The Best and Cheapest Car Insurance for a Bad Driving Record

You can expect to pay more in car insurance premiums than the average American if you have a bad driving record. However, there are still several options for auto insurance for people with bad driving records that won’t break the bank. Keep reading to discover the best and cheapest car insurance for bad driving records.

If you’ve made some risky choices on the road and dealt with the consequences, you may be ready to move on but find car insurance companies aren’t prepared to let you move on from your mistakes. Bad drivers, or people with bad driving records, might be people who:

If you meet those criteria, you may pay more than the average American in car insurance premiums. If you meet any of the above criteria, you may also need to file an SR-22, which doesn’t drive up premiums itself. However, the event that causes you to file an SR-22 will cause your premiums to increase. 

The best insurance for people deemed bad drivers by their insurer will be a full-coverage policy from a car insurance company with a large national footprint with several discounts applied to your premiums. 

Depending on what qualifies you as a bad driver, you may be able to take out a policy with a larger company. The benefits of having a policy with a large auto insurance company with a broad national footprint range from better customer service to various discounts you can use to lower your premiums.

Companies like State Farm, Progressive, and Geico offer several discounts that can help lower your premiums. For example, each of these insurers offers a defensive driving course you can take to lower your premiums by up to 25%. You may also get a good student discount, a low mileage discount, and an anti-theft discount applied to your premiums. When combined, you could save over 50% on your premiums.

While you may want or need to seek out a nonstandard insurer, the best insurance for bad drivers will be a full coverage policy with a more prominent insurer simply because they’re more reliable financially and with their customer service.

Cheap insurance for bad drivers can be hard to find, as insurance rates go up any time you file a claim or are involved in any traffic violation. Getting your rates to go down after filing a claim or getting a ticket can be difficult, especially if you repeatedly break the law. 

However, drivers may still be able to find cheap car insurance for a bad driving record by looking for nonstandard insurers specializing in car insurance for people with points on their licenses or deemed bad drivers by typical insurance companies. 

For example, Metromile and Farmer’s offer the cheapest insurance for bad drivers, with premiums averaging about $115 per month. This cost is comparable with the national average monthly cost of $125 for a full-coverage policy with a more prominent insurer.

Cheap full coverage insurance can be difficult to find for people with clean driving records, let alone bad drivers. It may be difficult to find; however, not impossible. 

Full coverage is almost always more expensive than liability coverage because it encompasses several coverages, like liability, uninsured motorist, MedPay, PIP, and collision coverage. Because you’re more covered with a full coverage policy, your premiums are naturally more expensive.

The cheapest full coverage insurance option for a bad driver will depend on whether you’re eligible for discounts or not. If you qualify for discounts or are willing to take some safe driving courses to save on your premiums, the cheapest full coverage policy for a bad driver will come from a larger insurer like Geico or Progressive. Larger insurers offer more discounts than nonstandard car insurance companies.

If you aren’t eligible for discounts offered by larger car insurance companies or if you aren’t willing to participate in a defensive driving course, the cheapest full coverage policy for you will come from a nonstandard insurer. Base rates from nonstandard insurers are generally lower than those from larger insurers, as the average cost of a full coverage policy with a nonstandard insurer is $2,400 annually compared to the national average from larger insurers of $1,700 annually.

While $2,400 is about $700 more than the average American pays for full coverage annually with a standard insurer, it’s quite low considering how high rates can skyrocket after a traffic violation. Premiums on policies with a typical car insurance company generally increase by $3,000 after a major traffic violation. 

Liability coverage is generally the cheapest coverage option for all drivers, and it’s especially the cheapest insurance for bad drivers. Since liability coverage only covers the other party in an accident where the policyholder is deemed at fault, liability insurance only offers about half the coverage as full coverage insurance, making it about half the cost. While it may be cheaper to get liability-only coverage, you’ll be on the hook for any damages or medical costs to you or your vehicle.

The national average cost of liability-only coverage for a bad driver is about $1,000 annually. The national average cost of liability-only coverage is about $650 annually, so bad drivers pay about $350 more annually than the average American for a liability-only policy.

The cheapest liability-only policy for people with bad driving records comes from Geico, costing about $550 annually after the increased rate due to a traffic violation. Geico is known for being one of the cheapest car insurance companies, so a policy with them will almost always be cheaper than a policy with any other company.

There are two ways of looking at auto insurance companies for people with bad driving records. If you have a few speeding tickets on your record and are still eligible to receive a policy from a more prominent insurer with a broad national presence, we recommend doing so. 

On the other hand, if you have been involved in several at-fault accidents or received a DUI, it may be difficult to get a policy with a more prominent insurer. You may need to seek out an insurance company specializing in nonstandard car insurance. 

Geico, Progressive, and State Farm are some of the best, larger car insurance companies that have been known to give people insurance with a bad driving record.

Some of the best car insurance companies specializing in nonstandard insurance are The General, Traveler’s, and Metromile.

We recommend you take some time shopping around online for quotes from some of the above insurers to ensure you get the right policy. 

There aren’t any auto insurance companies that don’t check your driving record. Auto insurance companies need to assess their risk by taking you on as a policyholder, and part of this process is checking your driving record. 

Auto insurance companies typically check your driving record each time you renew your policy, so they usually check once or twice each year. 

If you’re involved in an accident where you’re deemed at fault or are involved in another type of traffic violation such as drag racing or driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, there are auto insurance companies such as The General or Metromile that specialize in car insurance for people with bad driving records. 

Car insurance for bad drivers can be challenging to find and sometimes embarrassing to search for. Here at Clovered, we want to make that process as easy for you as possible. If you’re going to switch your insurer to get a lower or better rate on car insurance for a bad driving record, check out our free quoting tool and submit your information using this form.

You may also contact a Clovered agent directly by calling us at 833-255-4117 or emailing us at [email protected].