How to Lower Your Car Insurance Premium: 10 Proven Ways

How to lower car insurance: compare quotes before each renewal and raise your deductible. Drivers who switched saved a median $461 a year in a Consumer Reports survey, and the Insurance Information Institute says a $1,000 deductible instead of $500 cuts premiums 20% to 25%.

Covr is a quote app, not an insurer: you share your ZIP code and phone number, and partner insurance companies contact you with offers. The steps in this guide work whether you buy through Covr, an agent or an insurer directly.

Last reviewed: October 9, 2026 · Covr editorial team

At a glance

• Biggest lever: shopping around for a new car insurance policy; Consumer Reports' 2024 survey of 40,566 policyholders found a median $461 annual saving among drivers who switched.
• Fastest change: a $1,000 deductible instead of $500 lowers premiums 20% to 25%, per the Insurance Information Institute.
• Older car: consider dropping collision and comprehensive when they cost more than 10% of the car's value, a rule Consumer Reports uses.
• Discounts: Progressive says customers who bundle home and auto save an average of 5% on auto in most states.
• Driving data: telematics participants saved a median $120 a year in the Consumer Reports survey, but risky habits can raise a rate.
• What not to cut: liability limits; the Insurance Information Institute recommends at least 100/300/100.

The 10 Most Effective Ways to Lower Your Premium

Lowering your car insurance is possible for most drivers. To lower your car insurance or auto insurance rate, you lower the risk you show insurers or shop that risk with more of them.

The 10 Methods, Ranked

Car insurance premiums come down through 10 methods, and the first 4 usually lower your rate the most:

• Compare car insurance quotes from at least 3 insurers before every renewal.
• Raise your deductible on collision and comprehensive coverage.
• Trim coverage on an older car when its value no longer justifies full protection.
• Claim every policy discount and bundle your auto insurance with home or renters insurance.
• Try telematics or report low annual mileage to your insurer.
• Take a defensive driving course where your state or insurer rewards it.
• Keep a clean record and avoid small claims you can pay yourself.
• Improve your credit in states where insurers may use it.
• Review drivers, vehicles and life changes such as marriage, a move or a new car.
• Pay the premium in full or by autopay if your insurer discounts it.

How to Reduce or Decrease Car Insurance Premiums

To reduce car insurance premiums, start with the steps that decrease the rate fastest: compare quotes, raise your deductible and ask for discounts. To decrease car insurance further, bundle home and auto, report low mileage and try a telematics program. Reducing your insurance premium does not require cutting liability coverage below what protects your savings.

How Do You Get Lower Insurance Rates?

How do you get lower insurance rates? You get a lower car insurance rate by lowering the risk insurers see and by comparing rates from several insurers.

How to Save Money on Auto Insurance

You can save money on auto insurance by shopping around, raising your deductible and stacking discounts. Drivers who switched insurers saved a median $461 a year in Consumer Reports' 2024 survey, about $38 a month by Covr's arithmetic, and saving money on auto insurance also comes from bundling, telematics and reporting low mileage.

How to Save on Car Insurance Without Losing Protection

The best way to save on car insurance is to shop around and compare quotes from several insurers, because premiums for the same coverage vary between companies. Save on car insurance further by decreasing coverage only where it no longer pays, such as collision and comprehensive on an older car, and keep liability limits high.

How to Lower Car Insurance Cost: Which Step Saves Most

Auto insurance savings differ by lever, insurer and state; the Covr calculation table lists each published saving with its source, and none is a promise of what you will pay.

How to Lower Car Insurance Rates at Renewal: Compare Quotes

Car insurance shopping saved switchers a median $461 annually in the 2024 Consumer Reports survey, in which 30% of respondents had changed insurers in the past five years. On a 6-month policy, that median equals about $231 per term, by Covr's arithmetic.

How to Lower Your Car Insurance by Shopping Around

Car insurance companies price the same driver differently, because each insurer weighs age, record, ZIP code, vehicle and credit its own way. The Insurance Information Institute recommends comparing at least 3 quotes and checking each company's financial stability and complaint record. In an October 2025 Liberty Mutual survey of 1,199 insured consumers, 36% said they check prices once a year.

How to Compare Quotes Fairly

An insurance quote is only comparable when it uses the same coverage, limits, deductibles and drivers as the others. Use your current declarations page as the template, request every quote on those terms, and check each insurer's complaint record in the NAIC consumer database, and its license with your state department of insurance, before you switch. Car insurance policies usually run for 6 or 12 months, so shop before the term ends and start the new policy before the old one ends, so you never have a lapse.

Can You Negotiate Car Insurance?

