Best Car Insurance for 19-Year-Olds

According to our research, the average cost of a full coverage car insurance policy for 19-year-olds is $3,708 per year or $309 per month. These figures are significantly higher than the average for 30-year-olds with clean driving records, which sits at $1,831 per year or about $153 per month.

What Is the Cheapest Car Insurance for 19-Year-Olds?

USAA tends to be the cheapest car insurance company for 19-year-olds with average rates of about $188 per month. However, USAA plans are only available to active military, veterans and their immediate family members. When considering all types of 19-year-old drivers, Geico typically offers the cheapest average car insurance costs at about $207 per month.

Here’s a breakdown of how some of the country’s most popular car insurance providers rank when it comes to insurance premiums for 19-year-old drivers:

*Car insurance estimates are based on full coverage policies with $50,000 bodily injury liability per person and $100,000 per accident, $50,000 property damage per accident and a $500 deductible for collision and comprehensive coverage.

*All cost data for 19 year olds taken from 2022 information

Our team considers a range of factors when ranking car insurance companies, including cost, coverage options, reputation, availability and customer experience. For 19-year-old drivers, our top five picks for full coverage auto insurance policies are State Farm, USAA, Geico, Travelers and Auto-Owners.

*Ratings are determined by our editorial review team. Learn more about our scoring methodology below.

Full coverage car insurance for 19-year-olds is cheaper than the national average of $309 per month in certain states. North Carolina tops the list for cheap car insurance, with an average monthly cost of about $139 for 19-year-old drivers.

The 10 states with the cheapest average cost of car insurance for 19-year-olds include:

On the other hand, some states have average car insurance rates that are much higher than the national average for 19-year-olds. The most expensive states include:

Wherever you live, the best way to find the best rates for 19-year-old drivers is to compare car insurance quotes from multiple providers.

Even though 19-year-olds often have a couple years of experience on the road, they lack the driving history of older drivers. This, along with the fact that teen drivers are statistically more likely to get into car accidents than older drivers, is part of why car insurance for 19-year-olds is so expensive. 

Teens are considered high-risk drivers by insurers, and not without reason. According to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, 18-year-old and 19-year-old drivers were more than twice as likely to get into an accident as drivers in their 30s, 40s and 50s in 2015. Although 19-year-olds typically experience fewer accidents than 16-year-old and 17-year-old drivers, they still get into significantly more accidents than older drivers.

Insurers use a driver’s likelihood of getting into an at-fault accident when determining how much car insurance costs. Below, you can see how costs follow the rate of accidents by age group.

Finding affordable coverage for a 19-year-old driver can be a challenge, but some providers offer lower-than-average rates. The cheapest coverage for these relatively new drivers can be found from providers like State Farm, USAA, Geico, Travelers and Auto-Owners. We recommend comparing car insurance quotes from multiple providers when you shop and asking an insurance agent about any discount opportunities in order to save money on car insurance.

Our Methodology

Because consumers rely on us to provide objective and accurate information, we created a comprehensive rating system to formulate our rankings of the best car insurance companies. We collected data on dozens of auto insurance providers to grade the companies on a wide range of ranking factors. The end result was an overall rating for each provider, with the insurers that scored the most points topping the list.

Here are the factors our ratings take into account:

• Cost (30% of total score): Auto insurance rate estimates generated by Quadrant Information Services and discount opportunities were both taken into consideration.
• Coverage (30% of total score): Companies that offer a variety of choices for insurance coverage are more likely to meet consumer needs.
• Reputation (15% of total score): Our research team considered market share, ratings from industry experts and years in business when giving this score.
• Availability (10% of total score): Auto insurance companies with greater state availability and few eligibility requirements scored highest in this category.
• Customer Experience (15% of total score): This score is based on volume of complaints reported by the NAIC and customer satisfaction ratings reported by J.D. Power. We also considered the responsiveness, friendliness and helpfulness of each insurance company’s customer service team based on our own shopper analysis.

*Data accurate at time of publication.