Best Car Insurance with a $1,000 Deductible (2024)

Your car insurance deductible might feel unimportant in comparison to your premium until it’s time to file a claim. You’ll need to pay the deductible after you file a claim before your insurance company covers the remaining costs.^[1] Accidents happen when you least expect them, so you should make sure you can cover your deductible at any time.

Certainly, Travelers, and Nationwide offer some of the cheapest average monthly quotes for a full-coverage policy with a $1,000 deductible.

What is a $1,000 deductible, and how does it work?

A car insurance deductible is the amount of money you pay out of pocket after you file a claim.

For example, if you get in a car accident that results in $2,500 in damage and file a claim to repair your vehicle, you’ll need to pay your $1,000 deductible. After you pay the deductible, your insurer covers the rest of the damage. In this case, the insurance company would pay the remaining $1,500, or up to the coverage limits on your policy.

As a driver, you should have easy access to your deductible funds in case an accident occurs. Otherwise, you could be stuck in a difficult financial position.

Most insurance companies offer a wide range of deductible options. For example, you might find deductibles ranging from $100 to $2,000. A $1,000 deductible qualifies as a relatively high deductible.

Opting for a $1,000 deductible comes with one obvious disadvantage: needing to come up with this cash in a hurry after filing a claim. But opting for a higher deductible usually comes with a lower monthly insurance premium.

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How much does car insurance with a $1,000 deductible cost?

In general, setting a higher deductible leads to cheaper insurance premiums. The reverse also holds true, with a low deductible leading to higher insurance costs. But the exact cost of your car insurance policy will vary based on several other factors, including your age, policy type, driving record, location, and more.^[2]

For example, you’ll likely pay more for a policy that includes collision coverage and comprehensive coverage than you would for just liability insurance.

Every insurer takes a slightly different approach to evaluating the factors that influence your insurance costs, so these costs vary across insurers. Shopping around for an insurance policy with a $1,000 deductible will help you find the cheapest coverage for your insurance needs.

Certainly offers the cheapest average quote for full-coverage insurance with a $1,000 deductible, at $135 per month. On the costlier end, Direct Auto offers average quotes for full coverage at $291 per month.

Best car insurance with a $1,000 deductible

For many people, the best car insurance option prioritizes affordability. After all, car insurance is an unavoidable cost that drivers have to fit into their budgets. At $135 per month, Certainly has the cheapest average full-coverage rates with a $1,000 deductible, but the company only operates in a handful of states. You can find other relatively affordable options through Travelers and Nationwide, which have availability across the country.

Certainly

Travelers

Nationwide

How Insurify’s experts used internal proprietary data to rate the top auto insurers

Data scientists at Insurify analyzed more than 40 million real-time auto insurance rates from our partner providers across the United States to compile the car insurance quotes, statistics, and data visualizations displayed on this page.

The car insurance data includes coverage analysis and details on drivers' vehicles, driving records, and demographic information. Quotes for Allstate, Farmers, GEICO, State Farm, and USAA are estimates based on Quadrant Information Service’s database of auto insurance rates.

With these insights, Insurify is able to offer drivers insight into how companies price their car insurance premiums. The data included on this page represent averages across all driver ages, gender, credit scores, and driver profiles.

$1,000 deductible vs. $500 deductible: Which should you choose?

“If you have a higher deductible, you’ll have a reduced monthly premium, so for some drivers, the benefit of paying less each month outweighs the risk of paying more in the instance of a claim,” says P.J. Miller, partner and independent insurance agent with Wallace & Turner Insurance.

However, if you choose a $1,000 deductible, you should make sure you have easy access to the funds at all times. When you file a claim, you need to have those funds ready. Setting a $1,000 deductible might not work for a driver without easily accessible savings. If you aren’t sure you’d have the funds to pay your deductible, you should consider an insurance policy with a $500 deductible instead. 

Other ways to lower car insurance costs

Lower premiums are the biggest appeal of an insurance policy with a $1,000 deductible. But if you don’t want to take on an insurance policy with a high premium, you can use other strategies to lower your insurance costs, including:^[4] 

• Ask for a discount. Many insurance companies offer discounts on their policies. A few popular discounts reward safe drivers, households with multiple vehicles, and people who bundle multiple policy types.^[5]

• Build your credit. In general, drivers with good credit pay less for car insurance than drivers with poor credit. Focus on paying your bills on time to improve your credit over time.

• Shop around. Every car insurance company evaluates risk and calculates premiums in a different way. If you shop around, you can find the best rates for your situation. An online quote-comparison tool makes this task easy.

$1,000 car insurance deductible FAQs