What Is the Best Car Insurance for Full Coverage?

Why You Can Trust Compare.com

At Compare.com, it’s our mission to find simple ways to help our customers save money on the things they need. While we partner with some of the companies and brands we talk about in our articles, all of our content is written and reviewed by our independent editorial team and never influenced by our partnerships. Learn about how we make money, review our editorial standards, and reference our data methodology to learn more about why you can trust Compare.com.

Written by Nick Versaw Edited by Quiana Darden Reviewed by Amanda Clear

Updated December 20, 2022

When you’re shopping around for auto insurance, you’ll come across terms like collision coverage, comprehensive coverage, and liability-only coverage. If this is your first time buying car insurance, then how do you know which type of coverage you need?

Some states only require you to have liability coverage, which covers bodily injury and property damage to other parties if you’re in an at-fault accident. But what if you want your own vehicle to be covered in a wide range of scenarios? For that, you’ll want to take out what’s often referred to as a “full coverage” car insurance policy.

Full coverage car insurance is more expensive, but it may be worth it for the peace of mind. Here’s how to find the best car insurance for full coverage in your state.

What’s Included in Full Coverage Car Insurance?

“Full coverage” isn’t a standardized policy type, so the exact definition can vary, but in general, it includes liability, comprehensive, and collision insurance.

Depending on where you live, your state minimum coverage requirements may only ask that you carry liability coverage, which includes:

• Bodily injury liability insurance: This covers medical payments for other parties injured in an at-fault accident.
• Property damage liability insurance: This covers vehicle repair costs or property damage resulting from an accident or fender-bender.

Liability-only coverage will pay for these expenses (up to your policy’s coverage limits), but it will leave you high and dry if your own vehicle gets damaged. Many drivers want additional coverage options beyond the state-required minimum, such as:

• Collision coverage: Just bought a brand new car? Then you’ll definitely want collision insurance in case it gets damaged in an accident.
• Comprehensive coverage: Do you live in an area with high rates of vehicle theft or vandalism? Comprehensive insurance will cover a new car replacement if your vehicle gets stolen or damaged in a natural disaster.
• Personal injury protection (PIP): This type of car insurance will cover your medical bills and may even cover lost wages in some states.
• Uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage: If you’re hit by an uninsured driver in a hit-and-run, UIM insurance will cover your injuries.
• Roadside assistance: Many car insurance companies offer this as an optional coverage add-on, with benefits like towing and rental car reimbursement. 

You don’t have to get all of these coverage options when you take out an auto insurance policy. For example, you could choose to include uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage (required in some states) but not personal injury protection.

Does Full Coverage Car Insurance Cover Absolutely Everything?

It’s worth pointing out that even the best car insurance for full coverage doesn’t cover absolutely everything. A full coverage policy will still have limits, which is the maximum amount your car insurance company will pay out for each type of claim.

If you lease your car, your comprehensive coverage limits will be based on the current value of the vehicle, not on how much you owe the lender. You may want to consider adding gap insurance to your policy to cover the difference.

There’s also the matter of the deductible, which is the amount you’ll have to pay out of pocket before your car insurance coverage kicks in. Choosing a higher deductible can lower your insurance premiums, while lower deductibles mean higher premiums.

Your deductible amount can be anywhere from $0 to $1,000 or more, so you may not reach the threshold to file a claim for minor incidents like fender-benders.

How Much Does Full Coverage Auto Insurance Cost?

Since full coverage auto insurance covers more scenarios than liability-only insurance, you can expect your car insurance costs to be higher. But that doesn’t mean you can’t find cheap car insurance with full coverage, especially if you qualify for some of the discounts that insurance providers offer.

Before going any further, here’s the average cost of full coverage car insurance for five of the best car insurance companies that provide it:

As you can see, the cheapest full coverage car insurance on this list starts at $215 per month – more than twice the average rate for liability-only insurance. But remember, you’re getting more for your money: These full coverage auto insurance rates include collision coverage, comprehensive coverage, and more.

