As car insurance rates are concerned, getting older isn't a bad thing.
As drivers age, their car insurance rates typically change as well. This has to do with how insurance companies assign risk to drivers of varying ages. Insurance companies use age as a way to predict driving ability. Young drivers are thought of as riskier to insure than are drivers in their 50s, for example.
Let’s break down average car insurance rates by age — starting first with teen drivers.
If the thought of a teen behind the wheel makes you nervous, you can imagine what an insurance company — which is financially responsible for their actions — feels. On average, teens pay over three times more than the average driver, making them the most expensive age group to insure. So, if you’re a parent with a teen driver, you understand the struggle of finding affordable insurance for your young driver.
AVERAGE 6-MONTH INSURANCE PREMIUMS: TEEN ON PARENTS' PLAN
In order to really understand who has the cheapest insurance for teen drivers, our experts took sample rates from a few different companies. We discovered USAA and GEICO were the cheapest insurance companies for a teen driver, with all other metrics constant.
AVERAGE COST OF CAR INSURANCE FOR A 17-YEAR-OLD
| Average 6-Month Premium | |
| Allstate | $3,483 |
| Farmers | $3,595 |
| GEICO | $1,743 |
| Liberty Mutual | $3,439 |
| Nationwide | $2,309 |
| Progressive | $4,255 |
| State Farm | $1,793 |
| USAA | $1,527 |
Keep in mind, this data is reflective of one type of profile in a location that may not represent you. Use this data as a starting point when shopping for car insurance.
Follow our lead and compare insurance rates here.
There’s no quick and easy way to half your insurance premium if you have a teen. Still, in addition to looking at as many companies as possible, we have some other solutions in mind.
Learn more about popular car insurance discounts here.
Telematics are in-car devices that monitor the way your teen drives in order to develop a more comprehensive car insurance premium. If your teen is an especially careful driver, their age can still hurt them based on the historical data. But with a telematics-based insurance plan, you might be able to save some money.
Company | Estimated Savings |
Progressive SnapShot | Average of $130 |
Allstate Drivewise | Average of 10-25% |
State Farm Drive Safe & Save | Up to 15% |
Esurance DriveSense | Varies |
Nationwide SmartRide | Up to 40% |
Liberty Mutual RightTrack | Average of 5-30% |
GEICO DriveEasy | Varies |
While your teen son or daughter may want that brand new ride, it’s not a good idea for your insurance premium. Vehicles with high MSRP driven by an inexperienced driver are major red flags to your insurance company. And they’ll almost always offset their fears of major property damage and bodily injury payouts with a higher premium. If you want to help keep that premium as low as possible, keep your teen driving an older sedan or car and reserve the fancy new car for yourself.
While this isn't mind-boggling advice, avoiding accidents as a young driver is probably the most important thing you can do to keep your rates low. Not only do insurance companies charge quite a bit for accidents, but they stay on your driving record for three years. On average, an at-fault accident raises premiums by $384 every six months. And, as with most claims, most insurance companies charge following an accident for up to three years, stretching that $384 per six months to over $2,300 in total. If you’re already paying a lot more to insure a young driver, you don’t want to factor in an accident. Drive safe and pay less.
AVERAGE PREMIUM INCREASE AFTER AT-FAULT ACCIDENT
| Premium Increase | |
| Increase at six months | $384 |
| Increase at 12 months | $767 |
| Increase at three years | $2,301 |
Insurance companies see students with good grades (3.0 or above GPA) as less likely to take risks when it comes to driving. Because of this, they offer some pretty decent discounts for students. On average, your teen could save $207 per year on auto insurance!
AVERAGE SAVINGS FOR GOOD STUDENT AND GOOD DRIVER DISCOUNT
| Gender | Average Annual Savings |
| Teen | $283 |
| Male Teen | $360 |
| Female Teen | $207 |
For more information on car insurance for students, see our guide here.
