The Best Cars for a Teenager’s Car Insurance

Just because it’s legal for a teen to get a driver’s license doesn’t mean you should let yours try as soon as they turn 16. Driving is a huge responsibility and can be an expensive chapter in your life as a parent. Your auto insurance premiums will increase when you add a teen driver to your policy. And if your child has poor grades and hasn’t had driver’s training, the rate increase is likely to be even higher. Make sure your teen has all his ducks in a row before you let him get her license, and choose a car for her to drive that won’t send her to the poor house.

how to find out

Look at the “Relative Cost of Collision Insurance Information Booklet” produced by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration because the amount of damage that can occur to a car is important to auto insurance companies. You can find this information online or you can ask a car dealer about it. Dealers are supposed to keep this brochure in their showrooms. Car dealers should tell you how much insurance is likely to be for the type of car you’re considering buying.

Or you can ask your insurer how much it will cost to insure different car models. The vehicles in the report represent a worse or better than average collision loss experience. An average score is 100, and anything less than that is better than average; anything higher is worse than average. Car scores range from a low of 50 for a Chrysler 200 to over 300 for a BMW M3 and a high of over 700 for a Ferrari.

New Small and Medium Cars

If you want to get a small car for your teenager, here are the cheapest ones to insure:

– Smart car

– Mini Cooper

-Toyota Yaris

-Slingshot Fit

-Chevrolet Cruze

-Nissan Juke

-Hyundai Elantra

Here are some good midsize cars for cheaper teen car insurance:

-Chrysler 200

-Honda Accord

-Subaru Legacy

-Kia Optima

While sports cars aren’t usually cheap to insure, if you’re serious about getting one for your teen, the Chevrolet Camaro and Ford Mustang score better than average for collision loss experience.

New Trucks and Sport Utility Vehicles

All two-door small truck models scored well on the collision loss experience test. Best of the bunch is the GMC Canyon, but the Chevrolet Colorado, Toyota Tacoma and Ford Ranger scored better than average.

Here are some of the best SUVs to insure:

– Jeep Wrangler (the car with the lowest score of all with 47)

-Honda CR-V

-Mercury Mariner

-Mazda Tribute

-Ford Evasion

-Kia Sportage

-Hundai Tucson

-Toyota RAV4

-Nissan Rogue

-Volkswagen Tiguan

-Mitsubishi Outlander Sport

Used cars

Average-carinsurance.com put together a list for parents who want to buy a used car for their teen drivers. The list includes only cars that were on the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s 2008 Top Safety Picks list. All the cars on the list have passed crash tests and have newer safety features that are appealing to insurance companies.

Here are the top 10 used cars to buy for your teen:

-Audi A3

-Honda Accord

– Mercury Sand

-Ford Taurus

– Subaru Ranger

– Mercury Milano

– Stem

-Nissan Rogue

-Honda Civic

-Ford Fusion

All model year is 2008 except Mercury, Honda Civic and Ford Fusion which are model year 2009.