Our survey of quotes revealed that the average cost of auto insurance across eight of the most popular 2019 BMWs to be $3,634 per year. However, we also found that costs varied drastically by model — with the BMW 7 Series having car insurance costs 71% greater than that of the X1.

Cheapest BMW car insurance companies

Overall, we found that the cheapest insurance company for BMW drivers is Progressive. This company provided an average annual rate of $2,307 across the models we included in our study, which is 31% less than the overall average of $3,342. Choosing Progressive over the most expensive insurer, Allstate, represents a savings of $2,213 per year according to our figures.

Below, we've included the most affordable car insurance companies for BMWs ranked from cheapest to most expensive average annual premiums:

Cheapest insurer by city

We found that the insurance companies that provided the best quotes for BWMs varied by city. Progressive offered the cheapest rates in Chicago and Los Angeles, with annual premiums of $1,353 and $1,656 respectively, and Geico featured the lowest price quote for our profile driver in New York City at $2,521 per year. Because the best insurance company can vary, we shop around for auto insurance quotes.

BMW auto insurance cost

The average BMW insurance cost across the 28 models we considered was $3,342 per year for our profile driver, a 30-year-old male. However, annual auto insurance costs for a BMW varied by nearly 100% across the vehicles we considered. Furthermore, costs can also vary by driver profile and location, so the best way to get a sense of what you may pay to insure your BMW is to compare quotes.

BMW insurance costs comparison by year

Our analysis showed that newer BMW models were much costlier to insure than older models. The 2013 model year BMWs received an average quote for auto insurance that was 37% less than the 2019 models. This amounts to an annual cost difference of over $1,350 per year, or about $113 per month.

Cheapest BMWs to insure

Of the 2019 BMW models, the X1 was the cheapest to insure — 42% less than the most expensive BMW, the 7 Series. This is in line with the trend that smaller SUVs are cheaper to insure than large vehicles, especially big luxury sedans. Furthermore the average insurance cost across the four 2019 BMW SUVs we looked at was 21% cheaper than the average annual premiums across the other models we surveyed:

On the other end of the spectrum, we found large BMW sedans to be the most costly to insure — the 7 Series sedan have the most expensive premiums by a margin of nearly $1,000 per year. This huge difference in insurance costs is likely due to the much higher MSRP of this vehicle, which, at $83,650 is over $20,000 more than that of the 2019 X5 — the second most expensive BMW in our survey.

More expensive vehicles often have greater insurance costs because their premiums for comprehensive and collision insurance are higher than they are for cheaper cars. These coverages pay for the repair or replacement of your vehicle if it is in an accident, stolen or otherwise damaged. Naturally, claims costs for comprehensive and collision insurance will be higher for more expensive vehicles, and therefore, insurers charge more to account for this increased risk on their part.

Methodology

We collected auto insurance quotes from the four largest auto insurers: State Farm, Progressive Geico and Allstate. Our profile driver was 30-year-old male with a clean driving record living in each of New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago. Sample policies include full coverage with liability coverage above the required minimum limits.