What are the cheapest cars to insure?
Every car registered in the UK is included in one of 50 insurance categories, running from one to 50. The easier a care is to repair and the less rare, expensive or powerful it is, the lower the group it will be in. The lower the insurance group, the cheaper your car is to insure.
There are lots of factors which insurers base a car’s grouping on, including:
- How much it costs
- The cost to repair damage
- The cost of 23 common replacement parts
- How long it takes to repair
- The car’s performance, including acceleration and top speed
- The safety and security features
A car in a higher insurance group will typically cost more to repair or replace, which is one reason why its premium will be relatively high. Insurance groupings are not the only reason for increased premiums, however: every driver’s details and driving history are also a major deciding factor in the total cost of their insurance.
A car’s age and value also affect how much you’ll pay to insure it, along with any modifications you’ve made to its appearance or performance. If you’re not sure which group your own car will fit into, you can use the MoneySuperMarket car insurance group checker tool.
It’s important to remember that these are the average costs across all ages. If you’re a younger driver, the amount you pay to insure a car will be higher, even if the car is cheaper to repair or replace. This is because insurers account for how likely you are to claim based on your age and driving history, as well as where you live.
The cheapest car insurance for young drivers
Young people – those under the age of 25 – generally have to pay more for their car insurance. There are several reasons for this: they’re less experienced drivers and are at a statistically much higher risk of causing accidents. On top of this, though, young people tend to drive around with more people in their car, which means that when they do have accidents, more people are hurt –increasing insurers’ costs.
That said, there are plenty of cheap cars to insure for young people. The costs are still steep, but by proving to your insurer that you’re a careful driver and by growing your no-claims discount, your premiums should start to fall within a few years.
Finding the cheapest car insurance
You can see how much car insurance might cost for a particular model by using MoneySuperMarket’s car insurance comparison tool. Enter the registration number and some information about your driving history to compare car insurance policy quotes.
If you haven’t bought a car yet but do have a make and model in mind, all you need to do is add the type of fuel it runs on, whether it’s a manual or automatic drive, the year it was registered, and the engine size and version of the car. You’ll then be able to compare car insurance quotes for that exact car and get a better idea of how much it will cost you.
You can filter the results by policy type and monthly and annual costs to help you find a car insurance policy that’s affordable, and keeps you covered. Some policies might also let you add extra levels of protection to give you peace of mind that you’ll be covered if you need to claim.