Moving into your 20s is a big life change as far as insurance is concerned. By turning 20, you could save an average of 20% on your car insurance. That’s because you’ve got a few more years of driving and life experience under your belt — all of which makes you a cheaper client to insure, which is good for the insurance companies. Still, there are some tricks of the trade to learn about your 20s in the world of insurance.
AVERAGE INSURANCE PREMIUMS FOR DRIVERS IN THEIR 20S
It’s hard to pick one company that will give everyone the cheapest rate. People are too different and insurance is often too specific. But, we still want to deliver a starting point when you’re shopping around for car insurance. We compared eight popular insurers, using a standard user profile to determine which company offered the cheapest car insurance rates.
CHEAPEST CAR INSURANCE FOR 25-YEAR-OLDS
| Average 6-month premium | |
| Allstate | $1,117 |
| Farmers | $919 |
| GEICO | $680 |
| Liberty Mutual | $888 |
| Nationwide | $794 |
| Progressive | $885 |
| State Farm | $726 |
| USAA | $605 |
Consider this data as the first step to shopping for car insurance and be sure to compare rates to find the best policy for you.
Your 20s offer unique opportunities to both add to your insurance portfolio and save money. Turning 25, getting married, or adding renters or home insurance can have major impacts on your insurance profile.
Continue best practices from your teen years:
Keeping all your insurable interests within one insurer can not only make things easier but can reduce your rates (for auto and whatever insurance type you bundle it with). For your auto rate, you can lower your costs by between $79 and $149 per year by bundling with renters or homeowners, respectively.
| Average 6-Month Premium | |
| Renter | $774 |
| Condo owner | $757 |
| Homeowner | $757 |
| Renter with multi-policy | $734 |
| Condo owner with multi-policy | $692 |
| Homeowner with multi-policy | $683 |
Learn more about bundling homeowners and auto insurance.
Unlike fine wine, a vehicle does not grow in value over time but depreciates. So, if you’re driving a paid-off vehicle that isn’t worth very much, the insurance coverage you initially had might not be necessary. Namely, you may be able to forgo full coverage and stick with maintaining liability coverage. Here’s a quick how-to for determining if you still need comprehensive and collision coverage.
See our guides on deductibles:
Car insurance can work as a double-edged sword — the more you use it, the more expensive it will become. If you're considering filing a collision claim after an at-fault car accident for your vehicle, consider our advice.
For more information regarding claims and how they affect your car insurance, see our guide here.
Living with a roommate is a pretty common situation for people in their twenties. While your insurance company understands that you might be living with other people, they do have some stipulations regarding the sharing of vehicles. It’s important to follow these rules and understand what you are and are not covered for.
If your roommate is not on your policy, they can't use your vehicle.
Because you share a residence with your roommate, insurance companies either want your roommate to be a rated (chargeable) driver or be excluded altogether — pretty straightforward.
Your 20s bring about big changes — and those are reflected on your insurance profile. For more specific information regarding this period, see our additional resources below.
Your 30s are a general continuation of your late 20s; you’re settling down, buying a home, and adding vehicles to your car insurance policy. There isn’t a huge difference in your premiums as you age in your 30s — only about 0.5% in savings every year. Unlike the changes you experience in your teens and twenties, the reason for this lack of change is because the driving habits of a 32-year-old aren’t that much different than that of a 34-year-old. So if you’re expecting to save in your 30s, you’ll have to do a bit more work to chip away at your rates.
Continue best practices from your 20s:
While you don’t save much as you age in your 30s, you do see some savings immediately entering your 30s — about 30% less than the average 20-something driver. So, take some comfort that while you might not want to turn 30, you should see some insurance savings.
AVERAGE 6-MONTH PREMIUMS — DRIVERS AGED 30-39
| Average 6-month premium | |
| 30 | $776 |
| 31 | $774 |
| 32 | $773 |
| 33 | $770 |
| 34 | $770 |
| 35 | $760 |
| 36 | $760 |
| 37 | $759 |
| 38 | $757 |
| 39 | $757 |
It’s difficult to give company-specific information for 30-year-olds because there’s too much variance in the average profile. Some 30-year-olds may be married and homeowners — which greatly affects your premium — while others rent and live alone. So, in order to get the best auto insurance rate possible that fits your driving profile, you should shop around to get car insurance quotes from as many insurers as possible.
