The most and least expensive cars to insure in Boston
With auto insurance rates on the rise, finding a car that won’t cost a fortune to insure is a smart investment.
Personal finance site NerdWallet took the best-selling cars of the year and provided Boston.com with a breakdown of the cheapest cars for Boston-area motorists to insure. Insurance expert Amy Danise explained that the rates provided may reflect the vehicle’s overall claim history, not drivers’ records.
“Whenever you have a list like this, you’re getting a history of claims,’’ said Danise. “Vehicles with fewer claims will get lower rates.’’
“How much has the vehicle crashed? Are repairs expensive? Is it stolen a lot? Each of these vehicles has a lot of moving parts that can affect the quote,’’ she said.
The Jeep Wrangler took the top spot on NerdWallet’s list of the cheapest car to insure in Boston. This might be surprising, considering the Wrangler’s image as the vehicle of choice for driving up unpaved roads and over rough terrain. But Danise believes NerdWallet’s findings pokes a hole in the Wrangler’s image.
According to NerdWallet’s analysis, the marketing of the Jeep Wrangler does not line up with the reality of the vehicle.
“With the Wrangler you might think [of] the adventurous free-spirit off-roading all the time, so you would think the rates would be higher,’’ said Danise. “These findings burst the notion that Jeep Wrangler is being driven by this off-roading adventurer.’’
At the other end of the scale, the Honda Civic and Honda Accord were the most expensive vehicles for Boston-area motorists to insure. Danise said this is because these vehicles are frequently driven by younger drivers.
“That may be pushing these cars into the higher end of this list,’’ said Danise. “A car that attracts that a younger, more inexperienced driver will have a worse claim history.’’
NerdWallet provided rates for drivers ages 27 and 52. Why these two ages? According to data from MassDOT, the largest age group among Massachusetts drivers is between 52 and 55. At age 27, Danise said insurance rates for younger drivers start to go down.
“It’s a little random, but it gives a snapshot in time of what the rates are,’’ said Danise.
Check out how much it costs to insure best-selling cars, from most to least expensive.
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The vehicles were selected from AutoData’s list of best-selling 2015 vehicles. To reach its conclusions, NerdWallet looked at the insurance rates in 15 Boston zip codes offered by the 10 largest insurance providers in Massachusetts.
The rates provided are the annual average for a policy with a liability coverage of $100,000 bodily injury per person, $300,000 bodily injury per accident, and $50,000 property damage. The rates include collision, comprehensive, uninsured motorist, and person injury protection coverage. The rates displayed are for motorists with clean driving records.
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