How to Save on Car Insurance for Students

Travelers, Nationwide, and State Auto offer the lowest overall average car insurance rates for college students. For added savings, good students may qualify for discounts up to 25% with these and other top providers.

Most insurance companies offer good student discounts

Most insurance companies offer discounts to full-time high school or college students who meet certain academic requirements. In most cases, you’ll need to maintain at least a B average or a 3.0 GPA.

Need to know:To qualify, you’ll typically need to send in a copy of your school transcript or most recent report card. If you’re homeschooled, you may be able to earn a good student discount by scoring in the upper 20% of a national standardized test like the PSAT, SAT, or ACT.

Here’s what good students can expect to save with some of the nation’s biggest insurers:

You may qualify for other student-related discounts

In addition to a good student discount, you may also be able to qualify for one of the following:

• Student away at school: If you go to school at least 100 miles away from home and you don’t take your car to school, your parents may be able to apply a student-away-at-school discount, saving them for the months you’re away.
• Student affiliation discount: Students and alumni of some colleges and organizations (like fraternities, sororities, and honors groups) receive discounts for their affiliation if they have a policy under their own name.

Best car insurance companies for students

Because young drivers have less experience behind the wheel, they’re considered to be at high risk of getting into accidents. As a result, providers typically charge higher-than-average car insurance rates to drivers who are under the age of 25.

But that doesn’t mean you’ll be stuck paying sky-high prices—some companies tend to offer young drivers better rates than others, which is why it’s so important to shop around before you buy a policy.

Here’s what drivers under 25 pay on average each month with some of the nation’s top insurance providers:

Note that these are just average rates, and they may not reflect what you’ll pay for your own auto insurance policy. Auto insurance rates vary depending on many factors, including your location, vehicle, driving record, and—in some states—credit score.

How to find cheap car insurance for college students

1. Stay on your parent’s policy if possible

According to the Insurance Information Institute (III), adding a teen driver to a parent’s policy can raise rates by 50 – 100%¹. But that’s still usually cheaper than shouldering the cost of your own car insurance policy, especially if your parents are getting a multi-car discount for having you on their plan.

Here are the average monthly premiums for drivers between the ages of 18 and 22 who purchased their own policy. We’ve also included the average cost of drivers aged 45 to 55—you can see their experience on the road helps keep insurance costs low, which is why it can be helpful to remain on your parents’ policies longer.

Not sure if you should stay on your parent’s car insurance policy or get your own?
You may be able to stay on your parents if… you still use their home as your permanent address, especially if your vehicle is titled in their name (or you share the title jointly).
You may need to take out your own policy if… you live at school (on- or off-campus) or your vehicle is titled only in your name.

2. Comparison shop

Whether you’re sharing a policy or buying your own, the best way to be sure you’re getting the best price on your insurance is to compare car insurance quotes from several different companies.

Insurers set prices based on a variety of factors, including your age, where you live, what you drive, and what your driving history looks like. But they don’t all calculate rates the same way—some auto insurance companies offer lower rates to younger drivers, while others are more forgiving of minor violations like speeding tickets.

3. Take advantage of multiple discounts

Your insurance company may offer more ways to save than just good student discounts—and if you can stack several discounts together, the savings on your auto policy could be substantial. Here are a few additional discounts to check for:

• Driver education: Taking a driver training course as a teen may help you qualify for car insurance discounts.
• Usage-based: Many insurance companies offer discounts if you track your driving with a device or mobile app—as long as you maintain safe driving habits during your tracking period.
• Good driver discount: Practice safe driving habits to avoid accidents or tickets, and your clean driving record could score savings on your car insurance premium.
• Bundling: If you have more than one policy—like homeowners or renters insurance—you can combine them with your car insurance policy to save on each.

4. Choose a safe car

Choosing a safe, practical car can help you keep your insurance rates low. Compact SUVs and crossovers tend to be the cheapest vehicles to insure, but mid-size cars and trucks are also fairly reasonable.

And while pre-owned vehicles are usually the cheapest options, newer cars with advanced safety features may also help you save on insurance. Indeed, overall safety is one of the biggest contributors to low-cost insurance for any car.

Avoid luxury cars, sports cars, vehicles with upgraded trims, and heavy SUVs or trucks, as these tend to be more expensive to insure. Though they may have added safety features, they’ll also be more expensive to repair or replace, driving up insurance costs.

Our experts wanted to understand which vehicles are the cheapest for college students to insure, so they analyzed thousands of car insurance policies purchased by Jerry customers to see what real drivers are paying each month based on the cars they drive. They found that on average, these are some of the cheapest vehicles to insure for drivers between the ages of 18 and 25:

The best car insurance coverage for students

In 2021, drivers who were between 16 and 24 made up around 11% of all drivers, but they were responsible for 22.8% of all vehicle crashes². Because you’re at an increased risk of getting into an accident between these ages, it’s important to choose the right insurance coverage.

Consider these coverage options when you’re shopping for the right car insurance policy as a student:

• Increase your liability limits: Young drivers are statistically more likely to cause an accident than more experienced drivers³. If you cause an accident, your liability insurance will help pay for vehicle repairs and medical expenses for the other people involved—but if your insurance doesn’t cover all of the damages, they could sue you for the rest. Raising your liability limits could help protect any current assets as well as your future earnings.
• Add comprehensive coverage if you park your car at school: Comprehensive coverage will help pay for repairs due to theft, vandalism, falling objects, severe weather, and other damage not related to a car accident.
• Add collision if you drive on campus: Narrow roads and students rushing to class can be a perfect formula for a fender-bender. Protect yourself with collision coverage, which will pay for damage due to an accident, regardless of who was at fault.
• Consider skipping full coverage if you drive a car that’s more than 10 years old: Comprehensive and collision (often called full coverage) are valuable if you have a newer car, but if your car is more than ten years old and worth only a few thousand dollars, you may be paying for more coverage than you actually need. It may be worth skipping it.

Bottom line: You’ll almost always be best protected by raising your liability limits above the minimum coverage required by your state, and full coverage is usually a worthwhile investment. Also consider adding optional coverages like rental reimbursement, uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM/UIM), and roadside assistance to your policy if you can afford it.

Sources

1. https://www.iii.org/article/students ↩︎
2. https://injuryfacts.nsc.org/motor-vehicle/overview/age-of-driver/ ↩︎
3. https://www.cdc.gov/transportationsafety/teen_drivers/index.htm ↩︎

MEET OUR EXPERTS

Amy Bobinger

Expert insurance writer and editor Amy Bobinger specializes in car repair, car maintenance, and car insurance. Amy is passionate about creating content that helps consumers navigate challenges related to car ownership and achieve financial success in areas relating to cars. Amy has over 10 years of writing and editing experience. After several years as a freelance writer, Amy spent four years as an editing fellow at WikiHow, where she co-authored over 600 articles on topics including car maintenance and home ownership. Since joining Jerry’s editorial team in 2022, Amy has edited over 2,500 articles on car insurance, state driving laws, and car repair and maintenance.

Sarah Gray

Sarah Gray is an insurance writer with nearly a decade of experience in publishing and writing. Sarah specializes in writing articles that educate car owners and buyers on the full scope of car ownership—from shopping for and buying a new car to scrapping one that’s breathed its last and everything in between. Sarah has authored over 1,500 articles for Jerry on topics ranging from first-time buyer programs to how to get a salvage title for a totaled car. Prior to joining Jerry, Sarah was a full-time professor of English literature and composition with multiple academic writing publications.