Cheapest Car Insurance in Tennessee (2026)

Summary

• State Farm has the cheapest liability-only car insurance in Tennessee at $35/month, and Progressive the cheapest full coverage at $75, per Insurify rate data updated September 12, 2026. Mile Auto ($37/$77) and Sun Coast ($37/$79) follow.
• Tennessee is one of the cheapest states in the Southeast: liability averages $60/month against the national $98, full coverage $132 against $187 — about $720 and $1,589 a year.
• Rates fell here while they rose almost everywhere else. Full coverage dropped about 7% in 2025, tracking a 14% decline in traffic fatalities, and has been flat in 2026 — up less than 1% since December against a national average that's still creeping higher.
• The pressures underneath: a crash-death rate of roughly 17 per 100,000 against 11.5 nationally, about 15% of drivers uninsured, tornado and flood exposure, and vehicle theft concentrated in Memphis.
• Geography sets the price. Memphis drivers pay $144/month on average; Johnson City drivers pay $76. The Tri-Cities corner of the state is the cheapest place to insure a car in Tennessee.
• The carrier spread on the same liability profile runs $35 to $133 a month, so see where your own quote lands before your next renewal.

Cheapest Car Insurance Companies in Tennessee

Tennessee splits its top spot: State Farm is cheapest for liability, Progressive for full coverage, and the two pay-per-mile and regional carriers — Mile Auto and Sun Coast — sit between them. That's an unusual shape. In most states we cover, one carrier leads both columns; here the cheapest liability carrier and the cheapest full-coverage carrier are five dollars apart in one direction and one dollar apart in the other, which means the right answer depends on which policy you're buying.

Source: Insurify Tennessee rate data, current as of August 31, 2026 (page updated September 12). Full-coverage figures reflect 50/100/50 liability limits with $1,000 collision and comprehensive deductibles. Actual quotes vary by driver profile.

Three things in the table are worth a second look. Progressive's full-coverage rate is the anomaly — $75, lower than State Farm's $76 despite a higher liability rate — and it's why the hub's own headline splits the crown. Sun Coast, a regional carrier most out-of-state readers won't recognize, is the cheapest option in several Tennessee cities (Chattanooga, Clarksville, Franklin, Kingsport, Murfreesboro, Nashville) and belongs on every Tennessee shortlist. And Auto-Owners, which swept Arizona and leads Virginia, is tenth here at $48 — a reminder that carrier rankings don't travel across state lines. State Farm's podium streak, meanwhile, continues: seven states running since Washington, with only Kentucky pushing it to third.

A note on Mile Auto: its price is a base rate plus a per-mile charge, verified by an odometer photo. It's cheapest only for low-mileage drivers; a long Nashville or Knoxville commute will price it above State Farm.

How Much Is Car Insurance in Tennessee?

Tennessee averages $60/month for liability-only and $132/month for full coverage — about $720 and $1,589 a year, and well under the national averages of $98 and $187. Overall, the state's blended average is $96 a month against $143 nationally.

The trend is the good news. Full coverage cost about $1,580 a year in December 2025 and $1,589 in August 2026, essentially flat, in a year when the national average has moved from $2,221 to $2,241. That follows a 7% decline across 2025, one of the largest drops in the country, which insurers tied to a 14% fall in statewide traffic fatalities. Tennessee's peak was $1,805 in May 2024; it's now about 12% below that. The mid-year forecast has the state finishing 2026 near $1,588 — a rounding error from where it already sits. Neighboring Kentucky is the mirror image: up 8% this year and climbing. Our September rate report has the full national picture.

The pressure running the other way is structural. Tennessee's motor-vehicle death rate is about 17 per 100,000 people against 11.5 nationally, roughly 15% of drivers are uninsured, the state ranks 14th in the country for vehicle theft by volume, and its weather exposure runs from tornadoes and flooding in the west to the Hurricane Helene damage that hit the east in 2024. Rates are low despite all of that, not because it isn't there.

City spread, per Insurify:

The map reads east to west. The Tri-Cities — Bristol, Johnson City, Kingsport — and Knoxville's suburbs are the cheapest places in the state to insure a car. Middle Tennessee's commuter ring around Nashville (Murfreesboro, Smyrna, Hendersonville, Clarksville) runs 10–20% above the state average, and Nashville itself is another step up. Memphis is a different market entirely: $89 for liability and $198 for full coverage, double Johnson City, on the back of the state's worst theft numbers and the freight congestion on I-40. If you garage a car in Shelby County, the carrier comparison is worth more to you than to anyone else in Tennessee.

