Cheapest Car Insurance in Maryland for 2026

GEICO is the cheapest car insurance company in Maryland at $50 a month for minimum coverage and $87 a month for full coverage. For teen drivers, Erie Insurance is cheapest starting at $423 a month for a 16-year-old.

Written by Mark Fitzpatrick

Updated: August 25, 2026

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GEICO is the cheapest car insurance company in Maryland at $50 a month for minimum coverage and $87 a month for full coverage. It holds the lowest rate after violations too. Maryland's surcharge structure penalizes at-fault accidents more than DUIs. GEICO charges $137 after an at-fault accident and $107 after a DUI. For teen drivers, Erie Insurance is cheapest at $423 a month for a 16-year-old. For poor credit, Nationwide is cheapest at $196 a month.

Teen coverage in Maryland involves three company changes between 16 and 25. To compare every company on service and coverage, see the best car insurance in Maryland.


Minimum Coverage	GEICO	$50	4.43/5
Full Coverage	GEICO	$87	4.43/5
16-Year-Old Male	Erie Insurance	$434	4.56/5
16-Year-Old Female	Erie Insurance	$423	4.56/5
Young Adults	GEICO	$114	4.43/5
Seniors (70+)	GEICO	$90	4.43/5
Speeding ticket	GEICO	$102	4.43/5
At-fault accident	GEICO	$137	4.43/5
DUI	GEICO	$107	4.43/5
Bad credit	Nationwide	$196	4.11/5

GEICO

Best Cheap Car Insurance for Full Coverage in Maryland

GEICO is the best full coverage choice in Maryland at $87 a month. It scores 0.67 on the NAIC complaint index for private passenger auto, below the 1.0 industry average, meaning fewer policyholders filed complaints with state regulators than at most companies of its size. GEICO's A++ financial strength rating from AM Best means it has the reserves to pay claims reliably. On top of the core coverage, GEICO offers optional roadside assistance, rental reimbursement while the car is being repaired and mechanical breakdown insurance. Mechanical breakdown insurance pays for major system repairs on newer vehicles once the factory warranty expires. Drivers who have gone five or more years without an at-fault accident earn accident forgiveness at no extra cost. A first incident won't push the rate up. Those looking to lower the monthly cost can enroll in DriveEasy, GEICO's app-based program that rewards safe driving with a lower rate at renewal. A full overview of GEICO's coverage and ratings is at its GEICO car insurance review.

Cheapest Car Insurance by Coverage Type in Maryland


GEICO	$50	$87	4.43/5
State Farm	$62	$115	4.28/5
Travelers	$69	$119	4.60/5
Nationwide	$85	$131	4.11/5
Erie Insurance	$71	$135	4.56/5

Cheapest Full Coverage in Maryland

At $87 a month, GEICO is the cheapest full coverage option in Maryland. The more useful question is whether Travelers is worth $32 more a month. Travelers holds the highest MoneyGeek score in the table at 4.60 out of 5. That advantage comes from coverage options. Travelers offers gap insurance for financed vehicles and new car replacement for cars totaled in the first five years. GEICO does not offer either. GEICO does offer mechanical breakdown insurance. It covers major repair costs once the factory warranty expires. Travelers does not. Drivers with a financed car who need gap coverage should quote Travelers first. For everyone else, GEICO is the right choice.

Cheapest Minimum Coverage in Maryland

GEICO is cheapest for minimum coverage in Maryland at $50 a month. State Farm is second at $62 a month. Before settling on GEICO, it is worth checking whether either company's discount programs close that $12 gap. State Farm's Drive Safe & Save rewards low-mileage drivers with a discount at renewal. GEICO's good driver discount applies after five accident-free years and a new vehicle discount of up to 15% applies to recently purchased cars. Getting quotes from both confirms which one prices lower for a specific driving profile.

How to Choose Between Minimum and Full Coverage

Maryland follows pure contributory negligence. A driver who is even 1% at fault in a crash cannot recover anything from the other driver. That is a stricter standard than most states use. Minimum coverage pays nothing toward a driver's own vehicle after a crash they cause. For drivers who own their car outright and could absorb a total loss, minimum coverage makes sense if the vehicle is worth less than $4,440. Drivers with a car loan or lease need full coverage. Lenders require it. Use the Maryland car insurance calculator to check whether the math works for a specific vehicle.

Cheapest Car Insurance for Teens and Young Adults in Maryland

For families adding a teen driver to their policy in Maryland, Erie Insurance offers the lowest rate in our data at $423 a month for a 16-year-old female and $434 for a male. Erie holds that position through age 19 for both genders.

Maryland uses gender as a rating factor, so male and female rates follow separate tracks. In our data, Nationwide is cheapest at 21 and 22, and GEICO becomes cheapest at 23 through 25. Those ages are where the biggest rate drops appear in the sequence for a standardized profile. A real driver's rate at any of those ages depends on their actual driving record at that point, not just their age.


