Two numbers exist for every state. What a complete package costs — liability, collision and comprehensive added together. And what drivers there actually spend on average.
The gap between them is coverage people chose not to buy.
| State | Actually spent | Full package | Share bought |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Hampshire | $987 | $1,032 | 96% |
| Massachusetts | $1,326 | $1,413 | 94% |
| Arkansas | $1,051 | $1,297 | 81% |
| South Dakota | $936 | $1,158 | 81% |
| Wyoming | $948 | $1,180 | 80% |
The cheap states are where people buy least
This runs against intuition. You'd expect drivers to economise where insurance is expensive and buy everything where it's cheap. The opposite happens.
Wyoming and South Dakota have some of the lowest premiums in the country and the largest share of coverage left on the table. New Hampshire and Massachusetts cost more and drivers there buy almost the full package.
What's actually being skipped
Liability is mandatory almost everywhere, so the gap is collision and comprehensive — the two components that pay to fix your own car.
And those are optional in a specific circumstance: when you own the car outright. A financed or leased vehicle has a lender requiring full coverage as a condition of the loan. Once the loan is paid off, that requirement disappears and the decision becomes yours.
Which reframes the map. Wyoming and South Dakota are states with older, cheaper, fully-owned vehicles — the profile where dropping collision on a $4,000 truck is a completely rational decision. Massachusetts and New Hampshire have newer, more expensive, more heavily financed cars where nobody has the option.
When dropping collision makes sense
The standard rule: if the annual premium for collision and comprehensive exceeds about 10% of the car's value, you're paying a lot to insure a little.
On a car worth $4,000, full coverage at $400 a year buys you a maximum payout of $4,000 minus the deductible. Three years of premiums and you've paid for a third of the car you're insuring.
Drop it when: the car is worth under about $5,000, you own it outright, and you could absorb replacing it without borrowing.
Keep it when: there's a loan, the car is worth more than you could replace from savings, or you're in a high-theft or severe-weather area — comprehensive is the cheapest line on the policy and the one rising fastest, as we found in the 20% rise in three years.
Never drop liability to save money. It's the component that protects your assets rather than your car, and it's the largest share of the bill in expensive states for good reason — we broke that down in two thirds of a Florida premium.
Know what the car is worth first
The whole calculation depends on the vehicle's actual value, and that's where people get it wrong in both directions. A branded title changes the number substantially and also changes what an insurer will write. A VIN check shows title status and history, and our insurance cost pages give the premium for a specific model before you commit either way.
Frequently asked questions
How many drivers buy full coverage insurance?
It varies sharply by state. New Hampshire drivers spend 96% of what a full package costs and Massachusetts 94%, while Wyoming sits at 80% and South Dakota at 81% — meaning a fifth of available coverage goes unbought there.
Why do drivers in cheap states buy less coverage?
Because collision and comprehensive are optional once a car is paid off. States like Wyoming and South Dakota have older, cheaper, fully-owned vehicles, while states with newer financed cars have lenders requiring full coverage as a loan condition.
When should I drop collision coverage?
A common rule is when the annual premium for collision and comprehensive exceeds about 10% of the car's value. On a vehicle worth under roughly $5,000 that you own outright and could replace from savings, the maths usually stops working.
Is it ever worth dropping liability insurance?
No. Liability protects your assets rather than your car, and it's mandatory almost everywhere. A single serious injury claim can exceed state minimum limits, with the shortfall coming out of your own pocket.
Denis Kataev is a serial solopreneur and the founder of ForCar. With 15+ years in software engineering and 10 years in SEO, he builds data-driven products end to end — backed by a sharp eye for design. At ForCar he mines proprietary vehicle datasets, turning raw numbers into buying advice you can actually trust.
Keep reading
All articles →
The Most Expensive Hail Insurance in America Is in the Cheapest Insurance States
South Dakota has some of the cheapest car insurance in the country and the most expensive comprehensive cover. Both facts have the same cause, and it falls out of the sky.
Montana's Used Lots Are 19% Diesel. Washington DC's Are 1.4%.
Diesel is supposed to be finished in America. It is in some places and thriving in others, and the split maps almost perfectly onto what people use their vehicles for.
Fuel Economy Went Nowhere for Five Years, Then Jumped 30%
Fuel economy is supposed to improve every year. I charted it by era across our whole catalogue and found a decade where it did nothing at all — which is useful, because it means one buying window is far better than it looks.