Tennessee Car Insurance Requirements

Tennessee requires 25/50/25 liability coverage: $25,000 in bodily injury coverage per person, $50,000 per accident, and $25,000 for property damage.

Those minimums haven't changed since 2017, while repair and medical costs have risen sharply, so the legal floor covers less of a real accident than it used to. Tennessee is an at-fault (tort) state — the driver who causes the crash pays — and the state technically requires proof of financial responsibility, which almost everyone meets with insurance but which can also be satisfied by posting a $65,000 bond or cash deposit with the Department of Revenue.

Tennessee raised its penalties for driving uninsured in 2025: $50 for a first violation, $250 for a second, $500 for a third, alongside registration suspension. It's also an SR-22 state: drivers reinstating after a suspension, an uninsured-driving conviction, or a DUI need their insurer to file the certificate, and State Farm is the cheapest carrier in the state for drivers who need it. Our SR-22 explainer covers the mechanics, and our suspended-license guide covers reinstatement. Drivers who can't find coverage on the open market can apply through the Tennessee Automobile Insurance Plan, the state's assigned-risk pool.

High-Risk Drivers in Tennessee

Tennessee's violation surcharges sit in the middle of our library. Drivers with a speeding ticket average $127/month, about 33% more than the $96 clean-record average. An at-fault accident averages $136 (42% more), and a DUI averages $144, about 50% more — steeper than Ohio, far gentler than Kentucky, where a DUI more than doubles the rate. Just under 5% of Tennessee drivers carry a speeding ticket. A first-offense DUI also brings a $350 to $1,500 fine and a one-year license revocation, on top of the SR-22. Our post-accident rate guide and not-at-fault accident explainer cover what actually moves after a claim; our coverage-lapse guide covers the other common way Tennessee drivers end up in the high-risk bracket.

Credit counts in Tennessee, and it counts for a lot: drivers with poor credit pay about 37% more than drivers with excellent credit. The state's average FICO score is 703, just under the national 713, and Tennessee law allows credit-based pricing — though it bars insurers from denying coverage over multiple insurance-related credit inquiries. The credit-score playbook applies in full.

Age moves the number more than any violation. Teen drivers average $118/month for liability and $260 for full coverage — double the adult rate — with State Farm cheapest for teen liability at about $70 and Progressive cheapest for teen full coverage at $142. Our teen safe-car guide covers the vehicle side. Seniors do well: drivers 65 and over average $52/month for liability and $114 for full coverage, the cheapest band on the age curve, and Tennessee mandates a premium reduction for drivers 55 and older who complete an approved accident-prevention course.

How to Save on Car Insurance in Tennessee

1. Quote State Farm and Progressive first, then Sun Coast. Cheapest for liability, cheapest for full coverage, and the regional carrier that wins half the state's cities — that's the shortlist everything else has to beat.
2. Buy the policy you actually need, from the carrier that's cheapest for it. In Tennessee the cheapest liability carrier and the cheapest full-coverage carrier are different companies. About 32% of Tennesseans have a car loan or lease and need full coverage; the other two-thirds may not.
3. If you drive under the state average, price Mile Auto. Pay-per-mile is the single biggest structural discount in the state for retirees, remote workers, and second cars.
4. If you're in Memphis or Nashville, shop twice as hard. The theft premium is carrier-specific, and the spread is widest where the base rate is highest.
5. Over 55? Take the course. The accident-prevention discount is written into state law, not left to the insurer's discretion.
6. Stack the standard discounts — bundling home or renters (Tennessee's homeownership rate is about 67%, so most drivers qualify), good student, defensive driving, and safe-driver telematics. Our discounts guide covers the full list, and our telematics comparison covers which programs can't raise your rate.
7. Compare before renewal, not after. Tennessee is one of the few states where a renewal may come in lower — but only if your carrier passes the decline along. Pull fresh quotes a month out, check the national standings, and price your own profile against the tables above.

Rate data from Insurify's Tennessee car insurance analysis and Tennessee average-cost analysis, both updated September 12, 2026, with table rates current as of August 31, 2026, based on real-time quotes from 500+ partner insurers for drivers ages 20–70 with clean records and average or better credit unless noted. Annual trend figures from the same source's monthly Tennessee series (December 2025–August 2026) and 2026 Mid-Year Auto Report. State requirements and penalties per the Tennessee Department of Revenue and Department of Safety and Homeland Security as cited in the same analyses; uninsured-driver share per the Tennessee Department of Revenue; fatality rate per IIHS as cited there. Actual quotes vary by driver profile.