How Much Does Car Insurance Cost by Vehicle Type?

It might have been a confusing thing for many people to find out how auto insurance rates differ based on different factors. Auto insurance companies take in so many different factors, some obvious, and some not-so-obvious factors while calculating rates. While there are some factors that you cannot control, there are many factors under your control that would let you bring down the cost of your car insurance. This article will talk about how the car’s make and model affect car insurance rates.

Your driving record directly affects the car insurance rates. While this has been strongly established, did you know that the type, brand, size, and other aspects of your car directly affect the cost of auto insurance? But how much does car insurance cost by vehicle type? And how can you prevent paying extra by making the right purchase? Let’s get started.

Car Insurance Cost According to Type

Why Insurance Rates Vary

Different people get different auto insurance quotes. This is because insurance companies assess every individual to see how they are more likely to make an insurance claim. These companies are risk management companies that can only operate if the number of insurance claims is much lower than the number of policyholders who pay insurance premiums.

So people with poor driving records, accidents, past insurance claims, traffic violations, etc will be charged more as they are more likely to be in an accident. These are the factors that you can control and reduce insurance rates. You can prevent rash driving, drive properly and get affordable car insurance rates.

But there are some factors that you cannot control, for example, your gender. Women pay less for auto insurance than men because statistically, more men are involved in car accidents than women. Another example would be the area you live in. If your area has higher rates of crime, vandalism, theft, accidents, etc, then the insurance company will charge you more.

The essence here is this; the higher the risk of a person making an insurance claim, the higher will be the cost of auto insurance. And you don’t get to decide the risks, but the insurance companies do. It might seem very difficult, but you can follow some tips and get low rates on car insurance. This is done by working on risk factors that you can control.

Vehicle Type and Car Insurance Rates

Your car’s features make, model, etc all affect the rates of auto insurance. Right from the advanced features, to the size of the vehicle, auto insurance companies leave no stone unturned when it comes to assessing all possible risk factors of an insurance claim.

However, there is a very common misconception that a surprisingly large number of people believe. Your insurance rates are not at all affected by the color of the car. There’s a rumor that red cars require an expensive insurance policy while white cars cost the least to insure. This is due to the association of the color “red” with danger or accident.

But it is just one of the creations from the rumor mills. Don’t stop yourself from buying a car in your favorite color. However, if you want to save some money, pay attention to the other factors while getting a new car or a second car.

Make and Model

Make refers to the brand of the car, and model refers to the, well, model of the car along with the generation or date of manufacture. For example, the Ford F150 2015 shows that the brand is Ford, the model is F150 and the year of manufacture is 2015 (this model had so many transmission issues, from the unbearable gear grinding noise to the problems in getting it from neutral to reverse).

Locally made cars such as Ford or Honda are cheaper to insure because their market value is low, the spare parts are readily and cheaply available (since they are made locally), and the taxes on these vehicles are also low. Since all these factors make repairing the vehicle cheaper, insurance companies won’t charge you too much to insure your car.

The year of manufacture also matters because, as stated above, each time a new generation of the same car is made, it comes with a new set of mechanical issues. As illustrated in the Ford F150 2015 example, some generations of the same model are more likely to be in an accident. This is what increases the insurance rates.

Size of the Car

Another factor that directly affects auto insurance rates is the size of the car. Larger vehicles or SUVs require expensive insurance policies because, in an accident, they can total the other car. SUVs are also often driven roughly, taken off-road, and hence are more likely to sustain damages than a sweet and simple Toyota Prius.

Small cars with tires smaller than the steering wheels of some pickup trucks cost less to insure because they are mostly driven to just commute on smooth roads. They are less likely to be in an accident and sustain much damage.

Power of the Car

Getting a powerful car with hundreds of horses crammed in the engine would take you from point A to B very fast, but it would drain your wallet even faster, both in gas and insurance rates. Powerful cars with higher horsepower are more likely to be in an accident, and since they are powerful, they are also expensive.

This is why it is so expensive to get auto insurance for foreign-made sports cars. They are expensive and powerful, repairs are difficult and expensive since spare parts are expensive and they are rarely made locally. All these factors make sports cars a recipe for auto insurance disasters.

Electric cars are new to the market, but they spread faster than a fire on a gasoline field. Since most electric cars are powerful and expensive, they are also very expensive to insure, especially with their expensive, low-sitting battery packs and high-grade material build.