Athena Valentine Lent is a finance columnist for Slate and the author of Budgeting for Dummies (Wiley, 2023). Her writing has appeared in BuzzzFeed, The College Investor, GOBankingRates, Money Under 30, and Keeper Tax among other places. Her personal finance blog, Money Smart Latina, won the Plutus Award for "Best Personal Finance Content for Underserved Communities" in 2020 and was nominated for "Blog of the Year" in 2022. When not working she can be found with her main man, a polydactyl cat named Harrison George.
3+ years producing insurance and personal finance content
Main architect of the Insurify Quality Score
Courtney’s deep personal finance knowledge extends beyond insurance to credit cards, consumer lending, and banking. She thrives on creating actionable content.
Featured in
Updated November 20, 2024
At Insurify, our goal is to help customers compare insurance products and find the best policy for them. We strive to provide open, honest, and unbiased information about the insurance products and services we review. Our hard-working team of data analysts, insurance experts, insurance agents, editors and writers, has put in thousands of hours of research to create the content found on our site.
We do receive compensation when a sale or referral occurs from many of the insurance providers and marketing partners on our site. That may impact which products we display and where they appear on our site. But it does not influence our meticulously researched editorial content, what we write about, or any reviews or recommendations we may make. We do not guarantee favorable reviews or any coverage at all in exchange for compensation.
Table of contents
As of 2019, North Carolina is one of the cheapest states in the country to live in.[1]
This holds true with North Carolina’s average car insurance rates, which are $55 per month for liability insurance and $95 per month for full coverage. For comparison, the national average car insurance rate is $104 per month for liability and $204 for full coverage.
Besides the low cost of living, North Carolina has cheap insurance rates because state law prohibits car insurance companies from drastically raising rates.
The average cost of minimum-coverage car insurance in North Carolina is $1,252 per year.
Chapel Hill has the most expensive average full-coverage rates, at $77 per month.
Car insurance companies in North Carolina can use your credit history to determine premiums.
What’s the average cost of car insurance in North Carolina?
The average cost of car insurance in North Carolina is $55 per month for liability insurance and $95 per month for full coverage. This ends up being $undefined per year for liability-only insurance and $1,138 per year for full coverage.
The table below shows the average quotes for liability and full coverage among different insurance companies in North Carolina.
Insurance Company ▲▼ | Average Quote: Liability Only ▲▼ | Average Quote: Full Coverage ▲▼ |
---|---|---|
Erie | $41 | $64 |
Nationwide | $41 | $64 |
GEICO | $47 | $73 |
Travelers | $52 | $81 |
Dairyland | $54 | $262 |
Direct Auto | $55 | $99 |
Safeco | $55 | $109 |
Allstate | $56 | $88 |
Progressive | $57 | $89 |
Liberty Mutual | $59 | $183 |
National General | $63 | $109 |
State Farm | $67 | $105 |
Average North Carolina car insurance rates by city
Insurance companies consider your city and even ZIP code when they determine your premiums. Geographical factors like vehicle and population density, road conditions, repair rates, hospital and medical costs, and the number of accidents and other claims greatly influence your car insurance rates.[2]
For example, Chapel Hill — home to University of North Carolina with a large college student population near Raleigh and Durham — has some of the most expensive average rates compared to cities without condensed student populations.
The table below shows the average cost of car insurance in North Carolina cities.
City ▲▼ | Average Monthly Quote ▲▼ |
---|---|
Asheville | $62 |
Cary | $73 |
Chapel Hill | $60 |
Charlotte | $96 |
Durham | $77 |
Fayetteville | $87 |
Gastonia | $89 |
Greensboro | $78 |
Greenville | $79 |
High Point | $78 |
Jacksonville | $70 |
Raleigh | $81 |
Wilmington | $75 |
Average North Carolina car insurance rates by age
Insurance companies charge teens more expensive rates than any other age group. Since teen drivers lack driving experience, insurers consider it a higher risk to insure them. Teens 16 to 19 years old are three times more likely to have a fatal car crash than any other age group.[3]
Young drivers can lower their insurance rates by maintaining a clean record, maintaining continuous coverage, and looking for insurance companies that offer student-centric discounts.
Check out the chart below to see how North Carolina’s average car insurance rates change by age.
Rates by Age
How gender affects car insurance rates in North Carolina
Generally, men pay more expensive insurance rates than women, who receive the cheapest rates.
Statistically, men have a higher likelihood of causing an accident because they tend to engage in risky driving behaviors. While women tend to drive safer, they’re 73% more likely than men to be injured in a severe car accident.[4]
Here’s how car insurance rates differ by gender and age in North Carolina.
Age ▲▼ | Male ▲▼ | Female ▲▼ |
---|---|---|
16 | $298 | $244 |
35 | $142 | $134 |
50 | $112 | $110 |
How your driving record affects car insurance rates in North Carolina
The North Carolina Department of Insurance states that your driving record is one of the most important factors in determining your cost of insurance.[2]
The state created the North Carolina Safe Driver Incentive Plan (SDIP) to reward drivers financially for safe driving and enforce a point system for traffic violations. Under this plan, an at-fault accident can raise your auto insurance premiums by up to 50%, while speeding tickets can raise your rate by up to 90%. The highest increase in rate is for drivers convicted of a DUI — up to 340%.
Here’s how your driving record affects average car insurance rates in North Carolina.
