Top 20 Cheapest Cars to Insure

Making a smart choice could save you some big bucks

by Autobytel Staff

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October 7, 2009

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4 min. Reading Time

2016 Honda Civic sedan rear angle ・ Photo by Honda

In the United States, the car we drive is an extension of who we are—it expresses our values, sense of style and, to some extent, eccentricities. But the car we drive also plays a major role in determining how much we pay for car insurance, and many drivers fail to factor in this reality. That’s why it pays to know which vehicles get rock-bottom car insurance rates, and with this in mind, we've turned to our friends at insurance marketplace Insure.com for a list of 20 of the cheapest vehicles to insure across several categories. It’s complicated to come up with such a list, since there are so many variables, but Insure.com’s database determines the rankings based on the median insurance rate for each model.

Car Insurance X-Factors – What Determines Your Rate?

There are many factors that determine car insurance rates, including gender, age, driving record, ZIP code, annual mileage and, in most states, credit scores. The factor that often trumps them all, however, is the car you drive. Common sense holds that a more expensive vehicle will cost more to insure than a cheaper one, but it’s not always that simple. A vehicle’s safety rating, accident frequency and theft rate also play a major role in determining its insurance premium. Cars such as family-friendly SUVs and crossovers might be less expensive because they tend to be owned by more responsible drivers. On the flip side, certain subcompacts are cheap to insure because their owners tend not to stray far from home, and because the insurance company won’t be facing a big settlement if such a car is wrecked. With that, flip to the next page to see the top 10 cheapest cars to insure, as well as 10 more across a range of categories.