Reader’s Question:
I know that there are a lot of things that determine the premium for auto insurence here in California, but why do they say that SUV costs more to insure?
Anton
San Jose, CA
The things that determine your auto insurence premium include your age, gender, residence and driving history; how much and the kind of coverage you choose; and whether you use the car mainly for personal or business use. This is the reason why a driver could receive a different auto insurance quote than another driver for an identical make of the automobile.
However, you may wonder why the premium for a sport utility vehicle (SUV) is more expensive than another type of vehicle. Aside from the aforementioned things, auto insurence providers also take into account the possibility that a certain type of automobile would be stolen, vandalized or mixed up in a collision. They also take note how much they have to spend for repairs and they get their information by checking with several claim statistics.
For instance, the Highway Loss Data Institute observes how much auto insurance providers have spent for collision, damage and theft claims for different kinds of automobiles. For that reason, the price of auto insurance of SUV that is most appealing to thieves in the country would most likely be more costly than an automobile that is stolen the least. Aside from these statistics, auto insurance providers in California take into account what they have gone through with claims payout. For example, if an insurance provider has paid several claims concerning a certain make of SUV, they may charge higher auto insurance premiums for that kind of SUV than another insurance provider would. So it is a smart move to get more than one auto insurance quote from different insurance providers before getting your SUV insured.
