Texas car insurance costs more than the national average, and most of that gap sits in the coverage that repairs your own vehicle. This page sets out what coverage costs statewide and city by city, what Texas law requires, and how coverage is verified.
The information below is general educational content drawn from public industry sources. Specific rate impacts vary by state, by carrier, by individual driving history, and by the rate factors filed and approved with each state Department of Insurance. The ranges and patterns on this page are industry estimates, not GoAuto rating factors. For an accurate quote, contact GoAuto directly.
Texas requires every driver to show financial responsibility, and almost all do so by carrying at least 30/60/25 liability coverage: $30,000 for bodily injury per person, $60,000 per accident, and $25,000 for property damage. Texas car insurance costs $66 a month for state-minimum liability and $150 a month for full coverage on average, against national averages of $60 and $124, and the state’s higher costs come mostly from hail, hurricane and flood exposure and from the share of vehicles on the road without insurance. Texas is an at-fault state, so the driver who causes a crash is responsible for the resulting injuries and damage, and coverage is verified electronically against vehicle registration records rather than by paper proof alone. What an individual Texas driver pays varies widely by city, vehicle, record and coverage level, which is why quotes at identical limits are the only meaningful comparison.
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Texas driving is two different problems in one state. The Gulf Coast takes named storms and the North Texas hail corridor runs through the Metroplex every spring, both of which are comprehensive claims rather than liability ones. Away from the metros, interstate distances put more miles on a vehicle than a city driver covers in a year, and mileage is a rating factor in its own right.
Texas sits above the national average at both coverage levels, and the gap is much wider on full coverage than on the state minimum. That difference is the useful part: it tells you the extra cost in Texas is concentrated in comprehensive and collision, the coverages that pay for damage to your own vehicle, rather than in liability. The table below shows 2026 market averages for Texas against the national figure. These are averages across all carriers, not GoAuto rates, and no average matches a real quote. A Texas premium is assembled from the city and ZIP, the vehicle, the record, the credit-based insurance score the state allows, and the limits and deductibles chosen.
| Coverage level | Texas average | National average |
|---|---|---|
| State-minimum liability30/60/25 limits | $795 / year$66 / month | $726 / year$60 / month |
| Full coverageLiability + comprehensive + collision | $1,799 / year$150 / month | $1,493 / year$124 / month |
Source: MoneyGeek, “Average Car Insurance Cost in Texas (2026 Rates)” (moneygeek.com/insurance/auto/average-cost-car-insurance-texas/), 2026 data, accessed 12 August 2026. Market averages only; no individual insurer’s rates are represented. The two gap figures beside the table are the difference between the Texas and national columns. Your actual rate will depend on driving history, credit, vehicle type and ZIP code.
Full coverage costs $306 more per year in Texas than the national average, while the state minimum costs $69 more. The full-coverage gap is more than four times the minimum-coverage gap in dollar terms, because hail, hurricanes and flooding hit comprehensive and collision claims far harder than they hit liability costs.
Of the factors a driver can actually act on, location moves a Texas premium furthest. Full coverage ranges from $198 a month in Houston to $153 a month in El Paso across the state’s ten largest cities, and every one of them sits above the national average of $124.
| City | Full coverage, monthly | Minimum coverage, monthly |
|---|---|---|
| Houston | $198 / month | $86 / month |
| Dallas | $195 / month | $86 / month |
| Plano | $178 / month | $81 / month |
| San Antonio | $176 / month | $77 / month |
| Arlington | $175 / month | $78 / month |
| Corpus Christi | $164 / month | $72 / month |
| Fort Worth | $163 / month | $71 / month |
| Austin | $158 / month | $69 / month |
| Lubbock | $156 / month | $68 / month |
| El Paso | $153 / month | $67 / month |
Source: MoneyGeek, “Average Car Insurance Cost in Texas (2026 Rates)” (moneygeek.com/insurance/auto/average-cost-car-insurance-texas/), cost by city, 2026 data, accessed 12 August 2026. Market averages across all carriers, not individual insurer rates.
The Gulf Coast and the hail corridor account for most of the spread. Houston and Corpus Christi carry hurricane and flood exposure, and Dallas and Fort Worth sit in one of the most active hail regions in the country, while El Paso is far from both.
