The Best Auto Insurance for Teens in 2025

Due to their inexperience behind the wheel, teens are more likely to get into accidents than nearly any other group.² At-fault accidents raise premiums, usually by around 50 percent. Fortunately, Auto-Owners offers accident forgiveness, which means even if your teen driver does get into an accident, you won’t see your premiums rise.

Protections Before (and After) an Accident

Auto-Owners Insurance offers Accident Forgiveness as an add-on. When you purchase the benefit, Auto-Owners won’t raise your premium if your teen (or someone else on the policy) causes an accident. Drivers must have no at-fault claims or major violations for three years to qualify. It’s a good option for families with a 19-year-old driver with a clean driving record.

Of course, accidents happen — even to the safest of teen drivers. Cars involved in accidents may not be worth as much as they were prior to the crash, even after being fully repaired. Auto-Owners offers Diminished Value Coverage, which covers the difference in a vehicle’s value after an accident. It’s a good option for families who upgrade their vehicles every few years.

Save With Auto-Owners Insurance Teen Driver Discounts

In addition to low baseline rates, Auto-Owners helps families with teen drivers save with the following discounts specifically for young drivers:

1. Good Student discount: Students get a discount of up to 20 percent if they maintain at least a 3.0 GPA (B average), rank in the top 20 percent of their class, or make the dean’s list or honor roll. The driver must be a full-time high school, college, university, or vocational-technical school student. They can earn this discount until the age of 25.
2. Student Away at School discount: Students who attend school more than 100 miles away from home without a vehicle and/or keep their car at home can earn a discount.
3. Teen Driver Monitoring discount: Many families track their teens’ location by GPS, for safety and peace of mind. Auto-Owners offers a discount if a GPS device is attached to a teen’s car (or the car they use most), or if the teen has an eligible GPS-monitoring app on their smartphone.

Adding a young driver to an existing policy is one of the best ways to lower insurance costs for teens. State Farm offers some of the most affordable rates for families looking to add their teen to an existing policy. It also offers several discounts which can be applied to teen policies, including its Steer Clear and good student discount. Applying these discounts can help bring State Farm’s rates even lower.

Reasonable Rates for Teens on a Family Policy

On average, a family policy with an added teen costs $3,150 per year, or $263 per month. State Farm offers the lowest family rates of any of our top pick providers (aside from USAA, which is available only for military members and their families). Its average annual cost for a family policy with an added teen is $2,943 per year, or $245 per month. This is around $200 cheaper than the national average.

On the less positive end of the scale, Allstate offers some of the most expensive rates for teen drivers and their families.

State Farm Savings for Good Teen Drivers

State Farm offers multiple discounts for good driving habits, including a specially designed discount for teen drivers.

Additionally, in many states, State Farm gives discounts to drivers under age 21 who complete an approved driver education class.

Discounts for Students

Teen drivers with a GPA of 3.0 or higher can save up to 25 percent on auto insurance, a discount that can last until they turn 25. Homeschooled students may also qualify if they have taken certain national standardized tests within the past 12 months and ranked in the top 20 percent.

Regardless of their grades, teens attending college away from home can also save. To qualify for a student-away-from-home discount, the driver must:

• Be under the age of 25
• Attend school at least 100 miles away from home
• Use the vehicle only while at home during school vacations and holidays

With an average annual premium of $3,834 for teen drivers on their own policy, Erie has some of the most competitive rates for teen drivers. Customers also report high satisfaction with the company’s claims process and overall customer service. According to a recent J.D. Power study, Erie is the highest-ranked insurer in the Mid-Atlantic and North Central regions.³

Affordable Policies for Teens

On average, teen drivers can expect to pay $5,699 per year for their own auto insurance policy. This is an increase of around 140 percent from the average cost of full coverage premium for adult drivers. Fortunately, Erie offers some of the most affordable rates on the market for teen drivers. Its average annual rate for teens on their own policy is $3,834 per year, or $320 per month. This is almost 50 percent lower than the national average cost.

On the other end of the spectrum, Allstate has some of the highest rates for teens looking for their own policy. On average, its policies cost $6,199 per year, or $517 per month.

Erie’s Young Driver Discounts

Unlike our other best providers for teens — which offer discounts for teens with good grades — none of Erie’s young driver discounts is based on school performance. This makes it a good option for teens with lower grades. In addition to its already low-rates, Erie’s discounts help keep auto insurance for teens even more affordable.

Multiple Routes to Accident Forgiveness

Erie offers accident forgiveness to drivers who have been Erie customers for three years or more. In some states, accident forgiveness can be added to your policy without waiting three years. An agent can tell you what add-ons are available where you live.

In addition, Erie offers a unique Rate Lock feature. If you add this endorsement to your policy, Erie won’t raise your rates unless you add or remove a vehicle or driver from the policy or change your primary residence. In other words, with Rate Lock, at-fault accidents and violations like speeding tickets won’t raise rates for teen drivers or their families. Other factors, like inflation, won’t raise your premium either.