16	Erie Insurance	$423	Erie Insurance	$434	4.41/5
17	Erie Insurance	$360	Erie Insurance	$369	4.41/5
18	Erie Insurance	$307	Erie Insurance	$315	4.41/5
19	Erie Insurance	$276	Erie Insurance	$283	4.41/5
20	GEICO	$235	Erie Insurance	$257	Geico: 3.65/5 · Erie: 4.41/5
21	Nationwide	$174	Nationwide	$196	N/A
22	Nationwide	$162	Nationwide	$183	N/A
23	GEICO	$129	Geico	$151	3.65/5
24	GEICO	$116	Geico	$136	3.65/5
25	GEICO	$97	Geico	$114	3.65/5

Erie

Best Cheap Car Insurance for Teens in Maryland

Erie Insurance is the best option for teen drivers in Maryland at $423 a month for a 16-year-old female. Erie ranked first out of 20 insurers in J.D. Power's 2025 Auto Claims Satisfaction Study. For families whose teen is most likely to file a claim, that is the most useful data point. Erie's Rate Lock program means the premium does not increase after a claim. That matters most while a young driver is still building a record. Erie also offers three discounts specific to young drivers. The Good Student discount applies to teens maintaining a B average or higher. The teenSMART program discount applies to teens who complete Erie's partnered online driving course and can reduce the premium by up to 20%. The Student Away at School discount applies when a teen attends college more than 100 miles from home without a vehicle. A full overview of Erie's coverage and ratings is at its Erie Insurance car insurance review.

Cheapest Car Insurance for Seniors in Maryland

GEICO is the cheapest senior option in Maryland at $90 a month for full coverage. That is just $3 above GEICO's own $87 adult rate. The rate barely moves as drivers age past 70. Seniors can enroll in DriveEasy, GEICO's app-based telematics program, to lower the $90 rate further at renewal. State Farm is second at $114 a month. Drive Safe & Save, State Farm's telematics program, tracks mileage and is well suited for retired drivers who put on fewer miles. Erie Insurance charges $141 a month but holds the highest customer experience score in the table at 4.41 out of 5. For a senior driver who expects to file claims and values service quality over price, Erie is the option worth comparing.


GEICO	$90	3.65/5
State Farm	$114	3.80/5
Cumberland Mutual	$117	3.52/5
Nationwide	$123	3.60/5
Erie Insurance	$141	4.41/5

Cheapest Car Insurance by City in Maryland

GEICO is cheapest in 17 of the 18 cities in the table. The company you choose matters more than the city you live in. What shifts by city is what GEICO charges for local risk. Rates range from $40 a month in Frederick to $70 a month in Baltimore. That $30 gap reflects the underlying risk difference between the two cities, not a different insurer.

Baltimore ranked 16th nationally for vehicle theft in a 2025 study of 281 cities, with 4,422 motor vehicle thefts at a rate nearly three times the national midpoint. That risk drives the city's higher premiums across every company in the table. Waldorf is the one exception to GEICO's sweep. Cumberland Mutual is cheapest there at $55 a month, $1 less than GEICO's rate. For every other city in the table, GEICO is the right first quote.


Frederick	GEICO	$40
Bethesda	GEICO	$43
North Bethesda	GEICO	$46
Potomac	GEICO	$46
Ellicott City	GEICO	$47
Germantown	GEICO	$47
Rockville	GEICO	$47
Columbia	GEICO	$48
Gaithersburg	GEICO	$49
Towson	GEICO	$49
Bowie	GEICO	$52
Wheaton	GEICO	$53
Glen Burnie	GEICO	$54
Silver Spring	GEICO	$54
Waldorf	Cumberland Mutual	$55
Dundalk	GEICO	$56
Severn	GEICO	$56
Baltimore	GEICO	$70

Cheapest Car Insurance for High Risk Drivers in Maryland

GEICO is the cheapest option for every violation type in Maryland. After a speeding ticket or texting while driving violation, the rate is $102 a month. After a DUI, it rises to $107. After an at-fault accident, it reaches $137 a month. That is actually $30 more than the DUI rate of $107. Most drivers expect a DUI to cost more. Maryland's surcharge structure works the other way. Maryland law limits how long companies can apply an at-fault rate increase to three years from the accident date. Getting new quotes once that window closes brings the rate back to the $87 clean-record baseline. The DUI surcharge window varies by insurer. The dropdown below covers both timelines in full.

For poor credit, Nationwide is cheapest at $196 a month. That is $109 more than GEICO's $87 good-credit rate. Maryland allows companies to use credit for new-policy pricing but prohibits raising a renewal premium based on credit changes. Improving credit before applying for a new policy recovers that $109 a month directly.


Speeding Ticket	GEICO	$102	3.65/5
At-Fault Accident	GEICO	$137	3.65/5
DUI	GEICO	$107	3.65/5
Texting While Driving	GEICO	$102	3.65/5
Bad Credit	Nationwide	$196	3.60/5

How to Get Cheaper Car Insurance in Maryland

In Maryland, the company you choose determines the rate more than anything else. GEICO is cheapest for minimum coverage, full coverage, seniors and every violation type in the table. Comparing quotes from GEICO against the most expensive company saves $48 a month. Matching coverage to vehicle value saves another $37 a month.

