Whether you’re insuring your vehicle for the first time, you just moved to Texas, or you simply want to know more about what Texas minimum car insurance looks like, you’ve come to the right place. Insuring your car in Texas is easy, but doing it in a smart way may take a little more research. Read on to learn everything you need to know about Texas minimum car insurance.
Minimum Car Insurance in Texas
Most states will require you to have some sort of insurance for you to be able to drive legally on its roads. Texas is one of those states. In Texas, you need to have a minimum of liability insurance coverage before you can get behind the wheel. That liability insurance must cover:
- $30,000 of bodily injury coverage per person
- $60,000 of total bodily injury coverage per accident
- $25,000 of property damage coverage per accident
As you shop for minimum car insurance in Texas, you might see the minimum limits above presented in two other ways:
- $30,000/$60,000/$25,000
- 30/60/25
All three styles mean the same thing. The order should always be bodily injury per person, bodily injury per accident, and property damage. As long as the liability insurance plan you’re looking at has these levels of coverage or more, it’s a valid plan for driving in Texas.
Liability insurance only covers the costs for damages that other people involved in the collision. That means that you — the policyholder of the liability insurance — won’t have any of the damages your vehicle has or bodily injuries you have covered. Liability protects you and the other driver or property owner financially.
In addition to holding this minimum insurance, you are also required to have a way to prove it while you’re driving. The classic method is to put a printed copy of your insurance card in the glove box, but digital copies are being offered and accepted more frequently. We suggest doing both to cover all of your bases.
More Insurance Coverage in Texas
Liability insurance is the cheapest type of insurance you can get in Texas and most other states. However, a liability-only insurance plan might not be an option for you if you owe a certain amount of money on your auto loan or if you’re leasing your vehicle. Some loan and lease agreements require you to have more than just liability car insurance in Texas. They might also require you to get comprehensive and collision coverage.
Collision Insurance
Collision insurance works similarly to liability insurance, but it covers the policyholder’s property damage. A key difference is that collision insurance’s limit is determined by your vehicle’s actual cash value. If the cost of repairing the damages to your vehicle exceeds this actual cash value, your vehicle is considered “totaled,” and your insurance may pay out the full amount to help reimburse you for your vehicle.
Collision insurance doesn’t always include bodily injury coverage for your injuries. This is often yet another type of insurance policy that you can add to your auto insurance.
Comprehensive Insurance
Comprehensive insurance’s main goal is to help you financially protect yourself against vehicle damages caused by non-collision situations. Comprehensive coverage would come into play if a tree branch falls on your vehicle, your vehicle is damaged by hail, your vehicle is stolen, and so on.
If you have liability, collision, and comprehensive insurance, you have what’s called “full coverage insurance.” Full coverage insurance is not a singular insurance plan — it’s a collection of these three types. And as we mentioned above, drivers who lease their vehicle or agree to an auto loan that asks for it may need to sign up for full coverage insurance to protect not only themselves financially should something go wrong, but to protect the lender’s investment in their vehicle.
How Much Will I Pay for Texas Minimum Car Insurance?
You may find that you don’t pay the same rate for minimum car insurance in Texas as your friends and family do. This is because a handful of factors come into play when an insurance company is deciding how much it’s going to charge you for your plan. These factors include but are not limited to your:
- Age
- Location in Texas
- Driving history
- Credit score
- Vehicle make, model, age, and style
- Vehicle safety features
According to ValuePenguin, the average rate for liability car insurance in Texas is $666. The insurance companies that offered the cheapest average annual costs for liability plans were:
- State Farm: $450
- USAA: $477
- GEICO: $603
- Dairyland: $776
- Chubb: $819
- Nationwide: $873
USAA only offers insurance plans to current and former members of the military and their immediate families. It’s important to keep in mind that these are average rates — the cheapest company for one driver may not be the cheapest company for you. Your actual rate for liability car insurance may be above or below these averages depending on the factors we laid out above.
It’s important to shop around for your car insurance to make sure that you’re getting the best deal. Quality car insurance companies offer quotes on car insurance for free to help you decide if you want to choose their services. Get a handful of these quotes to compare and contrast them. The insurance company will use your credit score to create the quote, but it’s a soft inquiry that won’t affect your score.
If you’re simply looking for the cheapest possible car insurance, your decision will be laid out for you. But if you’re looking for a good mix of price and benefits or coverage, be sure to compare what the insurance plans offer. An insurance plan might be less expensive because it has less to offer.
Shopping for your Texas minimum car insurance is easy once you know what you’re looking for. If you need more information about the world of insurance and vehicle maintenance, be sure to visit our blog page for more resources like this one.
At FIXD, our mission is to make car ownership as simple, easy, and affordable as possible. Our research team utilizes the latest automotive data and insights to create tools and resources that help drivers get peace of mind and save money over the life of their car.