A few considerations to note:

• Rate Lock doesn’t guarantee continued coverage, meaning Erie can refuse to renew your policy after a serious violation like a DUI.
• Rate Lock is not available in all states.
• Drivers in Virginia can purchase Rate Lock for three years only.

Good Rates for Speeding Tickets

For teen drivers with a speeding ticket on their record, Erie is a good option. On average, premiums increase by about 25 percent after a ticket, but Erie’s go up only seven percent. State Farm’s increase is also well below the average, at only eight percent.

The table below shows the average percentage cost increase after a speeding ticket for each provider.

With several paths to earning a student discount, Allstate is a good option for teen drivers regardless of their report card. And the more drivers who sign up for Allstate’s Drivewise safe-driving app, the greater the discount will be. This makes a good option for families with multiple young drivers.

Save With Allstate Student Discounts

Allstate offers three routes to earning its student discount, meaning teens may not need good grades to earn a lower rate. Drivers qualify if they are unmarried, a full-time high school or college student under 25 years old, and fulfill just one of the following requirements:

• Hold a GPA of 2.7 or higher, or at least a B- average
• Complete the TeenSMART driver education program
• Attend school at least 100 miles away from where the car is garaged (and are younger than 21)

The TeenSMART driving program includes videos, simulations, and parent-teen activities that teach teens how to drive safely and avoid hazards on the road. Allstate customers receive a $50 discount on the program, resulting in a final cost of $69.95 per driver. Teens who qualify for the student discount can save around 20 percent on their premiums. TeenSMART is not available in all states.

Accident Forgiveness and Accident-Free Discount

Allstate offers an accident forgiveness coverage add-on, which ensures premiums won’t increase even if a teen driver is at fault in an accident. Unlike other providers, Allstate doesn’t require a waiting period before you can add accident forgiveness to your policy.

Additionally, for every six months without an accident, Allstate customers receive a safe driving bonus of up to 5 percent on their auto insurance bill.

Pay-Per-Mile and Usage-Based Options

The U.S. Department of Transportation reports that teens drive an average of about 7,600 miles per year. That’s roughly half as many miles as the average American adult drives each year.⁴

Teens who drive less than 8,000 miles per year can explore a pay-per-mile insurance plan to save. Allstate is one of the few major insurers to offer such a plan, called Milewise.

With Allstate’s Milewise plan, drivers pay a daily rate for insurance plus a per-mile rate. For example, let’s say you drive 10 miles per day on average:

Allstate uses a device installed in your vehicle to monitor your mileage, allowing you to keep track of your mileage and expenses through the Allstate app. If your family has multiple vehicles under the same policy, not all of them need to be enrolled in Milewise. You can individually decide whether each vehicle is classified as per mile or under a traditional unlimited mileage policy.

One thing to note is that Allstate has recently reduced the number of states where it offers Milewise, and it also no longer lists these states on its website. An agent can tell you whether the program is available where you live.

Allstate’s Drivewise option may make more sense for teens and families with higher mileage. Drivewise is an optional policy add-on, measuring behaviors like speeding, hard braking, and nighttime driving, and offers discounts for safe driving.

USAA is one of the best auto insurance options for military members and their families, especially families with teen drivers. Like State Farm and Erie, it offers some of the cheapest rates for teens, whether they are insured on a family policy or their own policy.

Low Rates for Teens

USAA offers some of the lowest rates overall for teen drivers from military families. Its average annual cost for a teen on a family policy is $1,788, the cheapest among our top picks. Teens on their own policy can expect to pay around $3,911, similar to Erie’s rates.Teens and their families can find additional savings with the following young driver-specific discounts:

• Good student discount: Drivers under age 25 who maintain a B average or higher or a minimum 3.0 GPA, rank in the upper 20 percent of their class, or make the honor roll or dean’s list qualify for a 20 percent discount.
• Driver training discount: Teens who complete a basic driver education course save on their premium.

Families should note that USAA’s good student discount is not available in North Carolina or Hawaii.

Discount for Young Drivers’ First Policy

Most teen drivers start off on their family’s policy, which is cheaper than buying a separate policy. Eventually, the young driver might want to transition off a family’s policy — maybe because they’ve moved, started a new job, or experienced another life change.

When children of USAA policyholders purchase their own auto policy, they can qualify for a 10 percent discount. To be eligible, the driver needs to have been on their parents’ or guardians’ policy for at least three years, be under 25 years old, and have a clean driving record.

Strong Digital Tools

For teens and their families looking to manage their auto insurance policies online, USAA offers strong digital tools. Its app is the highest rated of any of our providers for teens, and it achieved the number-one rating (743 out of 1,000) in the J.D. Power 2024 Digital Experience Study.⁵ This suggests users are highly satisfied with its online quote and policy management tools, as well as its app.

Auto-Owners has the lowest app rating of any of our providers, suggesting teens and their families looking to manage their policies online may be best off with USAA or another highly rated provider, like State Farm.