Cheapest Car Insurance in South Carolina (2026)

Cheap South Carolina full coverage car insurance: Auto-Owners

Auto-Owners has the cheapest full coverage car insurance for most South Carolina drivers at $128 a month. USAA is cheaper, but it’s only available to the military community. Geico is slightly more expensive than Auto-Owners at $132 a month for full coverage Full coverage includes collision and comprehensive, which cover your own car for damage and theft. .

Key insight

Full coverage car insurance costs an average of $152 a month in South Carolina. Auto-Owners and Geico both charge about 15% less than the state average.

Cheapest full coverage auto insurance

Company		Monthly rate	LendingTree score
	Auto-Owners	$128
	Geico	$132
	Nationwide	$149
	Farm Bureau	$150
	Travelers	$150
	State Farm	$166
	Progressive	$169
	Allstate	$212
	USAA*	$116

Geico offers more discounts than Auto-Owners, which could make it your cheapest option. These include affiliation discounts for:

Auto-Owners is a better choice than Geico if you want gap insurance Gap insurance covers the difference between your car’s value and your loan balance, if you total the vehicle. or accident forgiveness Accident forgiveness prevents your first accident from making your rates go up. You have to add it to your policy before you crash. . Geico doesn’t offer either of these optional add-ons.

South Carolina’s cheapest liability car insurance: Geico

At $55 a month, Geico has South Carolina’s cheapest liability insurance, or minimum coverage, for most drivers. This is 12% less than Auto-Owners rate of $63 a month. Minimum car insurance in South Carolina includes liability coverage Liability insurance covers injuries and property damage you cause to others. It’s required by law in almost every state. and uninsured motorist Uninsured motorist covers you and your passengers for injuries caused by a driver with no insurance. It’s required in about 20 states and optional everywhere else. protection.

Cheap liability car insurance

Liability auto insurance costs an average of $66 a month in South Carolina. Your actual rate depends on things like your driving record, location and credit history.

Companies treat these factors differently and offer different car insurance discounts. Depending on your situation, one company may offer you a much lower rate than the others. This makes it good to compare car insurance quotes from a few companies when you shop.

Best auto insurance rates for South Carolina teens: Farm Bureau

South Carolina Farm Bureau has the state’s cheapest car insurance for most teens. The company charges young drivers $160 a month for minimum coverage. This is 9% less than Geico’s rate of $175 a month.

Farm Bureau’s full coverage rates average $270 a month for teens. This works out to 12% less than Auto-Owners’ rate.

Cheap auto insurance for teens

A lack of driving experience makes teens more likely to get into accidents. This is the main reason why they have such high auto insurance rates. Young drivers usually get cheaper rates when added to a parent’s policy than they do on their own.

Discounts also help make auto insurance more affordable for young drivers. Farm Bureau, Geico and Auto-Owners give teens discounts for getting good grades. Geico and Auto-Owners also give parents a discount if a teen on their policy goes off to college without a car.

Geico has additional discounts for: 

Geico’s DriveEasy app monitors your driving. You get discounts for avoiding risky and unsafe driving. The app also provides feedback you can use to improve your driving.

Programs like DriveEasy are also known as usage-based insurance (UBI). They’re available to drivers of any age. The discounts and driving tips may benefit teens the most.

Many other companies also have UBI programs, but not Farm Bureau. Auto-Owners gives teens a discount for using a GPS monitoring system, but it doesn’t have its own UBI app.

Cheap South Carolina auto insurance with a speeding ticket: Auto-Owners

Auto-Owners and Geico have South Carolina’s cheapest car insurance after a speeding ticket. Auto-Owners has the cheapest rate at $128 a month. Geico is only slightly more expensive at $132 a month.

Of the two, Geico has a slightly better satisfaction rating from J.D. Power J.D. Power’s satisfaction scores are based on customer surveys rating companies on factors like price, coverage options and problem resolution. . This usually means better customer service.

