The Cheapest Cars to Insure and Why

Obtaining an attractive premium plan when purchasing auto insurance involves a variety of factors. Some of these include the auto insurer that is selling you your policy, type of coverage, gaps in your prior insurance coverage, your age, driving experience, traffic citations history, any previous car damages, and your location.

But having said this, there is one additional factor that can play a large part in whether your auto insurance premium is cheap or not so.

That is the type of car that you are insuring. Insurance companies look at the value of your car, along with the expenses that are required to repair or replace it. Vehicles that score well in crash tests also tend to lead to lower insurance premiums versus vehicles that perform less well in crash tests.

Therefore, if you are looking to save money when shopping for a new car, it is worth your time to consider your potential insurance payments for each type of car. Budget-conscious shoppers can save some real cash by purchasing not only a vehicle that they love but a car that is cheap to insure and save a couple of hundreds each month.

But which vehicles are some of the cheapest vehicles to insure?

NerdWallet took a look at this particular question. Taking this data, you can make a better, more financially sound decision when purchasing or leasing your next vehicle.

Some of the policies are also including essential roadside assistance services which may cost an extra few bucks but totally may worth it

Cheap Vehicles to Insure

As part of the study, NerdWallet made sure to analyze vehicles that are “among popular models.” Studying each and every model would be far too great of a task, so NerdWallet decided to look at last year’s 25 best-selling models as part of its study.

Quite clearly, you may find vehicles that have lower annual premium payments than the models on this list. But as you are completing your due diligence, this list is a great place to start.

It is also important to note that NerdWallet compared rates for these 25 vehicles in every ZIP code in ten states. Those ten states (which comprise half of the U.S. population) are California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas. If you live in a different state and are purchasing auto insurance for the following vehicles (or any other vehicles), your rate may be different.

Now, let’s proceed to the study. The ten least expensive cars to insure are the following:

1.Subaru Outback.

2. Jeep Wrangler.

3. Honda CR-V.

4. Jeep Compass.

5. Ford Escape.

6. Subaru Forester.

7. Chevy Equinox.

8. GMC Sierra 1500.

9. Toyota Tacoma.

10. Jeep Cherokee.

For the full list, you can click here. The ten listings above may be somewhat surprising because they aren’t smaller vehicles. In fact, these are predominantly sport utility vehicles (“SUVs”). According to the NerdWallet study, full auto insurance coverage for these ten vehicles, on average, costs around $126 per month.

This totals approximately $1512 per year, which is about $108 cheaper than the national average of car insurance in the United States.

While these vehicles, generally speaking, may be the cheapest to insure, adding features to these vehicles (like high-tech safety equipment) may cause your insurance rates to increase.

This is because in the event of an accident, for instance, potential claims will be more costly for your insurance company. It will need to compensate you for these extra features, meaning that more money is leaving the company’s pocket. Just keep this in mind as you are debating whether to include additional features in any of these vehicles.

Beyond this list of cheap vehicles to insure, there are several types of vehicles that inherently lead to higher insurance rates. For instance, sports cars (like the Chevrolet Corvette) tend to have higher insurance premiums. The reason is fairly straightforward. Auto insurance companies not only recognize that these vehicles are fast, but that drivers of these vehicles are more accident-prone than their “conservative” counterparts.

Along with sports cars, luxury cars and electric vehicles tend to be expensive to insure. To reiterate, this is because claims for these vehicles are often more expensive. Repairing them can be expensive, and because of this, auto insurance companies essentially pass along those costs in the form of higher premiums.

the Cheapest Cars to Insure

A Great Starting Point

The NerdWallet study is a great starting point if you are looking to purchase a vehicle with extremely low premium payments. However, as with shopping for any insurance product, it is essential to do your own research. Speak with representatives at more than one auto insurance company and obtain an estimate of annual premium payments. By putting in the work now, you will substantially increase the chances that you obtain the most value when purchasing your new vehicle and your auto insurance policy.