Can you negotiate car insurance? Not in the haggling sense, but you can negotiate a lower auto insurance rate. Car insurance prices are not haggled like a car price, because insurers rate each policy from its risk factors and state regulators oversee those rates. You can still ask your current insurer to re-rate the policy, add discounts it missed, or match a competing quote; Chuck Bell of Consumer Reports advises drivers to ask for a more competitive quote but be prepared to switch if the answer disappoints.

Independent Agents and Quote Services

An independent agent is licensed to represent several insurance companies, and Consumer Reports notes that this can surface insurers you might not have considered. Quote apps such as Covr pass your request to partner insurers, which then contact you; Consumer Reports warns that some quote sites share data. To compare policy prices this way, request every offer on identical terms.

Raise Your Deductible

An auto insurance deductible of $1,000 instead of $500 lowers annual premiums by 20% to 25% on average, according to Loretta Worters of the Insurance Information Institute, quoted by Consumer Reports.

How Much a Higher Deductible Saves

A higher auto insurance deductible saves $464 to $525 a year, Consumer Reports estimates. Progressive notes that deductibles can apply to collision, comprehensive, uninsured/underinsured motorist and personal injury protection coverage, so ask your insurer which ones you can raise. By Covr's arithmetic, the $464 to $525 Consumer Reports saving covers the extra $500 you would pay after a claim in about 11 to 13 months without a claim.

Choose a Deductible You Can Pay

A higher deductible only lowers the true cost of your car insurance if you can cover it after a crash. Keep the full deductible amount in savings, and remember that a lender or lessor may set a maximum deductible on a financed or leased car. Consumer Reports' Chuck Bell points out that the average motorist rarely files a claim, which is why the trade-off often favors a higher deductible for drivers with cash reserves.

Trim Coverage on an Older Car

Collision and comprehensive coverage on an older car can be dropped once the premium for them exceeds 10% of the car's value, the rule of thumb Chuck Bell of Consumer Reports uses; Consumer Reports estimates the saving at about $1,165 a year.

Apply the 10% Rule

The 10% rule compares what you pay each year for collision and comprehensive with what the insurer would pay if the car were totaled. Check your car's market value, find the cost of those two coverages on your declarations page, and divide; if the result is above 10%, ask for a quote without them. By Covr's arithmetic, if collision and comprehensive cost the $1,165 a year Consumer Reports estimates, the 10% rule points to dropping them on a car worth less than $11,650. Consumer Reports suggests keeping comprehensive a little longer, because it usually includes glass coverage.

Only When the Car Is Paid Off

Physical-damage coverage must stay on a financed or leased vehicle, because the lender or lessor requires it until the loan or lease ends, as Progressive and Liberty Mutual both note. If you still owe money, raise the deductible instead of dropping the coverage.

Remove Add-Ons You Do Not Use

Optional policy add-ons such as roadside assistance and rental reimbursement can be removed if you rarely use them, Mercury Insurance notes. Gap insurance can also come off once the loan is paid off or nearly paid off, according to Liberty Mutual.

Cuts That Can Cost You More

Liability coverage is the one cut that rarely pays off: the Insurance Information Institute recommends at least $100,000/$300,000/$100,000, while many state minimums are far lower.

Do Not Drop to State-Minimum Liability

A state-minimum policy is the legal floor, not a recommendation. Experts quoted by Consumer Reports call most state minimum requirements inadequate; Virginia's minimum, for example, is 30/60/20, and any injury or damage bill above those limits falls on the at-fault driver. By Covr's arithmetic, Virginia's minimum carries $70,000 less bodily injury coverage per person, $240,000 less per accident and $80,000 less property damage coverage than the 100/300/100 the Insurance Information Institute recommends.

Do Not Let Coverage Lapse

A coverage lapse costs more later. Switch insurers by starting the new policy before the old one ends, keep uninsured/underinsured motorist protection where you can, and do not cancel coverage on a car you still drive, because almost every state requires liability coverage, as Consumer Reports notes.

Do Not Misstate Your Details

Car insurance quote answers must be accurate. Insurers check your driving record and other details before a quote becomes a policy, so understating mileage, leaving a regular driver off or giving the wrong garaging address only produces a quote that changes later.

Claim Every Discount and Bundle Policies

Auto insurance discounts are the easiest savings to miss: Progressive reports that bundling home and auto cuts the auto premium by 5% on average in most states, and Consumer Reports puts bundling savings at up to 30%.

Bundle Home and Auto

A bundle combines your auto policy with homeowners, renters or condo insurance from one company. Progressive's 5% average bundling saving equals about $125 a year on the $2,508 U.S. News full-coverage average, by Covr's arithmetic. Consumer Reports' source at the Consumer Federation of America cautions that buying each policy from a different company can still be cheaper for some households, so price the bundle and the separate policies side by side.

