nationwide has over 125 independent agents in Arkansas who are ready to help you customize your ideal policy, add your teen driver to your plan, bundle insurance, and more.

Discounts for Teens and Parents

On average, drivers under the age of 21 pay over $3,000 for car insurance annually. With Nationwide, you might be able to add your teen driver to your policy free of charge until they become a licensed driver. This perk varies from person to person, so talk to your agent to see if you qualify.

Even if you don’t qualify, you can bring those high prices down with the following discounts for teens:

• Good student discount: If you’re a full-time student, maintain a B average, and are between the age of 16 and 24, you could qualify for this discount.
• Accident forgiveness: With Nationwide, your rates could rise as much as 30 percent after an accident. Adding accident forgiveness to your plan ensures your rates will not increase after your or your teen’s first at-fault accident.
• Defensive driving class: Have your teen complete a Nationwide-approved defensive driving course, and you might be eligible for a discount.
• SmartRide: Keep an eye on your teen’s driving habits with the SmartRide program. You can track driving habits through the SmartRide or plugin device. Safer driving leads to more savings, but your rates could increase if you or your teen drive poorly.

Excellent Third-Party Ratings

Third-party ratings help customers and industry leaders get a sense of the customer service quality, financial strength, and efficiency of insurance providers regarding actions like filing claims or processing repairs. Nationwide has some of the highest ratings in these categories from the most credible third-party rating systems.

• NAIC Complaint Index score: The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) compares the number of complaints an insurance provider receives (relative to the number of claims it files) to other providers in the industry. Any score lower than one indicates that a provider receives fewer complaints than the industry standard, so the lower the score, the better. The NAIC gave Nationwide a score of 0.65, which means Nationwide receives almost half the number of complaints relative to the industry standard.
• AM Best Financial: AM Best gave Nationwide an A+ (Superior) rating, which is the highest AM Best rating. AM Best rates for creditworthiness and financial strength, important qualities for companies that need steady cash/credit flow to file claims, process repairs, and reimburse their customers.⁹
• Better Business Bureau (BBB) rating: The BBB gave Nationwide an A+ accreditation, which is the highest score it gives out. Although Nationwide has a low customer rating (1.14 out of five stars), the A+ score indicates it’s committed to resolving those complaints in a timely manner.¹⁰

Seamless Mobile Features

Nationwide has a seamless, sleek, and easy-to-use mobile app with plenty of convenient features. Here are a few actions you can take with the app:

• Access your digital ID card.
• Add or remove a driver on your policy.
• Add or replace a new vehicle.
• Change your coverage options.
• Change your due date for payments.
• Manage and change your payment options.
• Pay your bill.
• Track your car insurance claims.

The app has a modern design and is easy to navigate with its helpful menu panel. One of the best new features was being able to access our ID cards, i.e. our proof of insurance, without having to log in to our account, which makes showing insurance cards to police officers or DMV reps much simpler.

With over 91 million customers and over 100 years in business, State Farm is the largest provider on our list. In Arkansas, you can reach out to hundreds of State Farm agents across nearly 100 cities and towns. You can also benefit from some of the cheapest rates in the country, especially if you’re a safe driver.

Discounts for Safe Drivers

State Farm has a long list of discounts for several types of drivers, many of which apply to safe drivers. Safe driving discounts can be especially helpful in Arkansas, where accident rates tend to be higher and have gotten worse since 2019 (we’ll take a closer look at those numbers below). If you want to improve your driving habits, or even if you are a safe driver already, you can try one of the following State Farm discounts or programs:

• Drive Safe & Save: Drive Safe & Save is a tracking program that records your driving habits, scores you on how safely (or unsafely) you’re driving, and calculates either a premium deduction or an increase. You get a discount just for signing up, and you can earn up to 30 percent off based on your performance.
• Good driver discount: New to State Farm? You can receive a discount if you don’t have any at-fault accidents or moving violations within your first three years as a State Farm customer.
• Steer Clear driver program: Steer Clear is a safety program for drivers under the age of 25. Here’s what you need to be eligible for the 15 percent discount:
  • A valid driver’s license
  • No at-fault accidents or moving violations in the past three years
  • A certification of program completion from Steer Clear
• Defensive driving course discount: State Farm has a network of safety courses in every state. Complete one and you can earn a discount on your premium.
• Vehicle safety discount: You can qualify for this discount by equipping your vehicle with modern safety features such as electronic stability controls, forward collision warnings, and adaptive headlights.

Classic Car Coverage

State Farm is our top pick for the best classic car insurance providers in the country. Not every insurance provider offers classic car coverage because classic cars require a specialized valuation process that isn’t necessary for normal cars. Because the value of a classic car increases over time, instead of depreciating, you and your State Farm agent have to agree to a valuation for the vehicle.

State Farm employs a fair insurance payout process that takes into account any modifications you’ve made to your classic car. Because classic car owners make modifications to their vehicles often, they want to know that their insurer will cover those modifications, not just the original parts of the vehicle.

Excellent Rideshare Coverage

If you drive for a rideshare company (Uber, Lyft, etc.), you’re going to need rideshare coverage. Not all providers offer rideshare insurance, but with State Farm, you can easily integrate rideshare coverage into your plan.

Rideshare insurance fills in the gaps between your personal insurance and your Transportation Network Company (TNC) insurance. When your TNC insurance is unable to provide coverage for you, like when you’re waiting to be matched with your next passenger, your rideshare insurance will kick in. State Farm will also match coverage between your personal and rideshare policies, so you’ll have the same limits and deductibles for rideshare that you do for your personal plan.