Texas law requires drivers to show they can pay for the accidents they cause, and most drivers do that by buying liability insurance at or above the limits below, usually written as 30/60/25. You may buy higher limits, and many drivers do.
| Coverage | Texas minimum |
|---|---|
| Bodily injury liability, per person | $30,000 |
| Bodily injury liability, per accident | $60,000 |
| Property damage liability | $25,000 |
Liability insurance pays to repair or replace the other driver’s vehicle or other damaged property, and pays other people’s medical expenses, when you are at fault in a crash. It pays nothing toward repairing your own vehicle. For that you need physical damage coverage, which comes in two parts: collision, which covers damage from a crash regardless of fault, and comprehensive, sometimes called other-than-collision, which covers theft, vandalism, fire, falling objects and weather damage including hail and flood.
Texas does not require physical damage coverage, but if your vehicle is financed or leased the lender almost always will. Texas insurers must also offer personal injury protection, which pays certain medical costs and lost wages regardless of fault, and a driver who does not want it has to reject it in writing. For official guidance on state requirements and registration, see the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles.
Yes, in practice. Texas requires every driver to show financial responsibility, and almost everyone meets that by carrying at least 30/60/25 liability coverage. Texas is an at-fault, or tort, state rather than a no-fault state. The driver responsible for a crash is responsible for the resulting injuries and property damage, and their liability coverage pays those costs first.
Texas verifies coverage electronically. Under TexasSure, the state’s financial responsibility verification program, every insurer writing personal auto coverage in Texas reports its full book of business each week, and the data is matched against vehicle registration records. All 254 county tax assessor-collector offices and the Department of Public Safety can check a vehicle’s coverage status against that database, so a lapse can surface at registration renewal without a traffic stop ever happening.
Driving without proof of financial responsibility in Texas can lead to fines, vehicle impoundment, and suspension of your driver license and vehicle registration. A driver whose license is suspended may be required to file an SR-22 certificate of financial responsibility with the state before driving privileges are restored.
TexasSure is described on the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles site, under insurance verification.
Texas splits this between a county and a state agency. Whichever of the 254 counties the stop happened in owns the criminal case; Austin owns the license and the filing. Neither office closes the other’s file.
The court side. A first misdemeanor DWI is heard in a county court at law in the county where the offense occurred, and that county’s clerk collects the fine and court costs at final disposition. Texas has 254 counties, so the court venue changes with the stop while the state process does not.
The state side. Licensing sits entirely with the Department of Public Safety. A DWI conviction brings a suspension and a requirement to file an SR-22, a certificate your insurer files with the state confirming you carry at least the 30/60/25 minimum. The clock on that filing is two years, counted from conviction rather than from reinstatement.
Why the order matters. Reinstatement needs the suspension served, the state reinstatement fee paid, the SR-22 on file, and every separate suspension cleared. Court fines and state fees go to different offices and neither closes the other.
Then keep it in force. A lapse is not something a driver can quietly absorb: the insurer has to report it, and the suspension comes straight back.
Sources: Texas Department of Public Safety, on the SR-22 certificate of financial responsibility; county clerks, who collect misdemeanor fines and court costs, on misdemeanor fines and court costs. Both accessed 19 August 2026. Note that the old annual Driver Responsibility surcharge ended with the program’s repeal in 2019.
Texas insurers file their rating plans with the Texas Department of Insurance, and while the weightings differ between carriers, the factors they weight most heavily are consistent:
Violation timing: MoneyGeek, “Average Car Insurance Cost in Texas (2026 Rates)” (moneygeek.com/insurance/auto/average-cost-car-insurance-texas/), 2026 data, accessed 12 August 2026. Uninsured-vehicle share, 11.87% at September 2025: Texas Department of Motor Vehicles, TexasSure insurance verification, accessed 19 August 2026. The two are measured differently: TexasSure verifies registered vehicles against insurer records, while the Insurance Research Council estimates uninsured drivers from claim frequencies.
A Texas policy is built from six separate coverages. Only liability counts toward the state minimum; the rest are options you add, and they are what decide whether your own vehicle is covered.
Texas’s minimum is liability only, so it will not repair your own car and will not protect you against an uninsured driver. If your vehicle is financed or leased, your lender will normally require collision and comprehensive on top of the state minimum.
GoAuto Insurance writes auto coverage across its licensed states, including Texas, and considers drivers with a range of records, including tickets, accidents, DUIs, and coverage lapses. GoAuto focuses on state-minimum liability coverage, the lowest coverage level the law allows, and, depending on your situation, can provide a policy that includes SR-22 verification. Down-payment and payment options vary by state and situation. Eligibility, coverage, filing timelines, and pricing depend on your state and your individual circumstances, so the best way to see what applies to you is to get a quote, or call 833-700-0000.