Cheapest New or Used Cars to Insure
Author: Marilyn Katz
When you buy a car, do you consider the effect on your auto isurance premiums? Many people do not think about premiums until after they have already made a car purchase deal. They only learn how much the car will cost when they call their agent the next morning.
But since those premiums can be a large percentage of the overall cost of owning a new or used vehicle, I think this is a mistake. People do consider how much a loan payment will affect their monthly budget. But they do not consider the other cost of ownership, and that is auto insurance premiums.
What makes a car cheaper to insure?
You probably know that your own rates are set by many individual factors. Your age, dirivng history, and the zip code you live in all matter, But beyond that, the type of vehicle affects premiums too.
Insurers keep all sorts of statistics on cars, trucks, minivans, and SUVs. They consider how often this particular car gets stolen, how often it is involved in accident claims, and how expensive those claims have been to repair. Lots of different factors can affect the items above too, and insurers consider this too.
Some cars have been constructed well so they do not tend to run up expensive repair bills when they are damaged. Some are just cheaper to repair with parts and supplies that are common and cheap to purchase. But other vehicles may be very expensive to repair because parts are less common or because of the way they have been constructed.
I, myself, had an insurer want to total my van just because the sliding door had been ruined in an accident. The van was a few years old, but still ran very well. But the body shop wanted to charge more to make the repair than the stated book value of that type of vehicle.
Some cars attract safer drivers too.
Insurers beleive that certain types of cars just tend to be purchased by a type of driver that is considered low risk. Take the example of hybrid cars. Some insurers discount the purchase of hybrid vehicles because they have learned that the type of socially aware person who buys them also tends to avoid accidents and attend to their cars.
You cannot assume that one particular type of car will cost less to cover either. When we look at the list of vehicles that make the top or bottom of the insurance cost list, we can find all makes and models. One SUV may cost less to insure, while another seems to run up expensive claims, and so it costs more.
Does size matter?
Some people think that large and heavy vehicles will be cheaper because they are safer. But insurers have learned that the way a vehicle is constructed matters more than how many tons of steal went into making it. Some smaller cars, like PT Cruisers, are cheap to isure. Some large SUVs are considered risky, and isurers penalize them with higher rates.
If you have shopped around for another new or used car, it will be worth it for you to get some competitive auto insurance quotes. It will not do you much good to save a few dollars on your loan payments if that savings is eaten up with insurance premiums!