1
Compare at least three Maryland insurers and save up to $48 a month
Comparing quotes before renewing saves up to $48 a month in Maryland. GEICO charges $87 a month for full coverage. Erie Insurance charges $135 a month for the same coverage. Getting quotes from both, plus at least one more company, shows the full rate range. Rates shift at every renewal. A company that was cheapest last year may not be cheapest today.
2
Match your coverage level to your vehicle's value and save $37 a month
Matching coverage to your vehicle's value saves $37 a month in Maryland. Full coverage costs $444 more a year than minimum coverage. For a vehicle worth less than $4,440, that annual cost approaches 10% of the car's value. Drivers with a car loan or lease need full coverage regardless. Lenders require it. Use the Maryland car insurance calculator to check whether the math works for your vehicle.
3
Bundle home and auto and reduce both premiums
Ask for a combined quote from GEICO or State Farm before renewing either policy separately. Bundling home and auto with the same company lowers both premiums. The discount varies by company and policy mix. Confirm the amount directly with your agent.
4
Get new quotes when your violation clears and recover up to $50 a month
Getting new quotes after a violation surcharge ends recovers up to $50 a month. Maryland law limits the at-fault surcharge to three years from the accident date. After that window closes, the rate returns to GEICO's $87 clean-record baseline. Do not wait for the insurer to lower it automatically.
5
Improve your credit before applying for a new policy and recover $109 a month
Improving your credit before applying for a new policy recovers $109 a month in Maryland. Maryland allows companies to use credit for new-policy pricing but not to raise a renewal premium. The difference between Nationwide's $196 bad-credit rate and GEICO's $87 good-credit rate is $109 a month. That adds up to $1,308 a year.
6
Ask about telematics discount programs
Asking about telematics programs at GEICO, State Farm or Travelers can lower your rate at renewal based on how you drive. Each program works differently. Each can also raise the rate if driving scores are poor.

GEICO DriveEasy: Tracks driving behavior through the GEICO app. Safe drivers earn a discount at renewal. Poor scores can raise the rate.

State Farm Drive Safe & Save: Tracks mileage and driving behavior. Safe drivers earn a discount at renewal. Poor driving cannot raise the rate under this program.

Travelers IntelliDrive: Monitors driving for 90 days and can lower the rate at renewal. Poor driving during the monitoring period can raise the rate.

MoneyGeek analyzed car insurance rates for Maryland using data from Quadrant Information Services, collected from insurance company filings with the Maryland Insurance Administration across all residential ZIP codes in Maryland. These are filed rates, not online quote estimates.

Baseline driver profile

Age: 40-year-old male
Vehicle: 2012 Toyota Camry LE
Record: Clean driving history, good credit
Annual mileage: 12,000 miles
Full coverage: 100/300/100 liability with a $1,000 deductible
Minimum coverage: Maryland's required 30/60/15 liability limits

Profile variations

Young drivers ages 16 to 25 on a family policy, split by gender
Senior driver at age 70
Violation profiles with one variable changed at a time
Poor-credit profile

USAA is excluded from all tables. USAA is available only to military members, veterans and immediate family. Eligible drivers should include USAA in any comparison.

MoneyGeek scoring factors

Affordability (60%): Normalized rates across all companies within each driver profile
Customer experience (30%): J.D. Power survey results, NAIC complaint index, AM Best financial strength ratings, agent network ratings and Google Business ratings
Coverage options (10%): Range of available add-ons and included benefits

The overall MoneyGeek score shown in summary tables reflects this composite. Customer experience sub-scores shown in section tables reflect the customer experience component only and differ from the overall score.

Maryland state notes

Maryland is an at-fault state under pure contributory negligence, one of four states plus DC using this standard. A driver who is even 1% at fault cannot recover damages from the other party. Maryland requires UM/UIM coverage at 30/60 bodily injury limits by default. Drivers can waive it in writing. Maryland's uninsured driver rate is 16.9%. Maryland does not require SR-22 filing after a DUI. The FR-19 form, filed by the insurer, verifies current coverage and is valid for 30 days. Maryland law limits at-fault rate increases to three years from the incident date. DUI surcharge windows are not fixed by statute and vary by insurer, typically running three to five years depending on how far back the company checks the driving record. Credit is a permitted rating factor for new policies but cannot be used to raise a renewal premium. Gender is a permitted rating factor.

About Mark Fitzpatrick

Mark Fitzpatrick is a licensed Property and Casualty (P&C) Insurance Producer in Connecticut and MoneyGeek's resident expert in insurance and economics. In nearly a decade covering the insurance market at LendingTree and MoneyGeek, he's analyzed hundreds of carriers and millions of rates across auto, home, renters, health and life insurance.

His work has appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Times and NPR. He draws on independent cost and consumer experience data, and no insurance company partnerships affect his recommendations.

Mark studied at Boston College and later earned a master's in economics and international relations from Johns Hopkins University. He worked in financial risk management at State Street before joining MoneyGeek. He's also a five-time “Jeopardy!” champion.

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