Cars, vans, trucks, and SUVs: is one more to insure than the other?
Insurance companies use all sorts of factors to determine the cost of your auto insurance, and one of those contributing factors is the type of vehicle you are trying to insure. Providers take into account a number of statistics pertaining to your vehicle including those of theft and safety ratings. But, how do these various statistics stack up against each other when comparing cars to vans, or trucks to SUVs?
It may be hard to give a definitive answer as to which type of vehicle comes out on top, as there are many contributing factors within each one. For example, a flashy sports car may be more to insure than a standard pick up truck, but a 4-door sedan may be less than a heavy-duty 4x4. But, by using resources such as the Insurance Bureau of Canada website, we can gain a better understanding of how different cars compare to one another and how they can affect your insurance rates.
Cars
Cars can be either the most expensive of these four to insure, or one of the least. It all comes down to the make and model of said car. Unfortunately, for those that love the more stylish things in life, the hotter the car, the higher the cost of the insurance. Cars that fall under the “luxury” or “sports” categories not only tend to have a higher rate of theft, but the drivers themselves are not viewed as being overly cautious on the road. On the flip side, older cars without many frills tend to be cheaper to insure. Not only is the rate of theft lower on older, more subdued models, but also, chances are you can opt out of collision insurance, as it will not be worth the value of the car.
Vans
Vans, the stereotypical best friend of soccer moms everywhere. And, it is for that reason that they can be cheaper to insure; they are safe. Safety ratings play a large part in determining how much your policy will cost you. Typically vans have some of the highest safety ratings compared to others, as they are mostly looked at as a family vehicle. Also in tune with that, driver safety gives vans another insurance edge, as statistically, van-drivers tend to be safer on the road (driving around your kid’s soccer team will do that to you).
Trucks
Trucks may have a slight advantage over the others in terms of physical damage coverage, as they can theoretically cost less to repair. With typically over half of a standard truck’s body being taken up by the bed, which is mostly made up of sheet metal, there is potentially less to go wrong. This is in comparison to other vehicles that have additional doors, windows, electronics, etc in the back half of their structure.
SUVs
Simply because of the structural nature of a SUV, they may be more to insure than some others. Even though some of them are not much wider than the average car, they are much taller. This causes SUVs to be quite top heavy and susceptible to rollovers, which is a point against them in the safety department.
With so many factors affecting the cost of auto insurance, regardless of which type of car you choose, it is always good practice to shop around to find the lowest rate possible.