The Best Auto Insurance in North Carolina

State Farm’s average annual rate is $1,419, which makes it the third-cheapest provider among the top 10 largest providers in the country. You can expect these rates to be cheaper in North Carolina, where car insurance rates are 28 percent lower than the national average.³ Whether you’re a young driver, a homeowner, a low-mileage driver, a rideshare driver or something else, State Farm will probably have a discount or coverage option for you.

Improve Your Rates and Driving Habits

State Farm’s Drive Safe and Save behavior-based driving program can help you save on car insurance regardless of your age, driving history, credit score or other factors that impact premiums. You get a discount just for signing up for the program, and you can earn up to 30 percent off your premiums by completing the program.

Here’s how it works:

1. Download the app in the App Store or on Google Play or by texting “SAVE” to 42407.
2. Follow the app’s step-by-step instructions.
3. Complete the setup after State Farm sends you a Bluetooth beacon.

The app will record your driving habits and calculate your driving score every six months. To get a good score, make sure you’re not accelerating or speeding, slamming your brakes or turning too sharply. Additionally, the app will track how many miles you drive. State Farm recommends driving fewer than 7,500 for personal usage to receive a low-mileage discount.

Stay Protected While Ridesharing

If you drive for a rideshare service, such as Uber or Lyft, you’ll need additional rideshare coverage to stay protected for every portion of your drive.

Rideshare companies provide insurance only after you’ve accepted a ride or while you’re transporting a passenger and your personal insurance won’t cover you because you’re technically working. So, if you get into an accident while your rideshare app is on and you’re waiting for a request or driving to pick up a passenger, you might have to pay for the damages or injuries without help from a provider. Rideshare insurance will fill that coverage gap so you’re protected during every segment of your drive.

Affordable Insurance for Young Drivers

State Farm’s Steer Clear safety program is a great opportunity for young drivers to improve their driving habits and save on car insurance in the process. All you have to do is speak to your agent, download the app and complete all the program requirements within six months. The Steer Clear program is broken down into four parts:

1. Course training: The training aspect of the program consists of five online learning modules that include lessons, videos, quizzes and driving scenarios.
2. Driving practice: The app has to track you for at least five hours of driving practice across 10 separate trips.
3. Mentor log: Family or friends can help instruct you and provide feedback through the mentor log.
4. Certification: When you’ve completed the program, send your certificate to your agent and allow them to integrate your savings. You can save up to 20 percent off your premium by completing the program.

In North Carolina, like in most states, young drivers tend to pay more for premiums because they’re likely to get into more accidents and receive more traffic violations on average. Here’s how teen drivers compare to the rest of the state concerning motor vehicle accidents in 2020. Keep in mind that teens make up about 2 percent of all drivers in North Carolina (226,448 teen drivers out of 12.19 million drivers total), so the crash rates for teens are much higher than other age groups.

With more than 100,000 active duty military members/military families and nearly 750,000 veterans, North Carolina is home to the fifth-largest military population in the country.⁶ If you are part of the North Carolina military community, consider USAA for auto insurance. USAA offers some of the most competitive rates in the auto insurance industry and ranks the highest on several third-party rating systems, including J.D. Power and AM Best.

Store and Save With USAA

If you’re deployed overseas or in a different state, you can keep your vehicle in North Carolina and save with a USAA storage discount. Here are the three main saving opportunities USAA offers for deployed military members.

International Availability

Although deployed military members don’t have the luxury of bringing their families overseas with them, military members stationed overseas can get approval for their families to join them.⁷ If you and your family are stationed in one of the below international locations, transferring your insurance will be simple and seamless with USAA.

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

Excellent Third-Party Ratings

Third-party rating systems ensure auto insurance providers are managing their finances in a competent manner and upholding their service standards. USAA is consistently ranked among the best in the auto insurance industry for customer service, financial security, claims satisfaction and more:

• AM Best rating: AM Best, which rates the financial security of insurance companies, awarded USAA an A++ (Superior) rating. An A++ rating is the highest-possible AM Best score.
• Standard & Poor’s (S&P): S&P assesses auto insurance risk levels. It gave USAA a rating of AA+, which is the second-highest rating.⁸ This is a good indication that USAA will repay its debts with little risk of default.
• J.D. Power U.S. Auto Insurance Study: J.D. Power scores auto insurance providers by customer satisfaction. In 2022, It gave USAA an 890 out of 1,000 for customer claims satisfaction, which outranks every insurance company on our list, making it a top 10 provider in the U.S.

If you’re a new driver, a teen driver or someone with a history of accidents, it might be difficult for you to find car insurance at an affordable rate. In some cases, auto insurance providers aren’t even willing to insure you as a high-risk driver because of the financial risk it would entail. Direct Auto helps fill this gap by offering specialized car insurance catered to high-risk drivers, with 30 offices in North Carolina.