Driver Record ▲▼ | Average Quote: Liability Only ▲▼ | Average Quote: Full Coverage ▲▼ |
---|---|---|
Clean record | $55 | $95 |
With accident | $90 | $156 |
With speeding ticket | $85 | $148 |
With DUI | $100 | $172 |
Average North Carolina car insurance rates by marital status
Car insurance rates can be higher for single drivers than married drivers. Drivers who are married typically qualify for discounts that are sometimes unavailable to single drivers, like bundling home and auto insurance or insuring multiple cars on one policy.
Whether you’re single or married, you can call an insurance agent to determine if you should bundle insurance products or what discounts you qualify for.
The table below shows the differences in average North Carolina auto insurance rates for married and single drivers.
Marital Status ▲▼ | Average Quote: Liability Only ▲▼ | Average Quote: Full Coverage ▲▼ |
---|---|---|
Married | $48 | $135 |
Single | $54 | 149 |
Cheapest recent rates in North Carolina
Drivers using Insurify have found quotes as cheap as $42/mo for liability only and $61/mo for full coverage in North Carolina.
*Quotes generated for Insurify users within the last 10 days. Last updated on November 20, 2024
*Quotes generated for Insurify users within the last 10 days. Last updated on November 20, 2024
Average North Carolina car insurance rates by credit tier
In North Carolina, insurance companies can use your credit score when determining your insurance costs. However, your credit score can’t be the sole factor auto insurers use when underwriting your policy.
Auto insurers believe that drivers with good credit scores file fewer and smaller claims, and, thus, charge them cheaper rates in North Carolina.[5] Drivers with poor credit scores tend to pay more expensive premiums.
Here’s how your credit tier can affect your car insurance premiums in North Carolina.
Credit Tier ▲▼ | Average Quote: Liability Only ▲▼ | Average Quote: Full Coverage ▲▼ |
---|---|---|
Excellent | $41 | $114 |
Good | $48 | $135 |
Fair | $53 | $148 |
Poor | $82 | $229 |
North Carolina car insurance FAQs
Check out Insurify’s guide on shopping for car insurance quotes and the answers to common questions about North Carolina auto coverage below.
What is the average cost of car insurance in North Carolina?
The average cost of car insurance in North Carolina is $55 per month for liability insurance and $95 per month for full coverage.
What is the cheapest car insurance in North Carolina?
The cheapest car insurance companies in North Carolina are Erie, Nationwide, and GEICO, with liability rates of $41, $41, and $47 per month, respectively.
Do car insurance rates vary by county in North Carolina?
Yes. Car insurance rates can vary not only by county but by city as well. Various factors that change the average annual cost of car insurance per ZIP code are accident rates, crime rates, traffic violations, medical costs, and the quality of roads.[2]
What are the best auto insurance companies in North Carolina?
Some of the best car insurance companies in North Carolina include Erie, State Farm, and GEICO. If you currently serve in the military or are a veteran, USAA is a highly ranked insurance company that caters specifically to the military community.
What are the car insurance requirements in North Carolina?
North Carolina law requires drivers to carry 30/60/25 minimum liability insurance. This translates to $30,000 per person and $60,000 per accident for bodily injury liability and $25,000 per accident for property damage liability coverage. The state also requires uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage of the same liability limits.[6]
Methodology
Insurify data scientists analyzed more than 90 million quotes served to car insurance applicants in Insurify’s proprietary database to calculate the premium averages displayed on this page. These premiums are real quotes that come directly from Insurify’s 50+ partner insurance companies in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Quote averages represent the median price for a quote across the given coverage level, driver subset, and geographic area.
Unless otherwise specified, quoted rates reflect the average cost for drivers between 20 and 70 years old with a clean driving record and average or better credit (a credit score of 600 or higher).
Liability-only premium averages correspond to policies with the following coverage limits:
- Bodily injury limits between state-minimum rates and $50,000 per person, $100,000 per accident
- Property damage limits between $10,000 and $50,000
- No additional coverage
- Comprehensive coverage with a $1,000 deductible
- Collision coverage with a $1,000 deductible
Quotes for Allstate, Farmers, GEICO, State Farm, and USAA are estimates based on Quadrant Information Services’ database of auto insurance rates.
Related articles
More cities in North Carolina
Sources
- North Carolina State University. "You Decide: Is It Cheaper to Live In North Carolina?."
- North Carolina Department of Insurance. "A Consumer's Guide to Automobile Insurance."
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Teen Drivers and Passengers: Get the Facts."
- University of Virginia. "Study: New Cars Are Safer, But Women More Likely to Suffer Injury."
- North Carolina Department of Insurance. "A Consumer's Guide to Insurance Companies' Use of Credit Information."
- North Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles. "Insurance Requirements."
Athena Valentine Lent is a finance columnist for Slate and the author of Budgeting for Dummies (Wiley, 2023). Her writing has appeared in BuzzzFeed, The College Investor, GOBankingRates, Money Under 30, and Keeper Tax among other places. Her personal finance blog, Money Smart Latina, won the Plutus Award for "Best Personal Finance Content for Underserved Communities" in 2020 and was nominated for "Blog of the Year" in 2022. When not working she can be found with her main man, a polydactyl cat named Harrison George.
3+ years producing insurance and personal finance content
Main architect of the Insurify Quality Score
Courtney’s deep personal finance knowledge extends beyond insurance to credit cards, consumer lending, and banking. She thrives on creating actionable content.
Featured in