The Top 5 Companies for Full Coverage

Let’s take a closer look at these five companies and what they offer policyholders who choose full coverage car insurance. These companies were chosen primarily because of their great rates for full coverage and the variety of different coverages they offer.

1. Erie Insurance

Erie Insurance isn’t as well known as some of these other options because it’s currently only available in 11 states. But if you happen to live in one of these states, it offers some of the cheapest full coverage car insurance around.

Erie makes it easy to customize your policy, with over 13,000 licensed insurance agents on call to help you figure out which options are right for you.

Erie even offers Pet Injury Coverage, which covers up to $500 in vet bills per pet (up to $1,000 in all) if your furry friend gets injured in an accident in your car.

2. Travelers

Full coverage car insurance with Travelers includes all of the major types of coverage, including personal injury protection and medical payments coverage.

What if that still isn’t enough for your situation? Travelers offers even more coverage options, including gap insurance for drivers who lease a vehicle and non-owner car insurance for drivers who rent or borrow vehicles but don’t own a car.

Travelers also has a Responsible Driver Plan, with benefits like accident forgiveness, minor violation forgiveness, and a decreasing deductible.

3. Nationwide

Nationwide’s wide range of car insurance discounts contributes to cheap full coverage car insurance rates and high levels of customer satisfaction. Along with the usual offers like Safe Driver and Good Student discounts, you can also get discounts simply for setting up automatic billing or paperless statements.

Optional add-ons include roadside assistance, accident forgiveness, and the option to have your deductible waived if you experience a total loss.

4. Farmers Insurance

Farmers Insurance offers a wide range of full coverage insurance options, including car, motorcycle, and boat coverage. Policyholders may also benefit from Policy Perks such as accident forgiveness, which excludes certain at-fault accidents from affecting your premium for every three years of accident-free driving.

Another optional add-on is rideshare coverage, which isn’t included with standard car insurance, even if you have a full coverage policy.

5. AAA Auto Insurance

AAA Auto Insurance may not be the cheapest full coverage option around, but it’s a great option if what you care about most is roadside assistance. AAA members get access to towing and lockout services, emergency fuel services, and more.

As for discounts, you can get up to 25% off comprehensive coverage for installing an anti-theft device and 5% if you’re the original vehicle owner.

How to Find the Best Car Insurance for Full Coverage

There’s an easy way to find the best rates for full coverage car insurance: To compare auto insurance quotes from multiple companies. That’s because your personal car insurance rates may be higher or lower than average, depending on where you live, your driving history, and other factors.

Teen drivers and young drivers (under 25) can expect to pay more for full coverage car insurance than mature drivers, even if they have a clean driving record. Drivers with a poor credit score can also expect to pay higher rates, while renters and homeowners may get a better deal by bundling multiple policies together.

Some auto insurance companies offer discounts to military members, college students, or drivers who enroll in a safe driving program. By comparing car insurance quotes from multiple companies, you’ll be able to find the cheapest car insurance that meets your needs – whether that’s full coverage, liability-only, or somewhere in between.

Compare Full Coverage Car Insurance Rates Today

Every insurance provider uses its own methodology to determine your rates, so the best car insurance for full coverage is different for everybody. In general, you can expect full coverage car insurance to be more expensive than liability insurance, but that doesn’t mean you can’t shop around for better rates and car insurance discounts.

Compare.com makes it easy to find the best rates with our car insurance calculator. Simply enter your ZIP code below to get started:

Nick Versaw Insurance Managing Editor

Nick Versaw leads Compare.com's editorial department, where he and his team specialize in crafting helpful, easy-to-understand content about car insurance and other related topics. As an award-winning writer, Nick has seen his work published in countless renowned publications, such as the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and U.S. News & World Report. He graduated with Latin honors from Virginia Commonwealth University, where he earned his Bachelor's Degree in Digital Journalism.