There are a couple of key ways your premium changes during this time — all of which can bump up your premium. Still, older drivers should maintain what was discussed in previous sections.
Still, we wanted to offer something new for this time of your life. In order to navigate this costly time, we decided to create a family profile. Here’s what we found.
AVERAGE 6-MONTH PREMIUM FOR MARRIED COUPLES
| Average 6-month premium | |
| Allstate | $962 |
| Farmers | $748 |
| GEICO | $576 |
| Liberty Mutual | $840 |
| Nationwide | $668 |
| Progressive | $706 |
| State Farm | $647 |
| USAA | $480 |
This information pertains to life without younger drivers. As you can see, your 50s aren't so bad in the world of insurance. If you’re married and own a home, you can expect your six-month average rate to be about $703 across the companies we surveyed. USAA was the cheapest with GEICO in a close second. Next, we added the teen drivers to the picture: one male and one female driver, age 17.
AVERAGE 6-MONTH PREMIUM FOR FAMILIES
| Average 6-month premium | |
| Allstate | $1,698 |
| Farmers | $1,535 |
| GEICO | $1,315 |
| Liberty Mutual | $1,313 |
| Nationwide | $1,073 |
| Progressive | $1,574 |
| State Farm | $1,260 |
| USAA | $866 |
On average, adding teen drivers to your policy increases your premium by over $1,300 per year.
The big thing during this time, and even into your 60s, is learning how to save with young drivers (kids) on your policy. As we stated previously, young drivers are seen as risk-takers to car insurance companies. They’re more likely to get into accidents, receive DUIs and other citations, and file claims. So, insurance companies protect themselves by charging higher rates. What this means to you is that you need to be a little craftier when it comes to auto insurance.
Tenn drivers have a reputation of being high-risk drivers; they typically get into more accidents and receive citations that affect their driving histories — which would affect everyone on the policy's rate. This is why some brokers recommend having teens get their own policy. However, this is actually a bad idea for a couple of reasons. First, having responsible motorists on a policy help mediate the risk posed by the less experienced drivers. The amount of premium your teen costs alone would be much higher than if they were on your policy. Most teens aren’t able to pay over $5,000 a year — the average cost in 2020 if they're alone — so that will most likely fall on you. Simply put, it’s cheaper to keep them on your policy.
Next, lots of insurers won’t allow you to have two separate policies within the same household. From their perspective, it’s too likely for vehicles to be shared and so they prefer that every eligible driver be covered (i.e. charged).
If your young driver is in college over 100 miles away from your residence, your insurance company might give you what’s called a Student Away From Home Discount. Basically, your premium is lowered based on what your insurance company sees as a lowered risk for your young driver not using the vehicle as much while they're away at school.
The 60s can be a decade of flux for insurance consumers. Many people retire, sell their homes to downsize, boot their younger drivers from their policy, and invest in additional forms of insurance. Because of this, you probably need some guidance on how to maneuver your insurance policy to maximize your savings and keep your premiums low.
Although your policy changes as you age, the key ideas for saving on auto insurance remain the same. So, continue with our earlier expressed ideas:
If you have children, this might be the time you’re wondering what to do about their insurance. Can you keep them on your policy? Should you remove them? Let’s explore.
If you own the vehicle but your child drives it at their residence, you can be listed as an additional interest for the vehicle. This means that while your daughter or son is the primary user of the vehicle, you still have an invested interest in it. Generally, insurance companies don't care who pays the premium; if your son or daughter doesn't live with you and thus can't be on your policy, but you'd still like to pay their premium, speak to an insurance agent at their company.
While all of this seems like a lot of information, we have even more tips for navigating the insurance world at 60! See our articles below:
