Along with the purchase price, fuel costs, maintenance and repairs, insurance is the largest cost of car ownership and one of the most overlooked. Car insurance prices have soared in recent years, with premiums rising by more than 50% on average since 2020. This naturally leaves many drivers wondering what exactly determines how much you pay for car insurance.
Obviously, your age and driving record play a big role in car insurance costs, as does the state you live in and the type of vehicle you drive. These factors can be as broad as the insurance rates for a pickup truck versus a car, or they can be more specific to the individual model, powertrain, or personal safety options that affect your insurance rates. What about brands? Is there a specific automaker that ranks among the best when it comes to insurance rates?
Most car insurance rate data is broken down by individual models rather than brands, and there are always differences in the data collection itself, but what we know for sure is that Subaru can be considered the overall brand leader when it comes to cheap insurance rates, although there are other brands competing.
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Subaru for the win?
Subaru logo close-up – Tobias Arhelger/Shutterstock
Consumer Reports has long been considered one of the best resources for car buying research, and CR’s current rankings, which use Insurify data over a 20-year period, show that Subaru is the cheapest brand to insure, with an average annual premium of $2,088. Other sources, such as Value Penguin, back this up with insurance data broken down by individual models, showing that the Subaru Crosstrek, Forester and Outback are among the cheapest new models to insure. Subaru also regularly ranks among the best for the cheapest used car insurance.
Now, just because a brand has a lot of cheap models to insure, doesn’t mean that every car from that brand will save you money on car insurance. For example, Chevrolet might make a lot of family-friendly crossovers that are cheap to insure, but its overall average will be pushed higher by the presence of expensive or specialty vehicles like the Camaro and Corvette.
Overall, Subaru has a lot going for it when it comes to cheap insurance. Most of its vehicles follow the same all-wheel-drive, crossover formula, the brand has good safety ratings, and all of its products are relatively cheap by new-car standards. Additionally, electric vehicles are generally more expensive to insure but make up a small part of Subaru’s lineup. But keep in mind that this doesn’t mean a high-performance Subaru WRX or BRZ sports car will have the same ultra-cheap insurance rates as a Crosstrek.
Other cheap insurance brands worth considering
Mazda car parked at dealership – elena.tres/Shutterstock
Are there any other good car brands and cheap insurance? Absolutely. For example, CarEdge ranks Chrysler as the cheapest brand, costing $2,000 per year to insure. This choice deserves an asterisk, though, since the only vehicles Chrysler currently sells are three variations of the same basic minivan, which is a bit unfair compared to a brand with a larger, more diverse lineup. Mazda also ranks highly on CarEdge’s list, which is no surprise. In terms of pricing and overall breadth of the lineup, Mazda is a lot like Subaru, with plenty of affordable CUVs but no super-high-end specialty models to drive up the average.
While insurance rates are definitely a valid factor in deciding which car to buy, there are certainly many other ways to save on car insurance—no matter what you drive. Whether it’s insuring a vehicle you already own or one you’re considering purchasing, shopping around for the most affordable insurance company is always an option.
Even better, before buying a new car, it’s a good idea to get the VIN and get an accurate quote from your provider to know how much your insurance premiums will go up or down. You can do this with a number of different vehicles if you want, and knowing this information before you buy is one of the best tools a car buyer can have.
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Read the original article on SlashGear.