Cheap Car Insurance in Texas for 2024

Texas is an expensive state for auto insurance with an average premium above $2,000 per year. That puts Texas ninth overall among the most expensive U.S. states.

See our overall recommendations for Best Car Insurance

Who Has The Cheapest Car Insurance in Texas?

• Texas Farm Bureau
• State Farm
• USAA
• Geico
• Allstate

We sampled information from a number of sources and developed a range of what cheap car insurance usually costs in Texas. We based these samples on a driver with at least a decade of driving experience, a clean driving record, driving America’s most popular, non-exotic vehicles.

The important thing to remember is that insurance rates can vary widely, and prices can change almost daily. This range is only a GUIDE to give you a basic idea about the rates insurance companies charge today in Texas.

DISCLAIMER: There are numerous other factors that are going to impact the cost of insurance on your car, crossover, or truck. We’ll provide info on some of those variables, but your best bet is to read our deep dive on Cheap Car Insurance for 2024 to get a better idea.

Who Has The Best Cheap Car Insurance in Texas?

• Best Large Insurance Carrier - State Farm. Among national, brand-name carriers outside of USAA, we found that State Farm provided the least expensive car insurance in the state.

• Cheapest Insurance with Bad Credit - Texas Farm Bureau. Texas is one of the states that allow insurers to charge those with poor credit more than those with a high credit rating. Bad credit will mean you pay 35% to over 100% more for car insurance that you would if you had good credit in Texas. The data we found pointed to Texas Farm Bureau as the best bet for this group.

• Cheapest Insurance with One Accident - Texas Farm Bureau. Again, Texas Farm Bureau stings you the least if, heaven forbid, you actually had to use the insurance you bought.

• Cheapest Insurance for Higher Mileage - Guess who? If you are a high-mileage driver the data we found again points to Texas Farm Bureau as the best deal. This company has over 1 million customers in Texas. Maybe they make it up in volume?

How Much Does Car Insurance Cost in Texas?

With just a small increase in the coming year, the chances are that yours will stay the same or go down unless you’ve been naughty and broken a few rules of the road in front of Sheriff Justice. If your insurance premium is headed up, this might be an ideal time to shop around.

(*) The “adjusted average” is computed by eliminating the highest and lowest values and averaging the remaining values.

(**) You may need to have or have had an association with the military to qualify for USAA.

What Causes Rates To Go Up in Texas?

Let’s start by asking, “Why is insurance expensive in Texas to begin with.” There are some factual answers. Texas is the state ranked number one for natural disasters in the modern age according to World Atlas. 2017’s Hurricane Harvey, in particular, kicked up car insurance rates in the state of Texas. Texas is also ranked number one in hail damage in most years. Everything's bigger in Texas. Even the weather.

Another unfortunately high ranking Texas can claim is drunk driving deaths. The South is the region that has the highest rate overall, and Texas ranks 11th worst among the U.S. states.

Texas also has unusually high speed limits. Whether it is an excuse or based on factual crash data, state speed limits above 65 MPH scares the pants off insurers. Speed limits of 75 MPH are common in Texas, and in some specific areas limits are as high as 85 MPH according to IIHS.

The majority of the population in Texas live in large urban metro areas. Most live in the triangle defined by Dallas-Fort Worth/Arlington in the North, San Antonio in the Southwest, and Houston in the Southeast. Austin and College Station fall within the triangle. Living in dense urban areas increases the risk to an insurer, who in turn passes that on to you in the form of higher premiums. You may in fact find that if you live in a rural part of the state, your insurance costs may be lower than average.

Of course accidents, speeding tickets, the type of car you drive, your age, and many other factors come into play with regard to your insurance costs. If you are young, have a few tickets under your belt buckle, a crash or two, and you drive a pricey luxury truck you may as well go ahead and dedicate each Monday’s earnings to your car insurer.

How Do Accidents Affect Rates in Texas?

Crashing is a big no-no when it comes to insurance costs. If you wrinkle the fenders your insurance rate is going to go up. Exactly how much is fuzzy math. Texas is one of the many states that uses a “fault” system. That means that after an accident one party will be paying more through their insurance to cover the claims. However, even if you are not the party at fault your insurance can still go up.

Here are the best estimates we could find from various sources on how much one accident will raise your policy premium in Texas.

This information is just an approximation. Many factors can change how much your insurance goes up after you have one accident. For example, if you’ve paid more in your annual insurance cost to be a part of an Accident Forgiveness program, your increase for one accident is 0%, but your overall cost of insurance is higher every year than if you hadn’t. Almost all of the insurers on our list above of cheap insurance providers, and many others, offer this option which was popularized by Allstate.

How Do Tickets Affect Rates in Texas?

Tickets are also a quick way to see your insurance rates jump. How much will vary on the type of ticket and the severity of the offense.

If you got a ticket in Texas and want to attend driving school to try to reduce your points and surcharge, it is an option. There have been major changes to the law in Texas related to the penalties for getting a speeding ticket, so we highly recommend this Car Talk story on the subject of traffic school in Texas.

Here is the data we could dig up on the percent increase range a ticket will raise your car insurance policy premium in Texas:

How Can You Get Car Insurance Discounts in Texas?

The most significant discount you can realize in Texas is to move out of the triangle. Even just being outside of the downtown area can help. Move to a rural area with low crime rates and low population density and you may save as much as $1,000 per year. But that comes with a lifestyle change many are not willing to make.

The easier way to manage your insurance costs is to avoid accidents and speeding tickets. And there is help on the way. Avoiding accidents has gotten easier in recent years as vehicles with adaptive cruise control and automatic emergency braking systems have come to market, even in affordable vehicles like the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla. Ironically, insurers don’t discount cars with those systems yet because they cost a lot to repair (so they say…)

Avoiding speeding tickets in Texas is also easier than in many states. The speed limit in Texas on a lonely state highway is as much as 35 MPH higher than in New York. And there is always Waze to help you know where “The Man” is setting up today's revenue generation station (speed trap).

We also have an entire story on the tens of thousands of discount programs available, based on memberships, military service, and other associations. Some of the more common meaningful discounts relate to low mileage driving, bundling with your home owner’s policy, and carrying high deductibles. Students take note: Many insurers will offer good students a discount. Parents take note: If your kid is at college more than 100 miles away you may see big savings.

What’s The Minimum Coverage Allowed in Texas?

If you are stopped without car insurance in Texas the first time you will be fined $350. A second time you get a much larger fine and you lose your license. Car insurance minimums are mandated by Texas state law. To drive in Texas, you must have at least $30,000 in liability coverage for each injured person, up to a total of $60,000 per accident, and $25,000 for property damage per accident. This basic coverage is called 30/60/25. Almost no homeowner with any assets will buy just the basic coverage required by law. More typical is coverage on the order of 100/300/50 plus additional insurance to cover you in the event an uninsured motorist hits you. It seems unfair, but that’s the way it works.

Nearly every state’s minimum is way too low. If you have a vehicle loan or lease, or own a home, you will find that you are required to carry higher levels of coverage to satisfy other agreements and responsibilities you have. Our focus in this story is on cheap car insurance. However, for a full list of all the coverage you may want to buy, check out the Texas Department Of Insurance’s “Insurance Made Easy” page. The site does its best, but easy isn’t the word we would choose to describe opting in or out of optional insurance coverage.