Secrets to Cheap Car Insurance

The New VW Tiguan is an Insurance Institute for Highway Safety "Top Pick", one of the best ways to get cheap insurance.

Which are the cheapest cars to insure for teenagers? If you are a teenager or have one that you’re footing the bills for, that is a pretty pertinent question. As insurance takes a pretty nice chunk of your monthly income, getting the cheapest insurance can really help with the monthly bills. One of the most important factors in how much you pay for insurance is your choice of cars.

Insurance companies look at various risk factors when setting rates. Teens have 3 big strikes against them as risk factors; they have limited driving experience, high testosterone levels (boys, of course), and poor judgment. Combine that with peer pressure, and it is a not a recipe for cheap car insurance.

Putting teens in powerful cars can lead to unfavorable or tragic consequences. That is why letting junior have the keys to your new SRT-8 isn’t always the best course of action. There are other factors that dictate how expensive a car is to insure besides power output, though. Available safety features, crash test results, replacement cost, and its likely hood of being stolen factor in as well. There is probably a bit of incantations and mumbo jumbo that insurance companies throw in when they are determining rates, too.

Here are some cars your teenagers can drive that will be a bit easier on your wallet when the insurance bills come due.

The Ford Fusion is a safe, economical car that is inexpensive to insure and great to drive.

Ford Fusion – Ford’s midsize sedan is a great car for teens to drive. It is safe, gets relatively good gas mileage, and is subdued enough to help teens repress the urge to show off somewhat. There is even a hybrid version available that helps keep fuel costs low. We are experiencing relatively low fuel prices now (although they are rising rapidly), but this situation will probably change in the not too distant future. The Fusion also has the handling and safety features to help keep drivers from getting in an accident in the first place. Consumer reports predicts the Fusion’s reliability as much better than average.

Honda Civic – Honda’s little compact is already popular with teens, but unfortunately many of those kids are exactly the ones the insurance companies are worried about. Honda’s have a plethora of performance parts available because it is the the car kids love to modify for go fast use. That being said, it still has much to recommend it as a car for teenagers to drive. It gets fantastic fuel mileage, is extraordinarily reliable, and drives very well. It also scores very well in safety tests scoring a best pick from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Toyota Camry – Toyota’s ubiquitous mid sized sedan has been a best seller for years, and with good reason. It drives very well, if not providing loads of excitement behind the wheel, gets five star safety ratings all around, is economical, and very reliable. As an added bonus, not too many kids will be hot rodding around in a Camry, versus a new Camaro.

Hyundai Sonata -  This car looks a bit like a cross between a Honda Accord and Toyota Camry, but is is all Hyundai. For those who remember the Korean manufacturer’s dismal reliability ratings of 15 years ago, you need to take a fresh, new look at this company. They have followed much the same path as Japanese auto manufacturers did 3 decades before them. Now they make reliable, full featured cars, that consistently rate at the top of their categories for value. The Sonata is a great car for teens because it scores very well on safety tests, handles fairly well, and has enough power to get out of an accident, but not enough to promote getting into one. The car also has a 100,000 mile warranty, which should make parents smile a bit.

Toyota Corolla -  Toyota’s little compact has been a best seller for years, and with good reason. It scores very well in crash tests, is reliable, gets superb fuel economy with the smaller engine option, and drives well. It can be a little short on features in some of its lower trim levels, but hey, do your kids really need power windows?

Volkwagen New Beattle -  VW’s blast from the past may look somewhat like the old Beetle from the days of flower power and funny smelling cigarettes, but it is a totally different car. It even drives the front wheels, rather than the rear. It has been with us for a decade now, and is a favorite of kids everywhere. Best of all it is very inexpensive to insure compared to many other cars. That low insurance cost, combined with good fuel economy makes it a great car for teenagers.

If you’re shopping for an SUV for your kids here are some low insurance cost picks

Hyundai Sante Fe -  This mid sized SUV is one of the cheapest SUVs to insure and it is a good value, making it a great SUV for your kids to drive. It also received an Insurance Institute for Highway Safety “Best Pick” for 2008, meaning it will protect better than most in a crash.

Mazda Tribute – This re-badged Ford Escape is for some reason less expensive to insure than it’s U.S. badged twin. Nonetheless, it is a great all weather ride in all wheel drive guise, gets pretty good fuel economy for an SUV and is among the least expensive vehicles to insure. Top that off with the Tribute’s (and Ford Escape’s) “best pick” safety status from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and you’ve got a real winner for teenage drivers.

VW Tiguan – VW’s latest entry into the small SUV segment has gotten great reviews, however it can get a bet spendy in if you check the box for AWD at the top trim levels. It also requires premium gas for its turbocharged, direct injected, 2.0 liter power plant. What it does do however, is deliver another “top pick” for safety from the IIHS, ensconce the driver and passengers in a fantastic interior, and deliver great gas mileage with good performance.  In the aforementioned IIHS tests, the Tiguan had the strongest roof, supporting 4 times the vehicles weight, some comfort if you’re ever in a rollover accident. These safety ratings should give excellent insurance rates for the Tiguan.

If your teenager is driving, you’ll need to get insurance, and there’s no sense in making an already expensive proposition even more so. Get one of the cheapest cars to insure for your teenager and help keep your rates down. Another important way to help get the lowest insurance rates to compare among different companies. Not all companies price teenage drivers the same, so comparing rates can have you paying less. It can be a chore getting quotes from all the different companies out there, so you get it done for you automatically at by clicking here.