The cost of car insurance in Texas is on the rise. Managing those higher costs can be challenging, particularly if you live in high-cost areas like Dallas or Austin.
Comparing car insurance quotes from multiple insurers is one way to keep your costs as low as possible. Below is an overview of which companies offer the most affordable insurance in Texas for different coverage levels and driver qualifications. Yahoo Finance compiled the cheapest Texas car insurance rates using data from Trellis, an insurance technology company that operates the auto insurance marketplace Savvy.
Learn more: How does car insurance work? The basics explained.
In this article:
Texas drivers must maintain minimum levels of bodily injury and property damage liability insurance. Full coverage car insurance goes beyond these minimum requirements to include comprehensive insurance and collision insurance. Comprehensive and collision pay for damage to your car in different scenarios, after you contribute a deductible.
The providers in the table below have some of the lowest average full coverage rates in Texas.
Learn more: What is full coverage car insurance?
Texas requires all drivers to have $30,000 in bodily injury liability per person, $60,000 in bodily injury liability per accident, and $25,000 in property damage liability per accident. A valid liability-only policy in the state covers these minimums.
Insurance companies offering some of the lowest-priced liability-only plans are listed below. Because comprehensive and collision insurance are not included, the rates are lower than full coverage plans.
Learn more: What is liability insurance and how much do you need?
Teen drivers are expensive to insure because they are higher risk. This issue is particularly severe in Texas, which leads the country in fatalities resulting from teen crashes.
You will pay more when you add a teen to your auto insurance policy, but selecting the right insurance company can help keep the cost more manageable. Start your search with these lowest-cost providers.
Learn more: How to get the most affordable car insurance for your teen driver
Texas drivers in their 50s, 60s, and early 70s often pay less for car insurance than younger drivers — but that’s no reason not to shop around. Securing the most competitive car insurance rates could free up cash for bucket list items or help support a fixed-income budget.
The table below outlines which providers offer some of the cheapest car insurance for senior drivers in Texas.
Learn more: Car insurance for seniors: How to get the best rates
Having a clean driving record is one of the best ways to lock in cheaper auto insurance rates in Texas and around the country. However, insurance companies have their own methodologies for setting rates, and some value a good driving history more than others.
The companies below offer some of the most competitive premiums for drivers with no accidents or moving violations in Texas.
A single accident can push your insurance rates higher if you don’t have accident forgiveness protection on your policy. The table below shows average rates by provider for Texas drivers with one at-fault accident.
Learn more: How much does car insurance increase after an accident?
One speeding ticket can brand you as a higher-risk driver, especially in Texas. In 2024, speed was the top contributing factor in crashes in the Lone Star state. That implies a higher claim risk, which prompts insurance companies to charge more.
The table below shows some of the cheapest average monthly premiums for Texas drivers with one speeding ticket.
Learn more: How does a speeding ticket impact your car insurance?
Insurance companies use a range of factors to set car insurance rates in Texas. Some factors are personal to you and others are not. The personal factors include:
Driving record. Fewer accidents and tickets contribute to lower rates.
Claims history. Fewer and lower-cost claims also keep rates lower.
Where you live and keep your car. Urban addresses can be higher risk than rural ones. Accident and theft rates are higher in cities.
How much you drive. Several insurance companies charge less when you drive less and vice versa.
Using your vehicle for business. It often costs more to insure a commuter car or a car you use for business.
Age. Teen drivers and drivers older than 75 are often more expensive to insure.
Gender. Some data suggests men pay more for car insurance, but this varies by insurance company.
Marital status. Married drivers can be viewed as lower risk because they tend to have more stable lifestyles.
Occupation. Educators, medical professionals, and first responders can pay less for car insurance if insurers offer discounts or specialized programs.
Vehicle type. Electronic vehicles are generally more expensive to insure.
Credit-based auto insurance score. A lower credit score can lead to higher auto insurance rates. Texas prohibits an insurance company from denying coverage solely based on your credit score, but credit can be considered as a contributing factor.
Any trend or factor that raises costs for the insurance company may lead to higher premiums statewide. Examples include:
Higher repair costs
Riskier driving or higher accident occurrence
More extreme weather patterns that increase the severity and frequency of car damage
More expensive reinsurance, which is how insurance companies insure themselves
Texas car insurance rates are not the highest or the lowest in the country, but there are some auto insurance regulations that affect what drivers pay. These include the following:
Texas is an at-fault state. This means you are financially responsible for injuries and property damage that arise from accidents you cause. Liability insurance helps you manage that responsibility.
Texas insurance companies must offer you PIP insurance. PIP, or personal injury protection, protects you and your passengers from injury-related costs resulting from a car accident, no matter who caused it. If you don’t want this coverage, you must decline it in writing.
Insurance companies can raise rates before the state approves the increase. Texas insurance companies must submit rate increases to the state for approval. However, the state allows insurers to implement the new rates right away, and the state’s review follows.
Texas regulators monitor paid claims vs. collected premiums to help ensure fair and reasonable rates. Paid claims as a percentage of collected premiums is an insurance metric called loss ratio. A high loss ratio is not sustainable and may signal financial distress or future rate increases. A low loss ratio may indicate the insurer is charging too much.
To get the cheapest car insurance in Texas, maintain a good driving record so you can compare rates from the lowest-cost providers. A clean driving history helps ensure that the companies offering the best rates will not deny you coverage.
You can also implement other cost-saving strategies, such as:
Longer-term, you can also opt for a larger, safer vehicle the next time you are ready to buy a new or used car.
Tim Manni edited this article.
Unless stated otherwise, the estimates above are generated by Trellis’ in-house machine learning models based on over 3 million data points, and include more than 15 of the largest insurance companies in Trellis’ nationwide data set. This includes data from more than 2 million insurance accounts connected through Trellis Connect, an in-house technology allowing consumers to “link” their insurance accounts before searching for insurance, and tens of thousands of policies bound by Trellis’ own agents. It takes into account a myriad of factors to create predictions, such as:
Policyholder age
Number of vehicles
ZIP code
Vehicle age
Insurer
…and more
Trellis creates estimates by running models against multiple inputs to the parameters of interest. For instance, the “teen driver” estimates were created by adjusting the policyholder age input into the pricing model while keeping all other variables steady from the baseline for “full coverage.” The models enable hyper-personalized estimates that take into account a plethora of user attribute permutations (e.g., teen drivers in specific states, teen drivers with new vehicles, teen drivers in specific states with new vehicles) to provide individuals with a unique and tailored experience. The charts above are a subset of the kinds of personalization Trellis can do.
The following are definitions used by Trellis when providing its rate estimates for various types of coverage:
Full coverage car insurance: A policy with comprehensive, collision, and liability coverage.
Average policyholder: A 48-year-old driver who owns a 13-year-old vehicle and lives in an average-income ZIP code
Senior driver: A 70-year-old policyholder with full coverage car insurance
Good driver: Drivers across all coverage types, vehicle types, and locations who have no tickets, accidents or DUIs