Car Insurance Classification Groups

So you’re buying a new or used car, truck, or SUV? Obviously, you’re going to want to pick up a vehicle you can actually afford. If you aren’t paying for the vehicle outright, you’re going to want to calculate how much you’ll have to pay each month, how much your interest rate is going to cost you, and how long you’ll be paying for your new ride.

What you probably didn’t take into consideration, as many people do, is how much it’s going to cost you to insure your new or used vehicle.  You may be thinking, “But I’m paying $XXX now, what’s there to know?”

Just because you’re paying a certain amount for your current auto insurance, doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be paying the same with your new car. In fact, it will almost certainly be much different – and that’s because auto insurance providers use thousands of little factors to determine how much you’ll have to pay for a particular amount of coverage. These factors are used to lump vehicles and the people that drive them, into car insurance groups.

Continue reading below for more information on:

• How insurance companies group by vehicle
• How insurance companies group by person
• How to find out which grouping you are in

Car Insurance Groupings By Vehicle

Most auto insurance providers will place a vehicle into one of three groups: low-risk, mid-risk, and high-risk. These groups are used to gauge the financial risk a particular vehicle poses to the auto insurance provider.

Vehicles that score high on Insurance Institute Highway Safety for their safety features and their ability to protect their passengers will be labeled as low-risk for obvious reasons. Vehicles with moderate safety features and test scores will be grouped as mid-risk. Sports cars and vehicles void of basic safety features will likely be placed in the high-risk group.

To see if your car is grouped as a high-risk or low-risk vehicle, take a look at the most expensive and least expensive cars to insure lists.  The cars presented as being expensive to insure are all in the “high risk” grouping, while, the least expensive ones are all generally “low risk.”

Car Insurance Groupings Per Individual (Person)

Vehicles aren’t the only thing car insurance companies lump into groups to determine risk. Classifying drivers is a tad bit more complicated than grouping vehicles, but the low, mid, and high-risk groups are used here too.

Males under the age of 25, for example, are going to wind up paying a lot more than other groups. In this particular example, the higher premiums charged to this group are due to the risky driving habits of young men. Middle-aged women, on the other hand, are going to wind up paying much less.

But they don’t just blindly place people into groups. One’s driving record plays a huge role in calculating a car insurance premium. Just because you’re a 35-year-old woman does not mean you can get in an accident after accident and still have a low premium. In fact, if you get in more than one collision, you’re likely to automatically get labeled as high-risk.

Determining Which Group Classification You Are In

Before you even head to the car dealership, you’re going to want to get a general idea of what your monthly insurance premium will cost so that you can factor that into your decision.

If you want to find out what group you’re in, and how much it will cost you, all you have to do is go to the top of this page and enter your zip code. Provide a little information about yourself and your driving record, and you’ll get the best deals the auto insurance industry has to offer.