Cheapest Car Insurance for 17-Year-Olds

The cheapest car insurance for 17-year-olds is $201 a month with GEICO for minimum coverage, or $224 a month with Nationwide for full coverage, both on a family policy. Every other carrier in the table costs more at both coverage levels. Start quotes with GEICO and Nationwide regardless of which coverage level you choose.

Before defaulting to minimum coverage, consider that teen drivers file claims at a much higher rate than adult drivers. Minimum coverage meets your state's legal requirements, but it leaves your family paying out of pocket for damage to your teen's vehicle and any costs that exceed your liability limits. Those gaps are more likely to come up at 17 than at other ages. Full coverage adds comprehensive and collision protection, the part that actually pays for damage to your teen's own car regardless of fault, so it's worth a serious look before deciding.

Hawaii has the cheapest minimum coverage for a 17-year-old in our analysis, at $57 a month. Louisiana is the most expensive, at $324. That's more than five times as much for the exact same teen driver, and state is the single biggest reason why.

That gap isn't about which state requires more insurance by law. Louisiana actually requires less coverage. Its minimum is $15,000 per person in injury coverage, while Hawaii's is $40,000 as of January 2026. Louisiana still costs far more. The real reasons are more drivers filing lawsuits after car accidents instead of settling directly with insurers, hurricanes and severe weather that damage cars, and heavy city traffic. Those same reasons make Louisiana expensive for drivers of every age, not just teens. For a 17-year-old, that state cost gets added on top of the extra amount insurers already charge for being a new driver. A teen in Louisiana pays both costs at once. That's why the gap between $57 and $324 is so wide.

The cheapest company changes by state too. Travelers has the lowest rate in Arizona, at $156 a month. GEICO has the lowest rate in both Alabama, at $138, and Alaska, at $174. No company is cheapest everywhere. Get quotes in your own state instead of assuming the national leader will be your cheapest option.

Every state requires a parent or guardian to co-sign a minor's auto policy, since minors generally can't sign a binding contract on their own. The one real exception is an emancipated minor, who can buy a policy independently with proof like a court order.

Rates above reflect minimum coverage family policies. This dataset covers national carriers only. Regional insurers may offer lower rates in some states.

State Farm is the cheapest carrier for a 17-year-old with a violation on their record. It leads on at-fault accidents, DUIs, speeding and texting violations, at both coverage levels. A violation hits harder at 17 than most parents expect, since rates are already high before anything goes on the record.

GEICO and Nationwide are the exception on not-at-fault accidents. GEICO charges $211 a month for minimum coverage after a not-at-fault accident, only $10 more than its $201 clean-record rate. Nationwide charges $224 a month for full coverage after the same type of accident, the same as its clean-record rate. Neither carrier penalizes a driver for an accident that wasn't their fault. That's very different from how every carrier treats an at-fault crash.

The DUI figure is worth a closer look. At $296 a month for minimum coverage, State Farm's DUI rate runs 47% above its clean-record rate of $201. Its full coverage DUI rate reaches $334 a month, 40% above its clean full coverage rate of $239. The gap between carriers widens after serious violations. Comparison shopping becomes more important once a mark appears on your teen's record, not less.

Two carriers stand out in our research for 17-year-old drivers, and price is only part of why. GEICO is cheapest for minimum coverage and Nationwide is cheapest for full coverage, but we also weighed claims handling and service quality, since a 17-year-old is more likely to actually file a claim than an adult driver. Both are the right starting point for comparing quotes to get the best rate.

The average cost of car insurance for a 17-year-old is $234 a month for minimum coverage and $262 a month for full coverage on a family policy. Those averages shift by gender. Male 17-year-olds average $245 a month for minimum coverage and $273 for full coverage. Female 17-year-olds average $224 for minimum coverage and $250 for full coverage, about 9% less across both coverage levels. Insurers assign female teen drivers a lower statistical accident risk, which is why the averages split this way.

Families most often get surprised when they assume their quote will land near the national average without accounting for their own state or their teen's gender. Use

GEICO has the lowest rate for minimum coverage, at $201 a month. Nationwide has the lowest for full coverage, at $224, both on a family policy. Which one applies to you depends on your teen's car, covered in the ten-year rule above. The carrier gap at 17 is wide too. The difference between the cheapest and most expensive national carrier exceeds $888 a year for full coverage in our data, and that gap is why comparison shopping pays off more at this age than it does once your teen gets older and rates settle down.

Start with GEICO and Nationwide, then get quotes from both to confirm the numbers hold for your ZIP code and driving history.

We've answered frequently asked questions about finding the most affordable car insurance for 17-year-olds to assist you:

MoneyGeek analyzed 54,284 quotes from 70 major insurance companies across 1,238 ZIP codes nationwide to determine the most affordable and highest quality car insurance options for 17-year-old drivers.

Our Baseline Profile

Our baseline driver represents a typical 17-year-old with one year of driving experience: a 17-year-old operating a 2012 Toyota Camry LE with a clean record, 12,000 miles driven annually and no established credit score. We chose no credit score because most 17-year-olds have not yet built one, making it the most realistic profile for this audience.

From that baseline we adjusted across six variables including speeding tickets, at-fault accidents and DUIs to show parents what premiums look like both now and if their teen makes a mistake behind the wheel.

Coverage Levels

We analyzed two coverage levels to reflect the different decisions families face.

Minimum coverage uses state required liability limits only. It is the cheapest legal option but leaves families paying out of pocket for damage to their teen's own vehicle.

Full coverage includes comprehensive and collision protection with a $1,000 deductible and 100/300/100 liability limits, meaning $100,000 per person, $300,000 per accident and $100,000 property damage. These limits provide meaningful protection if your teen causes a serious accident.

Quality Scoring

Price is only part of the picture for teen drivers. We scored each insurer on customer satisfaction, claims handling, financial strength and digital experience to produce a MoneyGeek Score out of 100. At 17 the likelihood of filing a claim remains significantly higher than for adult drivers, making service quality an important factor alongside rate.

Data Sources

Rate data comes from Quadrant Information Services and state insurance departments, refreshed monthly. Statistical claims throughout this page draw from the CDC for teen fatality data, IIHS for crash rates and vehicle safety ratings and NHTSA for accident causes and prevention research.

Learn more about MoneyGeek's full methodology.