Buying a car based on cost of insurance?

[dipole]

I know there are a lot of parameters involved when insurance companies determine how much they'll charge you, and most are beyond my present control (Age, Driving History, Location etc...), but the most important parameter is the type of car you're looking to insure.

I'm hoping to buy a car, but one the factors involved in that decision is the price of the insurance. I'd like to be able to come up with a list of cars which would fall under the price range I'm looking to pay for insurance - natrually this would involve comparing rates between companies, as well as between cars. The list doesn't have to be complete, but should give me some options.

Any suggestions how to go about this?

 

[Vanadium 50]

When I was looking for cars, my insurance agent gave me quotes for the models I was interested in. I called them in the morning and picked it up in the afternoon.

 

[lisab]

Good thinking to consider insurance costs before you decide on a car!

V50 has a good point about going to an agent first. But since you don't have an established company yet, you may have to try several companies.

Keep in mind the insurance companies likely use the same (or similar) data to set their insurance rates. So the cheapest models with Company A will likely be the cheapest models with Company B. By shopping around a bit you'll be killing two birds with one stone: finding the cheapest car to insure, and finding the cheapest place to buy your car insurance.

And there are online sites, too - no idea how reliable they are, but here's one:

http://www.fool.com/investing/gener...apest-cars-to-insure-youll-be-shocked-wh.aspx

Let us know what car you decide to buy!

 

[SteliosVas]

I would look at what you need, than from that check insurance and if you can afford it go for it.
If you have a good driving record and not too young you should be no worries.

This is coming from Aus however.!

 

[AlephZero]

Keep in mind the insurance companies likely use the same (or similar) data to set their insurance rates. So the cheapest models with Company A will likely be the cheapest models with Company B. By shopping around a bit you'll be killing two birds with one stone: finding the cheapest car to insure, and finding the cheapest place to buy your car insurance.

That depends on the company. A company that "specializes" in insuring high performance cars, young drivers, old drivers, or whatever, will probably have better rates for those groups than a "generalist" company that makes most of its profit out of 40-somethings driving standard cars who renew automatically by direct debit and might not even bother to look at the charges (i.e. they don't spend hours of their time online to save a few dollars that they can afford anyway).

And there are online sites, too - no idea how reliable they are, but here's one:

I've no idea about US sites, but the UK ones are pretty reliable - except that a few of the big insurance companies don't participate at all.

Beware that if you use a comparison site, you can expect lots of emails trying to sell you every type of insurance, not just motor insurance.

If you are buying the car from a dealer, check out if they have any special insurance offers - though they might be an attempt to get rid of cars that nobody wants to buy!

 

[SteamKing]

A basic rule of thumb is, the more expensive the car, the more the insurance is going to cost, all other factors being equal.

In the US, different states require different types and amounts of coverage to cover uninsured motorists, medical expenses, etc. Car insurance is generally more expensive in states with a large number of cars on the road, like NY or CA, because there are a greater number of claims, more uninsured motorists, etc.

If you are financing a car purchase, one of the coverages you will have to carry as a condition of the loan is the 'comprehensive/collision' insurance, so that you can get your car repaired if it is damaged or totaled in an accident. The price of this coverage can be adjusted somewhat by the amount of deductible you choose, which is the amount you pay out of pocket to repair the car if you are in an accident. After your car is paid for, this coverage can be dropped, reducing the insurance bill quite significantly.

 

[WWGD]

You can always get reliable information from consumer reports ; an objective source; they are ad-free and accept no money from any company whose products they test :http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/index.htm

 

[jim hardy]

here's a tabulation.. maybe it'll have the models you're interested in.

Might open an anonymous browser tab first though, for i tend to get spam regarding anything i search.

http://money.msn.com/auto-insurance/auto-insurance-quotes.aspx

i drive $2,000 cars. They last me half as long as $40,000 cars.