Comparison

SR-22 insurance companies, compared

Dana Whitfield

Reviewed against state DMV/DOI sources · Updated July 16, 2026

The short answer

We checked all 9 major SR-22 carriers against their own sites and current rate studies this year — and found several widely-repeated numbers don't hold up. GEICO and Erie lead on price among carriers that publish comparable data; The General and Dairyland are absent from most studies entirely.

"Best" for an SR-22 means the carrier that files reliably in your state and adds the smallest surcharge to your specific violation. We rewrote this comparison after checking each carrier's own site and current 2026 rate data directly, and several of the numbers that circulate — including some this page used to publish — didn't survive that check.

What each carrier actually says about filing

This split matters more than price. GEICO and Dairyland are unusually direct — both state plainly on their own sites that they file SR-22s for new and existing customers. The General also says so clearly, with one real limit: it can only file in the state where your policy was issued.

State Farm and Nationwide are the opposite. Neither's SR-22 page ever says, in the first person, that the company files them — both are written about "your insurance company" in the third person, and State Farm's page goes further, telling you that if your provider won't help, "you likely will need to find a new provider." In practice both do file for some customers; the outcome depends on the agent and the state.

We couldn't verify Progressive's, Allstate's, or Farmers' own statements — their sites were unreachable from where we checked, or blocked outright. That doesn't mean they don't file; it means we won't repeat a claim we couldn't confirm.

What the rate studies actually show

MoneyGeek's July 2026 study (529,578 quotes, 67 insurers) is the most comprehensive one we could verify directly, and it's worth noting who's missing from it as much as who's in it: The General and Dairyland don't appear at all, because neither reports rates to the data vendor most studies run on. Any page confidently pricing them against GEICO or State Farm is estimating, not citing.

Erie is the outright cheapest at $114/month for minimum coverage, but sells in only 12 states. Among carriers available everywhere, GEICO leads.

A genuine and unresolved conflict: a second reputable study, Insurify, prices several of the same carriers 30–50% lower — GEICO at $100 instead of $136, State Farm at $66 instead of $160. We're presenting both rather than picking a winner, because we can't reconcile them and won't pretend we can.

Where non-standard carriers actually fit

Where we do have data on The General and Dairyland, it cuts against the assumption that non-standard means cheap. Insurify prices The General at $288/month with a DUI — more than double Auto-Owners' $114, and beaten even by fellow non-standard carrier Direct Auto at $239. Dairyland runs $239–$318/month for general drivers in the two studies that do cover it, though it's genuinely competitive for motorcycle SR-22s specifically.

What these carriers reliably offer is access, not a discount: they write drivers standard carriers decline. Use them as a bridge if you've been turned away elsewhere, not as a first stop on price.

USAA, if you qualify

USAA restricts membership to military members, veterans, and their families — and its own bylaws are narrower than the eligibility list most sites quote, listing only servicemembers, employees, former members, and widow(er)s; family eligibility is board policy the company itself only promises a "good chance" on. If you do qualify, its non-owner SR-22 at $28/month is the lowest figure we found anywhere in this research.

The subsidiary pattern worth knowing

Three of the standard carriers here route high-risk drivers to their own non-standard subsidiaries rather than writing them directly: State Farm to Gainsco, Allstate to National General, Farmers to Bristol West. Sentry, which owns both Dairyland and The General, runs the reverse structure — two non-standard brands under one parent. If your "standard" carrier declines you, there's a real chance the company that takes you next shares an owner with the one that just said no.

Why quotes vary this much

Each insurer weighs your specific violation and state differently — a carrier that prices a DUI competitively may surcharge a lapse heavily, and vice versa. Combined with the study-to-study disagreement documented above, the only reliable way to find your actual cheapest option is to quote at least three carriers for your specific situation — not to trust any single ranking, including this one. See our cheapest SR-22 guide for the shopping strategy.

What we won't do on this page

A lot of comparison pages assign every carrier a confident single number and a tidy ranking. We tried that with the previous version of this page and found several figures didn't survive contact with a real fetch of the carrier's own site — a comparison table that used to list "The General: $104/month, files nationally" and "Allstate: $308/month" is gone, because neither number matched what current rate studies or the carriers themselves actually show. If a page elsewhere confidently ranks all nine of these carriers with a single decimal-precision monthly rate each, ask where those numbers came from before trusting the order.

SR-22 minimum coverage, per two 2026 studies that don't fully agree — read both columns

Company	MoneyGeek (Jul 1, 2026)	Insurify (Jul 15, 2026)	Own site confirms filing?
Erie	$114/mo (12 states)	not listed	Not checked
GEICO	$136/mo	$100/mo	Yes
State Farm	$160/mo	$66/mo	No — third-person only
Progressive	$169/mo	not listed	Site unreachable
Allstate	not listed	$91/mo	Site unreachable
Dairyland	absent from study	absent from study	Yes
The General	absent from study	$288/mo (with DUI)	Yes
USAA (non-owner)	$28/mo	not listed	Yes — eligibility restricted

Estimate only — actual rates depend on your state, age, vehicle, and insurer. Verify quotes directly.

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Frequently asked questions

Which SR-22 company is cheapest?

It depends on which study you trust. MoneyGeek's 2026 data puts Erie lowest at $114/month (12 states only) and GEICO lowest among carriers available everywhere at $136. Insurify's data puts GEICO at $100 and State Farm as low as $66 — a real, unresolved disagreement between reputable sources. Quote several carriers yourself.

Which SR-22 companies say outright that they file?

GEICO, Dairyland, and The General all state plainly on their own sites that they file SR-22s. State Farm and Nationwide never make that claim in the first person — both describe the process as something "your insurance company" does, generically. We couldn't verify Progressive's, Allstate's, or Farmers' own statements because their sites were unreachable when we checked.

Are non-standard carriers like The General and Dairyland cheaper?

No — that's a common misconception this page used to repeat. Insurify's 2026 data prices The General at $288/month with a DUI, more than double a standard carrier like Auto-Owners. Non-standard carriers exist to write drivers standard insurers decline, not to undercut them on price. Both are also absent from MoneyGeek's flagship SR-22 study entirely.

Is USAA the best option?

If you're eligible, often yes — its non-owner SR-22 at $28/month is the lowest figure we found in this research. But USAA's own bylaws restrict membership more narrowly than the eligibility list most sites publish, so check your actual eligibility before counting on it.