Multi-Car and Safety-Feature Discounts

Insurers reward lower-risk vehicles and households. GEICO advertises a multi-vehicle discount of up to 25% on most coverages and a 5% discount for anti-lock brakes, and the Texas Department of Insurance lists safe-driver, anti-theft and multi-policy discounts as common options.

Do Aftermarket Parts Lower Insurance Premiums?

Aftermarket parts can lower an insurance premium only when they reduce risk: aftermarket anti-theft devices and safety equipment may qualify for discounts, as the Texas Department of Insurance notes for anti-theft devices, while performance parts do not lower the premium.

Simple Discounts to Ask For

Car insurance discounts on Progressive's list include quoting online, signing online, going paperless, setting up autopay and paying up front. Mercury Insurance notes that most insurers give a good student discount for a B average (3.0 GPA) or higher, and Liberty Mutual adds group discounts through employers, schools and professional associations. A full guide to car insurance discounts is coming to Covr; until then, ask each insurer for its complete list.

Try Telematics or Report Low Mileage

Usage-based car insurance programs saved participants a median $120 a year in Consumer Reports' survey, and Progressive says customers who save with Snapshot save $328 a year on average.

How Usage-Based Insurance Works

A telematics program tracks how and how much you drive through a phone app or a plug-in device, then prices part of your premium on that data. Liberty Mutual says its RightTrack program can save up to 30%. Progressive warns that not every driver is rewarded: riskier habits such as hard braking might result in a higher rate.

Report Low Annual Mileage

A higher or lower odometer reading matters to insurers through annual mileage: drivers who cover fewer miles pay less insurance, and Consumer Reports estimates that reporting under 10,000 miles a year saves about $116. Tell the company after a move closer to work, a switch to remote work or retirement, and ask whether it offers a verified-mileage or pay-per-mile option in your state.

Privacy Questions to Ask First

Telematics data your insurer collects is personal data. Consumer Reports suggests asking which data the program uses, whether bad driving can raise the price, and whether it sells or shares the data, and drivers who often drive at night should check how night trips are scored.

Take a Defensive Driving Course

A defensive driving course lowers car insurance with many insurers, and Consumer Reports estimates the saving at about $233 a year.

How Much Defensive Driving Lowers Insurance

Car insurance discounts for defensive driving are set by state: New York drivers receive a 10% discount after a state-approved course that costs about $25, takes 5 hours and 20 minutes, and can be repeated every three years, according to Consumer Reports. Virginia's course takes 8 hours and starts at $25. Progressive notes that some states require companies to offer the discount and that a four-hour course qualifies in some states. By Covr's arithmetic, at Consumer Reports' $233 annual estimate a $25 course pays for itself in under 6 weeks.

Do Driving Lessons or Classes Lower Insurance?

Do driving lessons lower insurance premiums? Driving lessons and driving classes lower insurance only when the course is approved by your state or insurer, such as a defensive driving course. Check your state department of insurance for the list of approved providers before you pay, and note the renewal date, because the discount expires and the course must be retaken.

Keep Your Driving Record and Claims History Clean

Car insurance for a driver with one speeding ticket averages $3,130 a year, and one at-fault accident raises the average to $3,711, against $2,508 for a clean record, in the September 2026 U.S. News analysis.

Avoid Small Claims You Can Pay Yourself

A minor one-car scrape may cost less to fix than the premium increase a claim can trigger; Consumer Reports estimates that paying out of pocket for a one-car fender bender saves $348 or more. Get a repair estimate first, because cars with driver-assistance sensors can cost far more to fix than they look. Crashes involving another vehicle, injuries or police reports still have to be reported as your state requires.

How to Lower Car Insurance With a Bad Driving Record

To lower car insurance with a bad driving record, compare quotes from several companies, because each insurer surcharges tickets and accidents differently, take an approved defensive driving course, and consider a telematics program to show safer habits. A policy priced after a ticket or accident usually comes down as the violation ages off the record companies review, so ask for a re-rate at each renewal. Covr's guide on why rates go up, coming soon, covers renewal increases in detail.

Improve Your Credit Where State Law Allows

Car insurance with poor credit costs about 67% more for full coverage, $3,954 a year, in NerdWallet's October 2026 analysis.

Where Credit Counts

A credit-based insurance score may be used to price car insurance in most states, but state law in California, Hawaii and Massachusetts does not let companies use credit to set rates, according to NerdWallet. Mercury adds Maryland, Michigan, Oregon and Utah to the states that restrict or prohibit its use.

How to Improve the Score

Insurance premiums tied to credit improve when the score does; Liberty Mutual's advice is to pay bills on time, lower your credit utilization and dispute errors on your credit report. Ask for a re-rate at renewal once your score improves.

Review Drivers, Vehicle and Payment Plan

Policy reviews catch changes that lower a premium; Liberty Mutual lists turning 25, getting married and buying a home as events that might reduce what you pay.

