No one complains as much if their vehicle insurance rates are higher because they bought a car thieves love more than others. You can complain if you didn’t know that, but then that’s no one else’s job but yours. Before you buy a car, it makes sense to do some research. Vehicles with higher rates of theft will cost more to insure.
EVs cost more for a host of reasons. Car color can also affect your insurance rates, though not as much as your driving record. You’d expect a higher rate if you are crash-prone or have speeding tickets. And what about make and model? Disregarding the vehicle’s higher replacement or repair costs, would you be surprised to learn you might pay more because that model gets into more collisions?
A reader just shot me a message about this.
[I’m an] older driver who’s never had a car accident or made an insurance claim. I don’t even drive a lot compared to all the daily commuters nowadays. I have gotten a discount for being a safe driver and driving fewer than a certain number of miles in a year. I’ve got high deductibles, yet I was shocked at the price of my car insurance. So I questioned the girl and she looked up something, she says, “Oh, you have one of those cars that are getting into a lot of car accidents.”
They say the auto insurer hiked the rate because other people driving the same make and model tend to get into more accidents. Other people, in other cars, but it’s the same make and model, so you get to pay more.
A quick internet search produced nothing, and asking AI also came up empty. Neither Grok nor Chat GPT can find published or public evidence of this.
Grok:
There’s no definitive evidence that car companies are directly charging higher prices for vehicle models based solely on their accident rates. …
Chat GPT:
Car companies don’t directly charge more based on how often your specific car gets into accidents. …
Like a not-so-good neighbor, State Farm is, based on our readers’ experience. Jake jacked up her rates because other people driving the same model car get into accidents.
Is this like blaming the gun? I think it is. And that seems unfair. So, are all vehicle insurers adding this to their calculus, or is it just State Farm, or maybe this agent?
Ask them if your auto insurance rates increase, and you can’t tell why.
We also have this, if you are looking for a vehicle (dated May 18th, 2025)—accident-prone cars. Follow the link to see all 34 vehicles in the graphic. These would be the models that would get dinged with a higher rate if this is a thing.
If you learn that your insurer does this as well, let us know, and we’ll update the post.
