Cheapest Car Insurance Companies in Tampa, FL (2023 Rates)

Your individual driving profile and requirements influence your quotes. In Tampa, GEICO offers the cheapest minimum coverage and the most affordable insurance for sports cars. State Farm offers the cheapest rates for full coverage, senior drivers, young adults, military members and those with traffic infractions. Nationwide is the cheapest for teens and drivers with bad credit. MoneyGeek also analyzed the best car insurance in Tampa, Florida, for drivers looking for quality service with affordable rates.

According to MoneyGeek's research, the following companies in Tampa provide the most affordable minimum coverage auto insurance policies:

• GEICO: $643 per year
• State Farm: $786 per year

Costing around $2,002 annually, Direct General Insurance has the highest minimum coverage insurance premiums for Tampa drivers.

If you consider the state as a whole, the cheapest car insurance in Florida is from Travelers, costing $658 per year. This difference indicates that your specific location plays a significant role in determining which company offers the best value.

Liability coverage minimums vary from state to state. Florida law mandates having personal injury protection (PIP) and property damage liability (PDL):

• $10,000 property damage liability per accident
• $10,000 personal injury protection

The state-mandated liability-only insurance covers only property damage suffered by third parties involved in an accident. If you only have minimum insurance coverage, you can expect your Tampa insurance provider to pay up to $10,000 for any property damage you cause to a third party, while any further expenses are paid out-of-pocket.

Drivers in Tampa may get full coverage auto insurance from the following providers at the cheapest rates:

• State Farm: $1,527 per year
• GEICO: $1,622 per year

With an average yearly cost of $3,618 for full coverage insurance, Direct General Insurance was the most expensive choice for Tampa drivers.

On a statewide basis, Travelers provides the cheapest full coverage insurance in Florida, with annual premiums costing roughly $1,394. This indicates how the cheapest insurer can vary from city to city, even within the same state.

In addition to higher liability limits, full coverage insurance also provides collision and comprehensive coverage.

• Collision insurance: This covers damages caused by collisions with another vehicle or a stationary object, regardless of fault.
• Comprehensive insurance: This pays for non-collision damages from events such as natural disasters, theft and vandalism.

For older vehicles, a full coverage policy might not be advisable because you'd pay hundreds more annually for insurance for a vehicle that might not be worth much.

State Farm offers the cheapest full coverage auto insurance in Tampa for drivers with the following traffic violations:

• Speeding ticket: State Farm ($1,730 per year)
• At-fault accident: State Farm ($1,883 per year)
• DUI: State Farm ($1,730 per year)

Nationwide quotes the highest rates for DUI drivers ($4,515), while Direct General Insurance has the most expensive policies for drivers with speeding tickets ($3,618) and those with a history of at-fault accidents ($5,049).

Any insurance company, no matter how inexpensive, will increase your rates if you are involved in a traffic incident.

An increase in rate may be warranted depending on the seriousness of a driving offense. Drivers in Tampa who have a DUI can expect to pay roughly $400 more per year in insurance premiums than those who have a speeding ticket. You can still get affordable car insurance with a poor driving history if you shop around and compare quotes.

The cheapest car insurance companies for Tampa teenagers added to a family policy are:

• Nationwide: $3,812 per year for female teens, $4,299 per year for male teens
• State Farm: $4,384 per year for female teens, $5,385 per year for male teens

Teen girls and boys pay Tampa’s highest rates with Farmers, which charges around $7,359 and $7,550 annually, respectively. Even the cheapest provider for teenagers, Nationwide, charges around $487 more per year for teen boys than teen girls. Insuring teen boys is often costlier because insurers view them as riskier drivers. However, the difference fades away as teens age into young adults.

Adding a young driver to a family policy is more cost-effective than a teen buying their own policy. In Tampa, the individual annual insurance cost for a teen boy is around $4,940 higher than adding him to an existing family policy. Families can save money by choosing among the cheapest car insurance options for teens.

The following Tampa insurers offer the most affordable military auto insurance to active-duty and veteran service personnel, as well as their families:

• State Farm: $1,527 per year
• GEICO: $1,622 per year

These are prices for full coverage insurance. For minimum coverage, GEICO is the cheapest at $643 per year, followed by State Farm at $786. USAA is also a good option for service members due to its focus on serving drivers with a military background.

Comparison shopping for auto insurance online can take some time. You may be asked for a lot of personal information as part of the application process, and it may take upwards of 15 minutes to get insurance quotes from one company.

By inputting basic information such as your age, vehicle type, required coverage and driving record, MoneyGeek's auto insurance calculator can quickly estimate your auto insurance rates from various providers.

In Tampa, young adults get the cheapest car insurance from the following companies:

• State Farm: $1,807 per year
• Travelers: $2,263 per year

The highest-priced auto insurance option for Tampa's young adults is Direct General Insurance, with an average yearly premium of $4,693 for full coverage.

In comparison, Tampa drivers in their 40s pay about $526 less annually for auto insurance than drivers in their 20s. This is most likely influenced by young drivers having a higher rate of accidents than older drivers.

The cheapest auto insurers for senior drivers seeking full coverage policies in Tampa are:

• State Farm: $1,403 per year
• GEICO: $1,499 per year

Direct General Insurance ranks as the most expensive insurer in this category, charging around $3,554 annually for senior drivers. When compared to drivers in their 40s, Tampa seniors save an average of $53 per year on auto insurance costs. After age 65, premiums tend to increase, as there’s a significant risk of serious injury during car accidents for drivers in their 70s and 80s.

The most affordable car insurance rates for those with bad credit come from the following providers in Tampa:

• Nationwide: $2,660 per year
• Farmers: $3,294 per year

For Tampa’s drivers with less-than-ideal credit, the annual premium for Allstate car insurance is around $4,963, making it the most costly choice for those needing full coverage. Insurance providers are likely to take your credit score into account when determining your insurance premiums. Drivers in Tampa who have bad credit are likely to spend $1,344 more for auto insurance, around 58% more than those who have good credit.

Insurance companies believe that drivers with bad credit file more claims, which results in higher premiums. That said, you can still find relatively affordable car insurance with poor credit.

Researching common discounts, bundling policies and comparing quotes from several insurers are all good ways to cut down on insurance prices. Your rates may also go down if you work on raising your credit score over time.

For Tampa's cheapest car insurance for sports cars, the following providers offer the lowest rates for full coverage policies:

• GEICO: $1,606 per year
• State Farm: $1,686 per year

Farmers has the highest average annual premium for sports cars in the city at $2,791. Because of the higher expense of servicing and repairing sports cars, insurance for these vehicles is typically more expensive than for other types of cars. There are, however, regional differences. In Tampa, for example, insurance rates for sports cars are about $167 or 7% less expensive than those for a Toyota Camry.

MoneyGeek used a Ford Mustang as our example sports car. Understand that insurance premiums can vary by model and are typically higher for luxury models, electric vehicles and sports cars. While Tampa’s average sports car insurance cost is less than that of standard car insurance, this is an outlier and not typical of sports car insurance premiums in other cities.

Insurance premiums vary based on location and many other factors. The average annual full coverage auto insurance rate in Tampa is $2,318, covering property damage liability of $100,000 plus bodily injury liability of $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident. This is $383 more than Florida’s average cost of car insurance and $1,053 more than the national average car insurance premium.