Finding cheap auto insurance is easy if you follow a few steps successfully. One of them is to pick a model of vehicle that will land you low premiums. There are a number of reasons why automobiles are charged higher or lower insurance premiums. Understanding these variables can help you choose the right car for your requirements and still keep the costs down.
Why Some Cars Get Cheap Insurance Premiums
Here are some of the reasons;
At the basis of most insurers’ algorithms is the underlying cost to insure. This is based on the claim history of the vehicle model chosen. History of the similar cars in the range would affect this pricing as well.
Average cost of these claims would be influential as well. Hence, both the number of claims and size of damages would be looked at.
Another area to consider is the injuries sustained by the occupants of certain class of automobiles. Naturally, safer cars will cause fewer injuries. As a result insurers would end up paying less for injury claims and charge less for insuring them. Motorists would achieve the highest discounts if they pay attention to these points when they are choosing a car for a teenager.
For example, if a specific model within the sedan category has 50% more serious injury claims than another sedan, the one with the higher serious injury rate will cost more in premiums. This is simply because the premiums have to account for the extra medical expenses that will be paid out for such claims.
That is why safety rating of each model becomes very important. There are a few new car safety features that are designed to reduce accidents and injuries. These safety technologies include forward collision warning, lane departure warning, autobraking capability and rear camera and blind spot monitoring. Cars are rated by the NHTSA and the IIHS for safety. If a model is rated well, most often it will have a lower claim rate and therefore lower premiums.
Repair cost is another factor. Some autos are cheaper to repair than others due to widely available and reasonably priced parts and mechanical expertise. It is only fair that they are insured cheaply.
It is fair to say that commonly sold vehicles are going to be cheaper to insure. One of the main reasons for it is that insurers have to be competitively priced when they are targeting large portion of population in order to increase the volume of their business. It is a simple business practice in which the prices go down when the volume is up. In other words, smaller profit margins will be compensated by higher numbers of sales.
Some of the reasons behind high premiums are more obvious. Generally exotic sports cars are more expensive to insure. Everyone can appreciate the fact that an average driver is likely to crash them. You need certain level of experience to handle powerful automobiles because they take off faster, reach to higher speed quicker and encourage the driver to test the limits on the roads. Furthermore, the collisions they are involved can be a lot more costly due to high-speed crashes and their custom parts.
In the same way, cars with smaller engines would be cheaper to insure since they cannot go fast and easier to handle by most drivers.
Family focused cars with smaller engines are typically cheaper than sports cars or large engine vehicles. One of the main reasons for more affordable rates is that family vehicles are driven more responsibly. So, what types of motorists choose certain vehicle models is very important. A car that is a firm favorite with mums like minivans can be cheap to insure. They usually have children in the car with them that makes them extra careful and watch out their speed. In addition, they only travel locally to school, supermarket and work. You can hardly imagine a teenager taking out mum’s minivan for a joyride.
Some automobiles can attract higher insurance rates because they attract more thieves. Straightaway, you may think that expensive, high-end cars are the main targets of auto thieves. But this is not usually the case. Thieves go for vehicles that are easy to break-in and drive away. All the security and tracking features on the high value automobiles can be enough to deter thieves. Consequentially this will reduce the theft risk and insurance costs.
The price tag of the car insured is important too. When a vehicle is totalled or stolen the insurer will have to pay its open market value to the policyholder.
The ranges of vehicles are so wide from compact to sedan to minivan or SUV? There are literally thousands of models from dozens of automakers. Therefore, the easiest thing to do may be to get a few auto insurance quotes right here and find out exactly how much is car insurance.
The Top 10 Cheapest to Insure Cars
According to insure.com data, here are the cars with the cheapest average insurance costs;
Jeep Wrangler Sport 4WD – $1,134
Jeep Patriot Sport 2WD – $1,136
Honda CR-V LX 4WD – $1,160
Dodge Grand Caravan SEPlus – $1,162
Honda Odyssey LX – $1,163
Jeep Compass Sport 2WD – $1,164
Subaru Outback 2.5i AWD – $1,176
Ford Edge SE 2WD – $1,176
Smart Fortwo Pure Coupe – $1,186
Ford Escape S 2WD – $1,190
It is a surprise that Jeep Wrangler Sport tops the list and two other jeeps, Patriot Sport and Compass Sport, are in the top 10 list. It is probably a lot to do with who is driving these cars. When they are mostly driven by responsible, cautions, established mums and dads it is no surprise that they don’t have many accidents and hence have low insurance rates.
The list appears to be dominated by off-roads, crossovers and minivans. They seem to take over trusted family sedan. However, top 10 list is only a tiny cut of the picture. This doesn’t mean that other sensible cars like many well-known sedans aren’t going to get you the best deals. There are plenty cars that will deliver you handsome savings because of their safety features, engine sizes, reliability, budget parts, crash and injury records.
One thing you need to remember is that these premiums quoted are average. Where you live and how good a driver you are will affect the rates you will be quoted.
Conclusion
Everyone starts with some sort of an idea on the type of car they want to own. Knowing which cars are cheaper to insure can be real handy during car shopping. Always remember that there is a good reason why auto insurers are happy to offer large discounts for such autos. They are generally safe, hard to steal and repairs are economical. To be sure about pricing you should always get at least three quotes on two models you are interested in buying. That way you can get the absolute best insurance price.