Buying a New Car? Consider its Insurance Claims Record
By Chuck Mai, AAA
The vehicle with the most expensive claims for damage is, surprise, a Ferrari. The Ferrari California, to be exact, with an average payment per claim paid by the insurance company of $82,112. I just remembered why I don’t have a Ferrari.
In second place: the Porsche 911 turbo convertible 4WD ($24,679), followed by the Maserati Granturismo ($16,150), the Porsche Panamera turbo 4WD ($16,027), the Nissan GT-R ($15,285), the Maserati Quattroporte ($11,454), the BMW M3 ($10,259) and the Mercedes-Benz S-Class hybrid ($8,528)
Which vehicles have the lowest average claim payment per crash? In first place is the Chevrolet Tahoe hybrid – $2,019. Wow. Followed by the Chrysler 200 ($3,378), the Toyota FJ Cruiser ($3,667) and the Chevrolet Colorado 4WD ($3,955). These numbers are for 2009 through 2011 models.
All this wonderful information comes to us courtesy the Highway Loss Data Institute, a partner of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Visit iihs.org/HLDI_composite for the full story, model-by-model for 2009 through 2011 vehicles.
It’s no surprise expensive cars cost more to repair. And that vehicles with powerful engines tend to crash more often not only because they can go faster but also because of the kind of driver they attract. No offense, Tony Stewart.
What is interesting is something else the HLDI tells us: when it comes to injury claims, small cars are less safe cars – owners of vehicles like the Toyota Yaris, the Suzuki SX4 and the Chevrolet Aveo submit more injury claims as a result of crashes than owners of vehicles such as the Cadillac Escalade ESV 4WD, the Land Rover Range Rover 4WD and the Ford F-150 4WD. Again, this ranking is for 2009 through 2011 model year vehicles.
As the IIHS put it, “In the real world, if all else is equal, a larger vehicle protects people better than a smaller one.”
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