Cheap car insurance for 18-year-olds by state

Even a no-frills car insurance policy -- just what's needed to legally drive and the cheapest car insurance an 18-year-old can buy -- is a huge expense. Due to their inexperience behind the wheel, insurance companies deem young motorists as high-risk drivers. Though average car insurance rates by age data show that around age 24 rates begin to drop, drivers in their teens and early 20s typically pay much more than others. Here we'll outline what drivers age 18 can expect to pay for car insurance, showing average rates by state, coverage level and company. You'll also see how many hours you need to work at minimum wage to pay for a policy. And, perhaps most important, we'll explain how you can still get cheap car insurance, regardless of your age.

How much is car insurance for an 18-year-old?

The average price of a year of bare-bones coverage for an 18-year-old woman is $1,769, for men that age it's $2,030, according to a rate analysis by CarInsurance.com. Here is how much it costs for seven different coverage levels for drivers age 18, broken down by state. To see how much you can expect to pay, and to compare costs by coverage level, enter your state in the search field. You can also sort by cheapest car insurance for an 18-year-old to most expensive by clicking on the arrows next to each column header.

How many hours do you have to work to pay for a policy?

Among employed teenagers (ages 16 to 19) paid by the hour, about eight percent earned the minimum wage or less, compared with about one percent of workers age 25 and older, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

But it represents a bigger challenge in some places than in others. Young drivers in Michigan and Louisiana will work nearly four times as long as their counterparts in Hawaii and Vermont to buy liability insurance that meets their state minimum car insurance requirements, according to a CarInsurance.com analysis.

We ranked states by the number of hours needed to buy coverage, comparing their cheapest car insurance for 18-year-olds with their minimum wage.

This is as cheap as insurance gets, and there are few trade-offs available to save further. For example, by law you can’t reduce your limits below the minimum amounts. And you can’t raise your deductible. There are no deductibles on liability insurance.

Let's consider an 18-year-old working an entry-level job. The federal minimum wage as of July 1, 2019 was just $7.25 an hour, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. And teenagers pay much more than older drivers for insurance: The average price of a year of bare-bones coverage for an 18-year-old woman is $1,769, for men that age it's $2,030, according to a rate analysis by CarInsurance.com.

At those averages, a year of state minimum liability insurance would require 244 hours of work for the females, and 280 for males, on average.

Because both wages and car insurance rates swing dramatically, we looked at affordability by comparing the cost of legal-minimum auto insurance with each state’s minimum wage. Young drivers in Michigan had it worst, with 448 hours required to buy the cheapest liability policy required to drive legally. A young driver finds much cheaper insurance in Hawaii -- a year of liability insurance takes just 46 hours of work.

CarInsurance.com calculated how many hours an 18-year-old earning minimum wage in each state would have to work to buy his own state minimum car insurance policy.

How many hours an 18-year-old works at minimum wage to pay for a state-minimum liability car insurance policy

Note: Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee have no minimum wage mandate so are displayed at the federal minimum.

How young drivers can get more affordable car insurance

The cost of liability insurance, your state minimum car insurance required to drive, has more to do with the driver than the car. (The insurance company isn’t going to fix your car, just the person’s you hit.) In your search for the best cheap car insurance, these are the factors you have some control over:

• Your driving record: More than one violation or accident is going to hurt.
• Your credit: If it’s dismal, you’re seen as a bigger risk of a claim and thus charged more in many states.
• Your mileage: The less you drive, the less risk of your hitting someone.
• Your insurance history: If you’ve let your policy lapse, even for a few days, you’ll pay more for coverage.
• Your insurance company: No two insurers offer identical rates, and even on state-minimum policies, premiums can differ by hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars a year.
• Your car: If your car has a significantly higher rate of claims than most (because, say, it’s driven mostly by young drivers), your liability rates will reflect that risk.
• Your ability to qualify for discounts: You may be able to earn a good student discount, or other car insurance discount, for instance, for paying online, so be sure to research which ones you can get and ask for them.

Comparing car insurance quotes: Cheap car insurance for an 18-year-old 

Comparison shopping is one of the easiest ways to save on car insurance. Each insurance company uses different calculations to decide what you pay for coverage. That means the price for the exact same policy can differ significantly among insurers. For example, below you'll see the average rate for drivers age 18 buying a full coverage policy with a $500 deductible on comprehensive and collision. The difference between insurers with the cheapest rates and those with the highest is thousands of dollars.

Whether you're a parent or a teen, read our guide to car insurance for young drivers  and our guide to car insurance for an 18-year-old for plenty more information that can help you make the car insurance choices that are best for you.