Cheapest and Best Car Insurance Companies in Seattle, WA

Seattle drivers will find the cheapest rates for full and minimum coverage car insurance with Seattle-based PEMCO. This insurer is also the most affordable for military-affiliated drivers and drivers with speeding tickets and at-fault accidents. State Farm is cheapest for drivers with DUIs, and teen drivers will fare best with Kemper. Your driver profile and needs may affect which company is the most affordable for you.

If you’re interested in quality and factors aside from affordability, Chubb is MoneyGeek’s winner for best overall, best customer service and best cheap car insurance in Seattle.

A minimum coverage car insurance policy in Seattle is cheapest from the following companies:

• PEMCO: $319 per year
• Capital Insurance Group: $347 per year

The most expensive company for minimum coverage is National General, with policies that average $952 per year. PEMCO also offers the most affordable car insurance in Washington state at $262 annually, making Seattle slightly more expensive for the company than the state as a whole as of October 2022.

Liability limits for minimum coverage insurance are set by state law. In Washington, this coverage extends to bodily injury and personal property damage with the following amounts:

• $25,000 bodily injury liability per person
• $50,000 bodily injury liability per accident
• $10,000 property damage liability per accident

Liability-only coverage goes towards the cost of damages to the other driver (and their passengers) in an accident. So if you’re at fault in an accident and have $25,000 in bodily injury liability per person and $50,000 per accident, your insurance company will handle medical costs for each individual up to $25,000, for a maximum of $50,000 per incident (regardless of how many passengers were injured). The rest comes out of your pocket.

The least expensive full coverage car insurance in Seattle is from the following companies:

• PEMCO: $618 per year
• Capital Insurance Group: $764 per year

National General is the most expensive company for full coverage at $1,500 per year. The cheapest car insurance company for full coverage in Washington state is also PEMCO at an average rate of $534 per year as of October 2022. Full coverage insurance with PEMCO is slightly more expensive in Seattle than in the rest of the state.

A full coverage policy increases the limits of liability-only insurance and adds comprehensive and collision insurance.

• Collision Insurance: Helps pay for damages to your vehicle sustained in an accident, like a collision with an object or another car.
• Comprehensive Insurance: Helps pay for damages to your vehicle due to a non-accident incident such as a break-in or weather-related event.

Full coverage is recommended for those with newer vehicles to protect their high-value investments. But if your car is older, it may not be worth paying hundreds more per year for the extra coverage.

According to our calculations, these are Seattle’s cheapest car insurance companies for full coverage if you have the following driving offenses on your record:

• Speeding ticket: PEMCO ($775 per year)
• At-fault accident: PEMCO ($849 per year)
• DUI: State Farm ($1,014 per year)

You’ll likely see the highest annual rates with National General ($2,048), Progressive ($2,423) and Kemper ($4,353) after a speeding ticket, accident or DUI, respectively. Violations can drive up car insurance premiums, so even the cheapest rates will often be significantly more expensive after an offense.

Don’t be surprised if rates increase with the severity of the driving offense. For example, Seattle drivers with a DUI will pay at least $239 more for car insurance than those with speeding tickets. However, there are ways to find affordable car insurance with a bad driving record.

For 16-year-old teenage drivers on a family policy, the least expensive auto insurers are:

• Kemper: $1,975 per year for female teens; $2,042 per year for male teens
• Allstate: $2,139 per year for female teens
• Capital Insurance Group: $2,148 per year for male teens

The most expensive company for teens is Progressive, where families will pay $4,151 or $4,579 per year to add a female or male teen to a policy.

Rates for male teens tend to be more expensive than rates for female teens because young men are riskier to insure. Depending on the company, this difference could be minor ($67 per year with Kemper) or significant ($428 per year with Progressive) — underlining the importance of comparing quotes from multiple companies to save money on car insurance.

Adding a teen to a family policy is a smart way to save money since car insurance rates for teens are much higher if they buy a policy themselves. In Seattle, a male teen buying an individual policy would pay $2,381 more than a family policy. Families could save thousands of dollars each year by taking the right steps to find the cheapest auto insurance for teens.

Seattle’s most affordable auto insurers for those with a military background — whether active or veterans — and their families are:

• PEMCO: $618 per year
• USAA: $636 per year

The rates above are for a full coverage policy. If you opt for minimum coverage, USAA is the cheapest company at $280 per year, whereas PEMCO becomes the second most affordable at $319 per year.

Comparing car insurance quotes online can be a tedious process. You usually have to hand over a lot of personal information, and it can take 15 minutes or more to obtain quotes from a single company.

MoneyGeek’s car insurance calculator scans our database to quickly estimate your rates with different companies just based on your age, vehicle type, driving record and desired coverage level.

The best car insurance for you will depend on how much you value service, affordability, coverage and other factors. Depending on your needs, MoneyGeek found that the best car insurance companies in Seattle, Washington, are:

• Best overall: Chubb (MoneyGeek score of 85 out of 100)
• Best for service: Chubb (MoneyGeek score of 76 out of 100)
• Best cheap: Chubb (MoneyGeek score of 86 out of 100)

Changing MoneyGeek scores in each category reflect differences in how we weigh service and affordability for each category. Companies like Chubb that win in all three categories match affordability with excellent service — Chubb also ranks as the best car insurance provider in Washington state. If you have a military background, USAA is another great option for car insurance, with a MoneyGeek score of 84 out of 100.

Taking service quality, affordability and other factors into account, MoneyGeek found that the overall best companies for car insurance in Seattle are:

• Chubb: MoneyGeek score of 85 out of 100 ($1,113 per year)
• Capital Insurance Group: MoneyGeek score of 81 out of 100 ($764 per year)

Chubb scored best overall for its combined affordability, excellent customer satisfaction record and better claims management than 12 competitors.

If you’re affiliated with the military, USAA is also a highly recommended company for auto insurance. It received a MoneyGeek score of 85 out of 100, and with annual premiums averaging $636, it has the cheapest rates in Seattle.

Excluding cost from our scoring system, the best car insurance companies in Seattle for customer service are:

• Chubb: MoneyGeek score of 76 out of 100 ($1,113 per year)
• Capital Insurance Group: MoneyGeek score of 68 out of 100 ($764 per year)

Chubb is strongest in policyholder satisfaction and processing customer claims. Although Chubb has better service than the 12 other insurers we compared, its premiums are significantly more expensive than the runner-up and most competitors.

Based on our analysis of affordability and service quality for auto insurance policies that only meet Washington state’s minimum coverage requirements, the best companies in Seattle are:

• Chubb: MoneyGeek score of 86 out of 100 ($490 per year)
• Capital Insurance Group: MoneyGeek score of 82 out of 100 ($347 per year)

Minimum coverage policies may have the cheapest premiums, but they offer little protection against liability costs and no coverage for damages to your vehicle after an accident.

Our data shows that the average cost of car insurance in Seattle is $1,271 per year, which is $102 more than the average cost of insurance for Washington state ($1,169 per year) but only $6 more expensive than the national average ($1,265 per year) as of October 2022. These rates are for a full coverage policy with $100,000 in bodily injury liability per person, $300,000 in bodily injury liability per accident and $100,000 in property damage liability per accident.

So although car insurance in Washington state is cheaper, on average, than the country as a whole, denser population centers like Seattle tend to be more expensive than the rest of their state. Nevertheless, location is only one of many factors affecting car insurance rates.