How Much Is Car Insurance in Kentucky? (2023)

Car insurance rates are impacted by various factors, but the most impactful ones are the company you choose, your age, location, coverage level, driving history, credit score and the number of drivers on your policy. We found that drivers in their 30s through 50s will generally find the cheapest full coverage from Nationwide, averaging $790 per year. Shelter is the most expensive at $1,504 per year. That’s a difference of $714.

The average cost of car insurance in Kentucky is $1,005 per year or $84 per month for full coverage. The most important factors that can drive up your rates are the coverage amount of your policy and your driving record. The average rates that Kentucky drivers pay for full coverage with different records include:

• Clean record: $1,005 per year
• Speeding ticket: $1,208 per year
• At-fault accident: $1,530 per year
• DUI: $1,906 per year

Minimum coverage is cheaper by hundreds of dollars, averaging $477 per year for drivers with a clean record, but you won’t receive as much protection.

Kentucky has moderate car insurance rates, placing it near the national average of $1,054 per year and ranking it as the 28th cheapest insurer in our study. The state’s moderate auto insurance rates could be due to medium traffic density, lower urban population density, cheaper insurers and lower vehicle theft rates in the state. If Kentucky’s car insurance is expensive for you, it may be due to personal factors such as your age or driving history.

Average costs don’t give an accurate picture of how much you’ll pay for insurance since rates can differ significantly across companies. Cincinnati Insurance offers the cheapest car insurance in Kentucky, where a minimum coverage policy is priced at $257 per year ($821 per year for full coverage). Shelter charges the most expensive premiums at $941 per year ($1,504 per year for full coverage).

Liability-only policies are typically cheaper than full coverage policies. To get the best combination of affordability and financial protection, we recommend shopping around to find cheap full coverage insurance.

In Kentucky, the average cost of car insurance varies, ranging from $477 per year for state-minimum coverage to $1,220 for full coverage with increased liability limits. Insurance costs increase as you raise your liability limits. Adding comprehensive and collision insurance to your policy can also make your annual premiums more expensive by a few hundred dollars. Choosing a higher deductible can help to lower your rates.

Minimum coverage is often the cheapest auto insurance policy for most drivers. Minimum coverage car insurance in Kentucky doesn’t include comprehensive or collision insurance. It also has the lowest liability limits.

Typically, insurers offer other policy options with increased liability limits, shortened to 50/100/50 or 100/300/100. A policy with liability limits of 50/100/50 means you’ll receive the following coverage:

• $50,000 in bodily injury liability insurance per person
• $100,000 in bodily injury liability insurance per accident
• $50,000 in property damage liability insurance per accident

Most insurers offer a maximum liability of 300/500/300. Note that liability insurance only covers damage or injury to others and excludes damages to you or your vehicle. To receive the best financial protection, we recommend purchasing full coverage, which includes comprehensive and collision insurance.

Age is one of the key determinants of the cost of car insurance, especially for young or inexperienced drivers. These are the average full coverage car insurance costs for new drivers in Kentucky by age group:

• 22–29: $1,211 per year
• 30–59: $1,005 per year
• 60+: $957 per year

Drivers in their 20s are typically charged higher rates than middle-aged and senior drivers. Rates don’t change much from age 30 to 60. In some cases, adults over 30 who are new drivers may face expensive rates similar to drivers who are in their 20s.

Teen drivers can be expensive to insure. In Kentucky, the average full coverage auto insurance cost for a 16-year-old male on an individual plan is $6,149 per year. Joining a family plan is an affordable alternative, costing only $2,985 per year. Rates can vary among insurers and can even differ between genders, with rates for males being more expensive. It’s worth taking time to compare providers’ rates to find cheap auto insurance in Kentucky for teens. In some instances, a teen under the age of 18 may need a guardian’s permission to get insurance.

Insurance costs go down as teens age. We found that a 19-year-old male on a family plan pays an average of $2,267 per year, while a 22-year-old pays $1,790 per year for full coverage.

It costs around $1,105 per year to insure a new car in Kentucky with full coverage, while insuring an older vehicle only costs $922 per year. This is a staggering 20% difference. New cars have higher actual cash value (ACV), making them more expensive to insure. Aside from being at greater risk for theft, new cars can be very costly to repair or replace following an accident, so insurers compensate by charging higher rates.

We recommend drivers of newer cars with a higher ACV to consider purchasing full coverage auto insurance to be protected against damages to your car.

Drivers with a record of traffic offenses are typically charged higher insurance rates than those with clean driving histories. Expect to pay the following average annual premiums for full coverage in Kentucky:

• Clean record: $1,005 per year
• Speeding ticket: $1,208 per year
• At-fault accident: $1,530 per year
• DUI: $1,906 per year

The severity of the driving offense dictates how much your rate increase will be. A DUI, for instance, will bump up your insurance premium more than a speeding ticket. Comparing rates from multiple providers can help you find low-cost car insurance in Kentucky for drivers with poor records.

Your credit score can impact your car insurance premiums. On average, drivers in Kentucky with poor credit pay $1,674 per year, whereas someone with excellent credit only pays $820 per year. Below are the average costs that Kentucky drivers should expect to pay for full coverage based on credit scores:

• Excellent: $820 per year
• Good: $901 per year
• Fair: $1,139 per year
• Below fair: $1,405 per year
• Poor: $1,674 per year

Some insurers classify drivers with lower credit scores as riskier to insure and may penalize you for it by charging more expensive rates. This underscores the importance of shopping around to find the most affordable auto insurance in Kentucky for drivers with poor credit.

The city where you live in Kentucky can have a huge impact on your car insurance rates. We found that drivers in Louisville/Jefferson County pay more for full coverage at $1,281 per year compared to those in Lexington-Fayette County, who only pay $934 per year, on average. Generally, car insurance is more expensive in cities that are more densely populated or have higher car theft rates.

We help you sift through data to give you the most important things to know about average car insurance costs in Kentucky. Here are our answers to commonly asked questions.