Pay Your Insurance Bills with a Credit Card to Earn Lots of Miles and Points

Some car insurance companies will allow you to pay your insurance bills with a credit card, which can be a useful way to build up points or miles. Of course, it’s essential to make sure you use the right card, as some credit cards have little to no rewards, while others offer airline miles, cash rewards, and much more.

You should also have good credit, as insurance companies do check credit to calculate car insurance rates, and you don’t want to ruin your credit to get points and miles (read more about do insurance companies check credit?).

Our guide goes over everything you need to know about how to get credit card points with your car insurance bills. If your current car insurance company doesn’t allow you to pay by credit card, you can search for other companies in your area using our free quote comparison tool.

Maximum Credit Card Points on Insurance Payments

If you take a moment to think about it, we spend thousands of dollars annually on insurance, from car insurance premiums to home and health. A cheap auto insurance premium might be as little as $400 every 6 months or more depending on where you live, your driving record, and other factors. If you have secondary coverage or more extensive insurance coverage, you’ll pay more.

If you direct this through your credit card, you could earn thousands of reward points just paying for your auto insurance policies. When you look at every other insurance provider you work with (life, health, renters, homeowners, etc.), your rewards could add up quickly.

Here’s a little tip/reminder that you can usually pay all your insurance premiums with a credit card. If you plan it, you can schedule an automatic payment for that amount to avoid unnecessary interest or debt while still taking advantage of all the benefits your credit card company is willing to offer.

I know I pay nearly $300 a month for health insurance (which is an ongoing necessity). So throwing that on a rewards credit card gives me 300 points/miles each month. That’s 3,600 points annually right there.

Then there’s auto insurance, which can be paid monthly, semi-annually, or annually. Learn more: Is insurance paid monthly or yearly?

For most people, that’s another $1,500 to $2,000 each year, depending on your policy. If you’ve got teenagers to worry about, it’s even higher, potentially a lot higher.

Altogether, the aggregate premium can be quite expensive ($5,000 or more), and also quite lucrative if you charge it using a cash back or rewards card.

Don’t just think about the annual costs of insurance, consider the lifetime costs as well. Did you know that the average American spends $84,388 on car insurance during their lifetime? That’s a lot of points or miles, especially if you’re using a credit card that gives you 2X points/miles on every purchase.

For the record, there are multiple credit cards that offer double points on ALL purchases, so you can rack up points in a hurry.

Additionally, points can be valued at more than one cent apiece if used for things like airline tickets and travel, so the value could be pretty significant.

Meeting Spending Requirements by Paying Your Insurance

Another good reason to charge your insurance premiums relates to credit card sign-up bonuses. Say a certain credit card requires that you spend $3,000 in the first X amount of months of membership to get 50k bonus points (worth at least $500). (For more information, read our “How much does insurance go up with one point?“)

Instead of frivolously spending money to meet that requirement, or buying things you don’t need, paying your insurance could be a great way to reach that target.

As noted, insurance premiums can amount to thousands of dollars, so using plastic instead of cash is a good way to take a big bite out of that requirement.

But just to reiterate, this isn’t an invitation to swipe and not pay your credit card in full. If you don’t pay it off in full each month, you’ll be subject to finance charges that will essentially eclipse any savings from the points earned.

So be responsible when putting your insurance costs on plastic. If you want to save on your car insurance bills in addition to credit card points, use our free quote comparison tool to find the best car insurance rates in your area.