If you’re the kind of person who considers total cost of ownership before buying a new car, you might be wondering what the cheapest car to insure it is. According to retail dealership statistics, the five cheapest cars to insure in 2010 were the Chrysler PT Cruiser, GMC Safari minivan, Dodge Caravan, Saturn Ion 4-door sedan, and the Pontiac Sunfire 2-door coupe. The single cheapest will depend on your individual driving factors.
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Understand that these statistics are based on all things being equal. In other words the same driver, the same model year, all cars being brand-new off the lot, all cars being base models, and all carrying the same levels of coverage.
As you can see, even with this limited number of variables it’s easy to throw off the price of your car insurance one way or the other. At the end of the day, how your car insurance premium is calculated depends on a long list of complicated criteria.
How does safety affect the cheapest car to insure?
Let’s start by looking at the cheapest car to insure based on the safety aspect. To begin with, all cars sold in the United States must undergo crash test and safety inspections. These tests are run by two independent institutions which translate results into a five-star rating system.
The higher a car rates, the safer it is and the less it will cost to insure. Additionally, there are subcategories within the rating system that factor into the overall safety of a vehicle.
Beyond the crash test and safety ratings, there are some common sense things your insurance company looks at; things like glass for example. A full-sized passenger van with windows running down the length of the body will cost more to insure than the exact same van as a cargo model without the glass. The extra glass, plus the potential for carrying other people, means that the passenger version possesses a higher risk of damage and personal injury.
Other safety features in your new car can also contribute to your insurance costs. The cheapest cars to insure will have basic things like driver and passenger side airbags, daytime running lights, and anti-lock brakes. Anti-theft devices such as alarm systems and steering wheel locks are also considered by some car insurance companies to be safety enhancements.
Does the year of the car affect the cost of insurance?
So now that you know the cheapest cars to insure, you might be wondering if the age of the car matters. Well, it does. A twenty-year old minivan is going to be more expensive to insure than a five-year old minivan. However, a brand new minivan is going to also cost more to insure than a five-year old minivan.
The insurance rates are usually due to repair and replacement costs. An older vehicle is going to have more go wrong with it than a younger vehicle. However, a new vehicle can cost more to repair or replace. Mileage also plays a role in insurance premiums. A five-year old vehicle with high mileage may cost more to insure than a ten-year old vehicle with low mileage.
When you are shopping for insurance coverage, there are many factors you have to consider that might just impact your car purchasing. For instance, minivans are the cheapest type of car to insure. However, you still need to be wary of make, model, year, mileage, and horsepower.
How does my geographic location determine the cheapest car to insure for me?
Believe it or not, where you live does play a role in the price of your car insurance as it relates to the model of your car. In other words, the ’94 and ’95 Honda Civics continued to be the most sought-after vehicles for car thieves. So if you live in an urban area with a high capacity for vehicle theft, such as Houston Texas for example, you could pay significantly more for a ’95 Civic than you would for an ’09 Cadillac. Of course, that’s provided you purchase theft insurance.
You will also pay slightly higher rates if you live in an area like Los Angeles, where heavy traffic means more risk of accident and injury. Even if you only use your vehicle to go to and from work, you’ll be on the road at the same time as most of the other cars and will increase your risk accordingly. In this case, though a PT cruiser is less costly to replace the Hyundai Sonata, the Chrysler may cost more in Los Angeles than the Hyundai in Elk City, Oklahoma.
What types of coverage make a car cheaper to insurance?
The last thing to consider when deciding on the cheapest car to insure is just what kind of coverage you plan to have. If all you’re considering is the minimum state requirements for liability, bodily injury, and property damage, you’ll obviously pay the least amount.
In such a case, vehicle safety and your local area are the two biggest factors outside of your personal driving history. But when we start adding things like full collision and fire and theft coverage, we’ll see rates drastically change among various car models.
For example, one of the reasons why the PT cruiser is so inexpensive to insure is the fact that it is very cheap right from the manufacturer. It’s intended to be an entry-level vehicle with a four cylinder engine, a relatively small wheelbase, and a body design that makes it very safe. By contrast, the Cadillac Escalade is a much larger vehicle, with a larger engine and ability to cause property damage in an accident.
All things considered, just remember that even though you could buy cheapest car to insure, the long-term viability of maintaining low car insurance rates is heavily dependent on how safely you drive. As long as you avoid accidents and violations at all costs, you can maintain a clean record and keep your insurance rates as low as possible.
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