Best cheap car insurance in Louisville for 2024

Best cheap car insurance companies in Louisville

Bankrate’s insurance editorial team, which includes licensed agents, knows how important it is to make your hard-earned dollars stretch in this constantly changing market. To help make life easier, we analyzed the premium data supplied by Quadrant Information Services from Kentucky auto insurance carriers and paired it with other factors that matter when selecting an insurance company, such as discounts, availability, coverage selection and more. Based on our analysis, we identified some of Louisville's most affordable and best car insurance companies to meet various needs.

The cheapest car insurance companies in Louisville

When searching for the cheapest car insurance in Kentucky, the type and amount of coverage you require will play a significant role in the cost of your policy. If you own your vehicle outright, you can usually select whatever coverage limit works best for your financial needs and budget. While full coverage isn’t mandatory in Kentucky, insurance professionals recommend drivers carry higher liability limits for better financial protection when possible. Since Louisville is known to have ping-pong ball-sized hail, floods and tornadoes, having comprehensive coverage may also be a financially savvy choice.

However, sometimes your choice of coverage type and level is out of your hands. If your vehicle has an auto loan, your bank will likely require you to include comprehensive and collision coverage. If you lease your vehicle, it is common for your bank to mandate that your policy have higher bodily injury and property damage liability limits of 100/300/50 regardless of the state minimum coverage requirement of 25/50/25.

See the table below for the cheapest insurance companies in Louisville for both full and minimal coverage options.

How much is car insurance in Louisville, Kentucky?

The average cost of car insurance in Louisville is $3,139 per year for full coverage and $1,007 per year for minimal coverage. When comparing auto rates in Kentucky to the state as a whole, drivers in Louisville pay 16 percent more for full coverage and 29 percent more for state minimum coverage. Keep in mind that these are only averages: actual premiums can vary greatly between providers and depend heavily on rating factors such as age and driving history.

Louisville rates for teens

Age and driving experience is a strong predictor of risk, and youthful operators tend to pay the highest rates for car insurance. Teen driving statistics show that motor vehicle accidents are one of the leading causes of death among 13 to 19-year-olds. Distracted driving, speeding and lack of seatbelt usage are contributing factors and insurance companies rate for this heightened risk.

While adding a teen driver to your car insurance is likely to increase your premium, it can save money in the long run to keep them on your policy as long as possible. Young drivers often pay significantly less for car insurance when they are listed as drivers on their parents' policy instead of signing up for their own insurance.

Louisville rates for young drivers

While drivers under the age of 25 are still deemed “high-risk” by most carriers, by the age of 20 most drivers have gained enough driving experience to see some relief in auto premiums. This age group can still take advantage of good student discounts if they are in school full-time and have a grade point average of 3.0 or higher. However, this is typically the age when drivers drop off their parents’ policy and establish their own car insurance, which may lead to an increase in premiums.

Louisville rates for adults

The importance of age as a rating factor decreases as motorists gain more driving experience. This may be different for a driver who acquired their driver's license later in life, but as you can see from the table below, rates in middle adulthood start to even out. Depending on the insurance company, other rating factors like credit score, driving history and even occupation and education may become more important.

Louisville rates for senior drivers

Once drivers hit retirement age, they may start to see age-related increases in their car insurance premiums. While rates do not typically get as high as they do for teen drivers, the risk factors related to delayed response times, hearing and vision impairments, and more expensive hospitalization due to longer recovery times drive prices up.

While it can be tempting for many seniors to cut coverage from their policy to reduce insurance costs, now could be when they need the most coverage. Instead of cutting back, look for car insurance geared towards seniors or discounts, such as a senior defensive driving course.

The cheapest car insurance in Louisville by driving record

In all stages of life, maintaining a clean driving record is the best way to keep your Louisville car insurance rates down. However, no matter how prepared and safe a driver may be, accidents happen — and when they do, rates usually go up. If you experience a premium increase after a moving violation or accident, make sure to compare car insurance rates with several carriers to find a more affordable policy. Every insurance company is different and another carrier may rate your incident lower than the one you are currently with.