Tailored for High-Risk Drivers

North Carolina ranks average or slightly below average on several categories that car insurance providers consider when assessing your risk level as a driver. Below, we’ll look at some of the most common background categories car insurance providers leverage to determine your rates and eligibility.

Insurance providers may also consider you a high-risk driver if you fall into one of the following categories:

• Haven’t had coverage in the past six months
• Received your license recently
• Drive an expensive vehicle
• Teen driver
• Have a history of claims and/or a bad driving record

Direct Auto will not only insure you if you’re a high-risk driver, but it can bring your car insurance costs down with sizable discounts and a dedicated team to walk you through the process.

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 20 and 25 percent in multiple categories, which is more than most large providers offer. Here are a few of its largest discounts:

Several Coverage Options

In North Carolina, you need minimum liability (bodily injury and property damage coverage) as well as uninsured motorist coverage to drive legally. However, to be safe on the road, you will often need more than the minimum requirements. With Direct Auto, you can extend your limits and integrate several add-ons and other insurance types into your plan. Here’s what Direct Auto offers if you’re looking to bundle and add additional coverage:

• Collision coverage: Collision coverage pays for damages if your vehicle is on the receiving end of another vehicle, object or hit-and-run accident.
• Comprehensive coverage: Often referred to as “other-than-collision coverage,” comprehensive insurance helps pay for damages outside of collisions. This might include theft, vandalism, fires, weather damage, accidents with animals (like deer), damage from rocks being picked up on the road and other noncollision damages.

• Medical payments coverage: MedPay will help pay for some medical, hospital and funeral expenses, regardless of who’s at fault in an accident. MedPay will follow you, so you get the coverage whether you’re driving, sitting as a passenger in a friend’s car, on a walk or on public transportation in and outside of North Carolina.
• Roadside assistance: Direct Auto’s roadside assistance offers 24-hour coverage for car breakdowns, towing services, flat tires, essential auto fluid deliveries and other roadside emergency-related incidents.
• Rental reimbursement: If you get into a covered accident, Direct Auto will reimburse you for some of the rental costs while your car is in the shop.

Allstate is the fourth-largest auto insurance provider in the country and the sixth-largest in North Carolina. On top of being one of the oldest and most recognizable providers in the country, Allstate offers one of the most sizable bundling discounts for homeowners. A high claims satisfaction score, seamless mobile app features and a wide range of coverage options put Allstate in our top picks for North Carolinians.

Big Savings for Homeowners

If you’re a homeowner, you can benefit from the highest home bundling discount on our list: up to 25 percent. Bundling makes it easier to manage your various policies from the same Allstate account and the deal applies to renters insurance and condo owners, as well. Here are all the ways you can bundle with Allstate:

• Motorcycle and renters insurance
• Life and auto insurance
• Home and auto insurance
• Renters and auto insurance

Several Mobile App Features

Access customer service support and several seamless features with Allstate’s mobile app. It took us only a few minutes to download the app and create our account. From the dashboard, we could easily view our policy, pay bills and upload a digital ID. Here’s what else we could do with the Allstate app:

• QuickFoto Claim: Upload photos of damages so you can file claims through the app directly.
• Drivewise: Allstate’s Drivewise program tracks your driving, provides key driving insights and rewards you for exhibiting safe habits on the road. On top of that, it comes with Crash Detections features, which can send for help if you’re in a crash. Drivewise is a separate app for iOS users; however, it’s part of the Allstate Android app.
• Roadside assistance: Have a problem on the road? You can request roadside assistance through the app. Allstate’s roadside assistance service is available to anyone, not just Allstate insurance customers.

The app has a 4.8 out of five-star rating on the App Store and a 3.9 on the Google Play store.

Robust Discounts

Wondering how else you can save on your car insurance? Take a look at Allstate’s robust set of discounts and talk to your agent about what other savings you might qualify for:

• Safe driver discount: Complete a defensive driving course and stay accident-free for six months and you could be eligible for this discount.
• Vehicle equipment discount: You can earn this discount by installing or already having safety features in your vehicle, such as antilock brakes or adaptive headlights.
• New-car discount: If you’re the first owner of a new vehicle and your car is either the current-year model or the last-year model, you could qualify for this discount.
• Smart student discount: Are you a student or a parent of a student? You can bring your premiums down in the following ways:
  • Maintain a B average or a GPA of 2.7 or above.
  • Store your vehicle 100 miles away from where you attend school.
  • Complete the teenSMART driver education program.
• FullPay discount: You can save on your premium if you pay your policy in full or have made all your payments on time for the past year.