Auto insurance with a ticket

Best car insurance in South Carolina after an accident: Auto-Owners

At $182 a month, Auto-Owners has South Carolina’s cheapest car insurance after an at-fault accident, but not by much. Farm Bureau and Geico each charge less than $10 more per month.

Cheapest insurance after an accident

An at-fault accident raises the average price of car insurance by 47% to $223 a month. However, you may find cheaper car insurance with a bad driving record by shopping around.

Cheapest car insurance for South Carolina teens with a bad driving record: Geico

South Carolina teens with a bad driving record can get the cheapest car insurance from Geico. The company’s liability rates for young drivers with a ticket average $175 a month. This is 6% less than the next-cheapest rate of $188 a month from Farm Bureau.

Geico’s rates for teens with an accident average $196 a month. Nationwide only costs 5% more at $206 a month. However, Nationwide doesn’t have as many young driver discounts as Geico. This may make it hard for Nationwide to beat Geico’s rate.

Teen rates after a ticket or accident

South Carolina’s cheapest car insurance after a DUI: Farm Bureau

At $174 a month, Farm Bureau has South Carolina’s cheapest car insurance after a driving under the influence conviction (DUI). Travelers has the next-cheapest DUI insurance at $212 a month. Although it’s more expensive, Travelers also offers gap insurance, which Farm Bureau does not have.

Cheap car insurance with a DUI

Cheap South Carolina car insurance for bad credit: Nationwide

Drivers with bad credit can get South Carolina’s cheapest car insurance from Nationwide. The company’s bad-credit car insurance rates average $229 a month. This beats the next-cheapest rate of $256 a month from Travelers by 10%.

Insurance rates with bad credit

Insurance companies check your credit for things like late payments and the amounts you borrow. They believe your borrowing habits show how likely you are to have an accident or other claim. Avoiding late payments and paying down debts can help you get cheaper car insurance.

Best car insurance in South Carolina

Auto-Owners has the best car insurance for most South Carolina drivers. Along with low rates, Auto-Owners offers more coverage options than Geico and Farm Bureau. These include gap insurance and accident forgiveness.

Geico has more discounts than Auto-Owners and most other companies. Along with its affiliation and teen discounts, Geico also offers discounts for:

These can help make Geico your cheapest option, if you qualify for enough of them. 

USAA is the best choice if you meet its eligibility requirements. It doesn’t have a specific military discount like Geico. However, it does generally have low car insurance rates for current and former service members and their families. 

For example, USAA has South Carolina’s cheapest overall full coverage for drivers with a clean record. USAA also has a better customer satisfaction rating than almost every other company. This means customers like its prices, coverage options and customer service.

Car insurance company ratings

Company	J.D. Power	AM Best	LendingTree score
Allstate	635	A+
Auto-Owners	638	A+
Farm Bureau	645	A
Geico	645	A++
Nationwide	645	A
Progressive	621	A+
State Farm	650	A++
Travelers	613	A++
USAA*	735	A++

South Carolina car insurance rates by city

South Carolina car insurance rates range from $133 a month in Walhalla to $202 a month in Crocketville.

Accident and crime rates are among the factors that impact an area’s car insurance prices. High medical and car repair costs can also drive up insurance rates in your city or town.

Charleston drivers pay an average of $175 a month for car insurance. This is 15% higher than the state average. Car insurance costs $166 a month in Columbia, or 9% more than the average.

Car insurance rates near you

Minimum coverage for car insurance in South Carolina

You need car insurance to drive legally in South Carolina. The state’s minimum car insurance requirements include:

Bodily injury liability helps cover the medical bills of other people you injure in a car accident.

Physical damage liability covers damage you cause to other people’s vehicles or property.

Uninsured motorist covers you and your passengers for injuries and damage caused by a driver with no car insurance.

Collision Collision covers damage to your car from a collision with another vehicle or object. and comprehensive Comprehensive covers your car for theft and damage from non-collision causes, like fire, flood and vandalism. coverage are not required by law. However, you usually need both for a car loan or lease. Both are usually good to keep if your car is worth more than $5,000 after it’s paid off.