Car insurance with a speeding ticket in Louisville

Car crash statistics show that speeding is the primary contributor to motor vehicle fatalities. While receiving a speeding ticket for going only slightly above the speed limit might not seem like a big deal, more than half of speed-related fatalities occur on roads with speed limits lower than 55 miles per hour.

Considering the risk of costly property damage and bodily injury claims related to speeding in Kentucky, auto insurance carriers typically increase premiums for up to three years after a speeding ticket. Louisville drivers with a single speeding tickets pay an annual rate of $3,803 for full coverage, which is 22 percent more than Louisville drivers without incidents in their driving history.

Car insurance after an accident in Louisville

An at-fault accident can also increase your car insurance rates. When a driver has an accident, insurance companies rate the increased risk of them having another accident in the future. On average, drivers in Louisville pay $4,492 per year for car insurance with an at-fault accident on their driving history. That’s approximately 44 percent more than the city average for drivers without accidents.

Car insurance after a DUI in Louisville

Drivers with a DUI not only pay more for car insurance, but they may also need to find coverage with a nonstandard carrier since not all insurance companies will underwrite that specific risk. For drivers in Louisville with a single DUI conviction, full coverage car insurance costs 59 percent more, on average, while minimum coverage costs approximately 74 percent more when compared to drivers with clean records.

Frequently asked questions

Methodology

Bankrate utilizes Quadrant Information Services to analyze the latest rates in November 2024 for ZIP codes and carriers in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Rates include the most recent approved rate changes filed by insurance companies that affect our profile. These revised rates are then weighted based on the population density in each geographic region so that policyholders can see the impact rates have in their areas. Quoted rates are based on a 40-year-old male and female driver with a clean driving record, good credit and the following full coverage limits:

• $100,000 bodily injury liability per person
• $300,000 bodily injury liability per accident
• $50,000 property damage liability per accident
• $100,000 uninsured motorist bodily injury per person
• $300,000 uninsured motorist bodily injury per accident
• $500 collision deductible
• $500 comprehensive deductible

To determine minimum coverage limits, Bankrate used minimum coverage that meets each state’s requirements. Our base profile drivers own a 2022 Toyota Camry, commute five days a week and drive 12,000 miles annually.

These are sample rates and should only be used for comparative purposes.

Incidents: Rates were calculated by evaluating our base profile with the following incidents applied: clean record (base), at-fault accident, single speeding ticket and single DUI conviction.

Age: Rates were calculated by evaluating our base profile with the ages 20-70 (base: 40 years) applied. Depending on age, drivers may be a renter or homeowner. Age is not a contributing rating factor in Hawaii and Massachusetts due to state regulations.

Teens: Rates were determined by adding a 16- or 18-year-old teen to their 40-year-old married parents' policy. The rates displayed reflect the total cost of a driver this age added to their parents’ policy.

Bankrate Score

Our 2024 Bankrate Score considers variables our insurance editorial team determined impacts policyholders’ experiences with an insurance company. These rating factors include a robust assessment of each company’s product availability, financial strength ratings, online capabilities and customer and claims support accessibility. Each factor was added to a category, and these categories were weighted in a tiered approach to analyze how companies perform in key customer-impacting categories.

Each category was assigned a metric to determine performance, and the weighted sum adds up to a company’s total Bankrate Score — out of 5 points. Our scoring model provides a comprehensive view, indicating when companies excel across several key areas and highlighting where they fall short.

• Tier 1 (Cost & ratings): To determine how well auto and home insurance companies satisfy these priorities, average quoted premiums from Quadrant Information Services (if available), as well as any of the latest third-party agency ratings from J.D. Power, AM Best, Demotech and the NAIC, were analyzed.
• Tier 2 (Coverage & savings): We assessed companies’ coverage options and availability to help policyholders find a provider that balances cost with coverage. Additionally, we evaluated each company’s discount options listed on its website.
• Tier 3 (Support): To encompass the many ways an auto insurance company can support policyholders, we analyzed avenues of customer accessibility along with community support. This analysis incorporated additional financial strength ratings from S&P and Moody’s and factored a company’s corporate sustainability efforts.