Cheapest Auto Insurance in Houston for 2019 - NerdWallet

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If you’re looking for cheap auto insurance in Houston, Texas, shopping around can really pay off. Rates vary by driver, vehicle and company, so you can only predict which will be cheapest for you by comparing quotes.

To help simplify your search, we analyzed rates from several car insurance companies in the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land metro area to find out which are the cheapest. We checked rates in Houston for:

• A 40-year-old single driver with a new 2019 vehicle.
• A 40-year-old single driver with a recent DUI, a 2016 Camry and minimum coverage levels.
• A family — 50-year-old couple with and without a teen driver — with a 2016 Camry.

Cheapest in Houston for 3 popular models

It’s smart to shop around for car insurance when you’re in the market for a new vehicle — no company is always the cheapest for every model. NerdWallet analyzed rates for seven companies in every ZIP code in the Houston metro area for male and female drivers with good credit and no recent moving violations or tickets. Drivers were 40 years old, single and had a popular 2019 vehicle used for commuting. We looked at rates for a pickup truck, SUV crossover and sedan, using base models for each. The vehicles we chose — the Ford F-150, Honda CR-V and Toyota Camry — were among the best-selling models in the country last year.

Cheapest in Houston for a 2019 Ford F-150

The cheapest insurer we found in Houston for a Ford F-150 was Nationwide with an average annual rate of $1,574 per year — about $131 per month.

The average annual car insurance rate in Houston for the country’s most popular pickup truck — and most popular vehicle overall — is $1,659, which is about $138 per month.

Cheapest in Houston for a 2019 Honda CR-V

The cheapest auto insurance rate we found in Houston for a new Honda CR-V came from Geico at an average annual cost of $1,202 per year, or just about $100 per month.

The average car insurance rate in Houston for a 2019 Honda CR-V was $1,541 per year, or around $128 per month.

Cheapest in Houston for a 2019 Toyota Camry

The cheapest rate in Houston for a new Camry in our test was from Geico at an annual rate of $1,459 on average, which works out to $122 per month.

The overall average insurance rate for the country’s most popular sedan was $1,881 per year in Houston, or about $157 per month.

Average car insurance rates in Houston by model

In addition to the models above, we analyzed rates for an additional 22 popular 2019-model-year vehicles and found their average car insurance costs. If you have a newer vehicle, you can use this list as a benchmark to compare against your own rates and decide whether it’s time to shop for a new insurance company.

Similar to the three models above, Geico or Nationwide had the cheapest average rates for all 25 vehicles we tested. Nationwide was cheapest for seven and Geico had the lowest average rates for the remaining 18. One exception: For active military, veterans and their families, USAA was the cheapest for a majority of vehicles, but the company isn’t available to the general public.

Cheapest auto insurance in Houston after a DUI

Since car insurance can be expensive after a DUI, we looked at minimum coverage rates for Houston drivers. The cheapest rate we saw was from Southern County Mutual, at $709 per year, on average, or roughly $59 per month. For these bare-bones policies in Houston after a DUI, the overall average rate was $998 per year or about $83 per month.

Want to see rates for different driver profiles? Compare prices across the Lone Star state in our Best Cheap Car Insurance in Texas for 2019 analysis. Spoiler: In those groups, the cheapest options are different.

Cheapest in Houston for couples and families with a teen

A couple on the same insurance policy can benefit from discounts for covering multiple cars and drivers together. But insurance for young drivers is never cheap, doubling the cost of a couples-only policy, on average, according to NerdWallet research. We looked at rates in Houston for a 50-year-old married couple and compared costs to policies with an added male or female 18-year-old driver.

The cheapest rates in Houston for a couple come from Nationwide at $1,408 per year, on average, when excluding USAA. Nationwide also had the cheapest average rates for families with a teen driver at $2,395 per year with a daughter and $2,674 per year with a son. Rates are ranked in order of the cheapest for a couple without a teen on the policy.

NerdWallet looked at insurance rates from large insurers in every ZIP code for counties in the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land metro area and averaged them.

Popular 2019 vehicle models:
Rates were for 40-year-old male and female drivers with good credit and no tickets or violations. Vehicles listed were the 25 top-selling models in the U.S. in 2018, according to data collected by Car and Driver. Insurance rates are for 2019 models. We looked at policies with:

• $100,000 bodily injury liability coverage per person.
• $300,000 bodily injury liability coverage per crash.
• $50,000 property damage liability coverage per crash.
• $100,000 uninsured motorist bodily injury coverage per person.
• $300,000 uninsured motorist bodily injury coverage per crash.
• Collision coverage with $500 deductible.
• Comprehensive coverage with $500 deductible.

Couples and families with a teen:
We analyzed rates for a policy for two 50-year-old married adults versus a policy for two 50-year-old married adults with either an 18-year-old son or daughter licensed at age 16. Policies had the same coverage limits and deductibles as the popular vehicles listed above.

Drivers with a recent DUI:
NerdWallet averaged rates for 40-year-old men and women with a DUI within the past six months from several insurers in Texas and isolated rates for counties in the Houston metro area. The sample policy includes the minimum coverage required by law in Texas.

All sample rates are generated through Quadrant Information Services. Your own rates will differ.