Remove or Exclude a Driver

Removing a driver from your policy might reduce your rate, especially when that driver has claims or accidents, Progressive says. Some states do not allow household members of driving age to be removed, and the company may instead list a non-driving household member as an excluded driver.

Getting Married, Moving or Adding a Teen

Life events change the car insurance price in both directions. Adding a driver with a clean record should not change rates much, Consumer Reports says, while adding a teen driver can raise the bill by $1,000 to $2,000 a year or more, about $83 to $167 a month by Covr's arithmetic. Location matters too: in a Consumer Reports test with USAA quotes, a move from Scottsdale to Phoenix raised the price by about 8%.

Choose a Car That Is Cheaper to Insure

Vehicle choice sets part of the car insurance premium before you buy. Mercury notes that sedans, minivans and small SUVs typically cost less to cover than high-performance or specialty vehicles, and Liberty Mutual advises checking rates before you choose a car.

Pay in Full or Set Up Autopay

Payment choices can earn a small car insurance discount. Liberty Mutual offers a discount for paying in one or two annual payments and for preferred payment methods such as a linked bank account, and Mercury says paying yearly instead of monthly can save a small percentage. Some mutual companies also offer dividend plans; Consumer Reports reports that Amica's dividends can return 5% to 20%, depending on market performance.

Covr Calculation: Each Saving as a Share of the Average Premium

Dropping collision and comprehensive coverage on an older car is the largest published saving, about $1,165 a year, which equals 46% of the $2,508 U.S. News average, according to Covr's calculation on October 9, 2026.

How Covr Calculated the Table

Each car insurance figure in the table follows one method: the published annual saving divided by $2,508, the September 2026 U.S. News average for full coverage, rounded to a whole percent; the bundling row multiplies Progressive's 5% average by $2,508. The savings come from different samples and methods, they overlap, and they cannot be added together. They are arithmetic on published figures, not Covr quotes, and Covr does not promise any saving.

Compare Car Insurance Quotes Through Covr

Car insurance quotes are the only way to see which of these steps lowers your own price, and Covr lets you request them in 3 steps. At the $2,508 U.S. News full-coverage average, every 10% difference between two offers is worth about $251 a year, by Covr's arithmetic.

1. Enter your ZIP code and phone number in the Covr app.
2. Partner insurance companies in all 50 states contact you, usually by phone, with their offers.
3. Compare the offers with the same limits, deductibles and drivers, then ask each company which discounts it applied.

Covr does not issue policies or set prices, so the final price always comes from the company you choose. Read how Covr works before you share your details, check the average cost of car insurance to see where your price stands, or start with our auto insurance 101 guide. The app is free on Google Play. Visit the main page to see what Covr does in one overview.

Sources and Methodology

Our methodology: every car insurance saving and price on this page was last reviewed by Covr on October 9, 2026 against the source named in the same sentence: Consumer Reports' savings guide (updated August 18, 2026, including its 2024 survey of 40,566 policyholders and figures from the Insurance Information Institute), Progressive, Liberty Mutual (including its October 2025 survey of 1,199 consumers), Mercury, GEICO, the Texas Department of Insurance, the U.S. News September 2026 cost analysis and NerdWallet's October 2026 rate analysis. The Covr calculation table is our own arithmetic on those figures. Written and fact-checked by the Covr Editorial Team under our editorial policy. To confirm the discounts and rating rules that apply to you, check your state department of insurance, which licenses insurers and agents in your state. This page is general information, not legal or financial advice; your price and the discounts you qualify for depend on your state, your driving profile and the company you choose. Read our editorial policy or contact us with a correction.

Questions About Lowering Car Insurance

Does a defensive driving course lower insurance?

Yes, with many insurers and in many states. The saving is about $233 a year by Consumer Reports' estimate, and New York gives a 10% discount after a state-approved course that you can retake once every three years.

Does getting married lower car insurance?

Getting married can lower car insurance, and Liberty Mutual lists marriage among the life changes that might reduce your price. Adding a spouse with a clean record should not raise the rate much, according to Consumer Reports.

Does removing a driver lower insurance?

Removing a driver can lower your car insurance premium, especially if that driver has accidents or claims, Progressive says. Some states require every driving-age relative in the home to stay listed, so ask about excluding the driver instead.

Does a dash cam lower insurance?

Do dashcams lower insurance premiums? A dash cam discount does not appear on any of the insurer and publisher pages Covr reviewed, though a dashcam can document a claim, so ask your insurer whether it offers a discount.

How fast can I lower my car insurance?

You can lower your car insurance the same day by raising your deductible, removing unused add-ons or asking for missing discounts. Switching insurers takes effect when the new policy starts, so line it up before your renewal date.