Minicars and cars with powerful engines have the most frequent insurance claims for injuries to their occupants, while high-end sports cars and luxury vehicles rack up the most expensive claims for damage.
These are just a couple of the insights that can be gleaned from the latest claims information published by the Highway Loss Data Institute.
Collision claims data can provide a sense of how expensive it is to repair a vehicle, while injury data help fill out the safety picture. The institute also analyzes claims under comprehensive coverage, which covers theft and damage not caused by a crash, and property damage liability insurance, which pays for damage that an at-fault driver causes to another vehicle.
Loss information reflects both a vehicle’s attributes and how it is driven. HLDI controls for factors such as driver age and gender, deductible and the number of registered vehicles per square mile at the repair location.
The federal government distributes HLDI’s collision loss data to auto dealerships which, under a 1993 rule, are required to have copies available for any consumer who requests it.
This fact is not well known, so people rarely ask for the booklet.
“For consumers concerned about insurance premiums, this information is key,” Kim Hazelbaker, HLDI senior vice president, said in a statement. “A lot of things go into your premium — your age, place of residence, driving record, sometimes even your credit history. The kind of vehicle you buy is the one factor that a consumer can control in the short term.”
The safety perspective
Claims data also are important from a safety perspective. Crash test ratings tell a lot, but they reflect how a vehicle’s occupants are likely to fare in severe crashes that could cause serious injury or death. Such crashes account for a small fraction of total claims for injury or damage.
Insurance data reflect a much wider variety of crash severities and make it possible to compare vehicles of different types in a way that can’t be done with crash test information.
When it comes to collision coverage, high-end sports cars, luxury vehicles and less expensive cars with powerful engines have higher than average collision claims.
“Naturally, expensive cars cost more to fix, which is why they have such high collision losses,” Hazelbaker said. “Meanwhile, cars marketed for their powerful engines tend to crash more often, a phenomenon partly explained by the type of drivers they attract and by the style of driving they lend themselves to.”
Overall insurance losses are the result of claim frequency, or how often claims are made, and claim severity, or how much money is paid out on each claim. Overall losses are measured as the amount paid out per insured vehicle year.
An insured vehicle year is one vehicle insured for one year, two for six months each, etc. Among 2009-2011 models, the $196,000 Ferrari California convertible topped the list for highest overall collision losses, with an average loss of $2,132 per insured vehicle year, more than 7 times the average for all vehicles.
Those high losses are driven entirely by the Ferrari’s high average cost per claim of $82,112, as claims are rare events. In a ranking of the vehicles with the lowest claim frequency, the Ferrari comes in second after the Chevrolet Corvette Z06.
“A car like the Ferrari tends to stay in the garage most of the time. That looks like a smart decision when you consider how expensive it is to repair crash damage on one of these,” Hazelbaker said.
One car that gets driven and crashed more often is the Mitsubishi Lancer. The four-wheel-drive version tops the list for the highest overall collision losses for vehicles priced under $30,000. Its losses average $707 per insured vehicle year.
The Lancer’s high relative losses make it an outlier among small four-door cars. It’s a small sporty sedan, and its powerful engine and fun-to-drive image attract drivers who like to go fast.
The Hyundai Genesis coupe and the four-wheel-drive Suzuki Kizashi, which, like the Lancer, are marketed for performance, rank second and third on the list of less-expensive vehicles with high losses.
“Once you take out the luxury models, the list of vehicles with the highest collision losses is dominated by high-performance cars and small cars,” Hazelbaker said.
The lowest losses
The list of passenger vehicles with the lowest losses is dominated by SUVs and pickups, with the Chevrolet Tahoe hybrid SUV coming out on top. The Smart For Two micro-car also made the 10 best list in both regular and convertible versions.
When it comes to injuries in crashes, medical payment insurance pays for injuries to an at-fault driver or passengers in that driver’s vehicle, while bodily injury liability insurance pays for injuries that an at-fault driver causes to occupants of another vehicle.
A third type of injury coverage is Personal Injury Protection, which is used in the 17 states with no-fault insurance systems. This coverage pays for injuries to occupants of the insured vehicle, no matter who is at fault. Losses for both medical payment coverage and PIP reflect in part how well a vehicle protects its occupants.
Consumers can compare injury losses based on what type of coverage they need. Looking at PIP, the Toyota Yaris, a mini-car, has the highest frequency among 2009-2011 models at 28.5 claims per 1,000 insured vehicle years, or about twice the average.
The Suzuki SX4, a small sedan, comes in second with 26.6 claims per 1,000 insured vehicle years. Most of the vehicles with the highest PIP frequencies are mini-cars or small cars.
“Injury claims data show something that crash test results can’t, and that’s the role that vehicle size plays,” Hazelbaker said. “In most crash tests, the advantage of greater size and weight is masked by using a fixed barrier. As a result, crash test results are comparable only among similar vehicles. We know that in the real world, if all else is equal, a larger, heavier vehicle does a better job protecting occupants than a smaller, lighter one. These claim frequencies demonstrate that clearly.”
In addition to small vehicles, the list of high injury claim frequencies also includes models known for their powerful engines. As with the high collision losses for these vehicles, these high injury frequencies are likely a result of the way they are driven, according to the report.
