Not Honda, Not Chevrolet: This Is The Cheapest Car Brand To Insure

Beyond purchase price, beyond fuel costs, beyond maintenance and repairs, insurance premiums represent one of the largest, and still one of the most overlooked, costs of car ownership. Car insurance prices have skyrocketed in recent years, with premiums climbing by over 50% on average since 2020. And that naturally leads a lot of drivers to see what exactly it is that determines how much you pay for auto insurance.

Obviously, your age and driving record play a big role in auto insurance costs, as do the state you live in and what type of vehicle you drive. These could be factors as broad as the insurance rates of a pickup truck compared to a car, or they could be a lot more specific, down to individual models, powertrains, or individual safety options affecting insurance rates. What about brands? Is there one particular carmaker that comes out on top for having the cheapest insurance rates?

The majority of auto insurance rate data is broken down by individual model rather than brand, and there are always variations within the data collection itself, but we'd say it's safe to consider Subaru as the overall brand leader when it comes to cheap insurance rates, though there are other brands in the running.

Consumer Reports is always considered one of the best resources for car buying research, and CR's current ranking uses Insurify data over a 20-year period to show Subaru is the brand that's cheapest to insure, with an annual premium average of $2,088. Other sources, like Value Penguin, back this up with insurance data broken down by individual model, showing the Subaru Crosstrek, Forester, and Outback ranked among the cheapest new models to insure. Subarus also regularly rank very well among the cheapest used cars to insure.

Now, just because one brand has a lot of cheap models to insure doesn't mean that every car from that brand is going to save you money on car insurance. For example, Chevy might make a lot of family-friendly crossovers that are inexpensive to insure, but its overall average will be pushed higher because of expensive or specialty vehicles like the Camaro and Corvette.

Subaru, when viewed as a whole, has a lot of things in its favor when it comes to cheap insurance. Most of its vehicles follow the same all-wheel-drive, crossover formula, the brand's safety ratings are good, and all of its offerings are relatively inexpensive by new car standards. Additionally, electric vehicles, which are generally more expensive to insure, make up a very small portion of Subaru's lineup. Keep in mind, though, this doesn't mean that a high-performance Subaru WRX or BRZ sports car is going to have the same ultra-cheap insurance rates as a Crosstrek. 

Are there other good car brands for inexpensive insurance? Absolutely. CarEdge, for example, rates Chrysler as its cheapest brand with an annual insurance cost of $2,000. This pick should have an asterisk, though, since the only vehicles Chrysler currently sells are three variations of the same basic minivan, and that's a little unfair to compare against brands with larger, more varied lineups. Mazda is also ranked highly on the CarEdge list, and that's not surprising. Mazda is a lot like Subaru when it comes to pricing and the overall breadth of its lineup, with lots of affordable CUVs and no ultra-high-end specialty models to pull up the average. 

While insurance rates are absolutely a valid factor in deciding which car to purchase, there are, of course, lots other ways to save money on car insurance — regardless of what car you drive. Whether it's insurance for a vehicle you already have or one you're thinking about purchasing, shopping around for the most affordable insurance company is always an option.

Better yet, before you buy a new vehicle, it's always a very good idea to get a VIN and get an exact quote from your provider to see how much your insurance premium will go up or go down. You can do this for as many different vehicles as you'd like, and knowing this information before you make a purchase is one of the best tools a car buyer can have.