Car Insurance Rates Hold Near $187 a Month as Loan Costs Hit Records

Insurance has stopped falling, and it is not the only cost going up

In October 2026, the price of a car was easing at wholesale auctions. Owning and paying for one kept getting more expensive. Car insurance is a good example. Comparison site Insurify puts the national average at $187 a month for full coverage and $99 for liability-only coverage, based on its September quote data.1 Those figures matter less as a monthly reading than as a turning point. Insurify reports that the average annual cost of full coverage rose 1% in the first half of 2026, to $2,237. It also projects increases in 32 states by the end of the year, which suggests the relief drivers saw in 2025 is over.4

The insurance picture fits into a wider affordability problem. New-car prices have climbed back above $50,000, automakers are cutting back on discounts, and auto loan payments and loan sizes have hit records. Wholesale used-car values are the one number moving in buyers' favor, and so far that relief has not reached dealer lots.

Why the insurance averages don't agree

Anyone trying to find "the" average premium will get a different answer depending on who they ask. The gaps come from methodology, not from fast-moving prices:

• Compare.com puts full coverage at $185 a month and liability-only at $101. Its blended average across all drivers is $143.3
• NerdWallet's October analysis puts full coverage at $2,361 a year, about $197 a month. It puts minimum coverage much lower, at $648 a year.8
• The Zebra cites a national average of $194 a month.5
• An analysis of Experian's August marketplace data comes in highest: $2,922 a year ($243 a month) for full coverage and $1,580 for minimum coverage.9

The sources broadly agree that full coverage costs somewhere between about $185 and $245 a month. They disagree on minimum coverage by a factor of more than two. The best explanation is the sample each one uses. Quote-comparison data reflects people shopping for a better price. Marketplace policy data reflects what buyers actually signed for. Published averages from the same company can also drift. Insurify's own state page shows New York full coverage at $277 a month, while its news roundup shows $218.71 Drivers should treat any single national number as a rough guide, not a quote.

The state rankings are much more consistent. Insurify ranks Maryland as the most expensive state, at $302 a month for full coverage, followed by Rhode Island, New Jersey, Delaware and Nevada. New Hampshire is the cheapest at $85, ahead of Wyoming, Alaska, Iowa and Idaho.1 Compare.com's state figures show the same pattern at both ends.3 NerdWallet uses its own method and finds an even wider gap, from $1,148 a year in Wyoming to $4,296 in Louisiana.8

The vehicle itself matters too. Compare.com estimates full coverage on a Tesla Model Y at $306 a month, against $164 for a Honda CR-V.3 Credit history also moves rates: Insurify's figures run from $131 for drivers with excellent credit to $191 for those with poor credit.2 Young drivers pay the most. Compare.com puts the teen average at $268 a month.3

Wholesale used prices are falling, retail prices are not

The used market gives the clearest sign of a shift, but it comes with a complication. Cox Automotive's Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index fell to 205.9 in September. That was down 1.1% from August and 0.6% from a year earlier.30 It was the first time since March 2025 that the index failed to beat its year-earlier level, and it capped a 1.95% drop from July to September.25 In response, Cox lowered its full-year forecast for the index from a 2% gain to about 0.2%.26

Cox points to several causes. Its chief economist, Jeremy Robb, said depreciation late in September was steeper than usual for the time of year. The company also cited higher fuel costs, rising interest rates and broader economic pressure.30 AAA put September's national average gas price at $4.33 a gallon, 50 cents above the previous September record.25 Those fuel costs are splitting the market. Values of compact cars and EVs held above year-ago levels, while midsize cars, pickups and SUVs fell.22 Diesel vehicles were hit hardest. With diesel prices at records, their days' supply rose to 39, 27% higher than a year earlier.30 Cox also noted that this was the first September in decades with no Atlantic hurricane, which removed the replacement-vehicle demand that usually slows fall depreciation.22

The complication is retail. Kelley Blue Book says the average used car sold for $27,239 in August, the highest since December 2022, with cheaper used cars still in short supply. Cox has said retail demand is fairly healthy, but that the price trends suggest dealers have reached a limit on what they can charge.25 My reading is that wholesale is the early signal. Lower auction prices usually show up at retail after a delay, and supply is set to grow. Cox expects off-lease volume to rise from about 190,000 units a month in the first half of the year to about 220,000 in the second half.30 Used-car shoppers who can wait have a reason to.

New cars: prices above $50,000, smaller discounts

On the new-car side, Kelley Blue Book reports an average transaction price of $50,089 in August, the first time it topped $50,000 this year. That was up 1.9% from a year earlier and still below the December 2025 peak of $50,612.43 The average sticker price was $51,852.45 Incentives averaged 6.5% of the transaction price, down from 7.2% a year earlier, and July was the third straight monthly decline.44 Dealers responding to Cox's third-quarter sentiment survey said they feel less pressure to cut prices because inventories are manageable.45

Other trackers produce different dollar figures. J.D. Power estimated incentives at $3,451 per vehicle in July, or 6.7% of MSRP, alongside an average transaction price of $45,369.35 Its EV incentives far exceeded those on gas and hybrid models, at $10,092 versus $3,181 per vehicle.35 Even so, both trackers show the same direction: automakers are protecting their margins.

The cuts are not across the board. September offers included 0% financing for 60 months on the Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and GMC Sierra 1500, and 0% for 72 months on the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 9.33 Several Mazda, Kia and Nissan models had similar deals, and Audi offered up to $20,000 off its e-tron GT models.33 Kelley Blue Book also expects more discounts on outgoing 2026 models as 2027 models arrive.44 For shoppers who qualify, cheap factory financing may now save more than haggling over price.

Loans are the biggest pressure point

Financing is where the strain shows most clearly. Edmunds reports that new-car buyers borrowed a record average of $44,664 in the third quarter, nearly $2,000 more than a year earlier. Average down payments fell to $5,554 from $6,021.20 The average monthly payment rose to $787 from $756, and 21.2% of buyers now pay $1,000 or more a month.17 Interest over the life of a loan reached a record $9,938, even though the average rate held steady at 7%.20 The reason is longer loan terms.

Rate measures differ here too. Experian's second-quarter figures put average rates at 6.35% for new cars and 11.19% for used cars.18 Edmunds reported 7% for new and 10.6% for used in August.13 Cox's Auto Market Snapshot shows much higher figures, 10.17% for new and 14.43% for used.13 Credit scores create the biggest gap. Experian's new-car averages run from 4.41% for top-tier borrowers to 16.11% for deep-subprime borrowers.18

The trend is worse than early-year forecasts expected. Bankrate had projected that the average new-car rate would fall to about 6.7% in 2026.16 Instead, the St. Louis Fed series for 60-month new-car loans rose to 7.16% in September, from 6.94% in August.15 Some trade coverage links recent pressure to a Federal Reserve rate increase.29 Cox likewise lists rising interest rates as a headwind.30

What it adds up to

As a rough illustration, take Edmunds' $787 average payment and add a full-coverage premium between Insurify's $187 and the Experian-based $243.1719 That puts a typical new-car buyer at roughly $975 to $1,030 a month before fuel, which is near a record itself. Demand is holding up anyway. Cox raised its 2026 new-car sales forecast, describing the market as more resilient than expected, while buyers spend more of their budgets on vehicles and take longer loans.20

In my view, that resilience is a weakness. Wholesale prices are falling and discounts are shrinking, while loan balances, payments and premiums keep rising. That leaves more of the market's risk on buyers. The most practical moves are to shop for insurance quotes, which can vary by hundreds of dollars between companies, and to time used-car purchases to the coming increase in supply.230