SUV Owners Pay More for Insurance

 Hortencia Privett is like thousands of other owners of Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs). Privett admits that she loves what she drives, a silver 2002 Jeep Liberty, but insurance experts caution that she and other SUV owners have to pay considerably more for insurance than those tooling around town in smaller cars.



The cost to insure an SUV is generally 10 to 20 percent more than a car, depending of course on a driver's location, claims experience, credit history and other factors, confirms Loretta L. Worters, vice president of communications for the Insurance Information Institute, in New York. "Yes auto rates for SUVs are generally higher than for automobiles," says Worters. "Rates of course correlate to risk -- and there are a lot of risk factors with SUVs. Not so much what affects them, but what they do to other vehicles."



Cutting to specifics, Worters pointed out that an SUV's "potential for liability and medical payments coverage losses is a real concern to the industry. Pedestrians hit by SUVs have a 300 percent higher risk of serious injury than if they were struck by a passenger car. There's also greater injury in cars that are hit by SUVs than it would be with another car."



Privett acknowledges that she has to pay more for coverage, but that's okay with her under the circumstances. "I feel safer in my SUV," explains Privett, an office secretary in Illinois. "I've had an SUV for three years, and I wouldn't go back. Even though I have to pay more for insurance, it's worth the added cost to me."



Privett's SUV sentiments are hardly unique. It's been reported that SUVs accounted for upwards of 24 percent of all new-vehicle sales in the United States for 2003 and, with well over 20 million on the road today, SUVs represent almost 12 percent of all registered vehicles in the U.S.



The safety reputation of an SUV or other vehicle type certainly has a bearing on insurance costs. On the subject of SUV safety, a spokesman for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) brings up what he considers to be a misconception about SUVs.



"The misconception is that many people think that SUVs are safer than cars, and they're not," says IIHS's Russ Rader. "Vehicle crash statistics that we compile each year show that pound for pound, if you're comparing vehicles of a similar weight, SUVs tend to be less safe than cars."



Rader says that cost of repair is a big issue from an insurance standpoint. "SUVs can be costly to repair in minor crashes, because they don't have to meet the federal government's standards set for bumpers on cars in terms of withstanding crashes in commuter traffic or parking lots," explains Rader.



Says Rader: "Most SUVs aren't built like cars and don't drive like them. Yes, they're higher and you can see the road ahead better, but that height also gives them a higher center of gravity, which makes them less balanced than sedans -- and more likely to flip."



Insurance trade organization officer Dan Kummer focuses on high liability claims costs involving large SUVs in vehicular accidents. "If you have a large SUV and you hit a mid-sized or smaller vehicle, you are likely to pay higher liability costs when your policy comes up for renewal," says Kummer, director of personal lines for the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, in Des Plaines, Ill.



For more information about auto insurance please go to: Insurance.com

About the author:

None

 Rob Sliver

More Articles 

Car Accidents Claims And Insurance - Daniel Richards
If you are not sure of your rights in a car accident that you have experienced, you must consult the best lawyer possible. You can rest assured that the insurance company will have lawyers to represent them. Your claim is very important and...

Vacation Insurance... Saves Your Money, Time And Frustrations! - Jonathan Tan
Don't forget your vacation insurance before you take off for any travel. I am very serious when it comes to insurance, I do not want to take any chances, I grew up in a family with my mother as a sole bread winner, my Dad passed away when I...

Title Insurance Protects Your Financial Investment - Neda Dabestani Ryba
Title Insurance Protects Your Financial Investment By Neda Dabestani-Ryba Prudential Carruthers REALTORS You purchase homeowners insurance to protect yourself financially in case something happens to your property or its contents. However...

Choosing the Best Life Insurance Option for You - Claire Bowes
Life insurance in the UK is becoming more and more popular with many people now realizing the importance and the benefits of a good life insurance policy. There are two main types of popular life insurance, both of which offer a range of...

Is Your Insurance Company Rated? - Sher Matsen
Insurance is serious business. It not only costs you a pretty penny, you need to know the company you purchase the insurance from will honor a claim with no hassle should you have an accident. The first thing you need to do is find out if your...

Buying Auto Insurance (part 3 of 4) - Jeanine Steele
Continued from part 3 Insurance Company Advertisements Deceive (part 3 of 4) If some of the millions of dollars spent on advertising auto insurance would be devoted to fair payment of injured insured's' own claims against their own company, we...

Finding Term Life Insurance online - Richard Reich
What exactly is Term Life Insurance? Term life is a form of life insurance where you’re covered for a number of years - the number of years is called the term. Term life insurance policies can be for as long as 30 years or for 20 years, 15, 10 or...

Do An Auto Insurance Comparison And Benefit From The Savings - Peter Crump
It is very important to do an auto insurance comparison when you need insurance for your vehicle. Even if you are happy with the quote you get from your regular auto insurance company, it helps to shop around just to make sure you are getting the...

Home Equity – Let the Market Eliminate Your Private Mortgage Insurance - Charles Essmeier
In decades past, most people who were interested in obtaining a home loan were required to put down at least 20% of the purchase price. Those days are gone, and as home prices have risen faster than incomes, the average down payment required by...

Poor call centre performances driving motorists to go online for insurance - Richard Green
At a time when the entire world’s attention is focused on the problems of world debt, with the Live 8 concerts, the G8 summit in Scotland, the Make Poverty History Campaign (MPH) and the various anti-poverty marches, it seems that everyone wants...

The Best Kept Secret About Life Insurance - Don Adams
Do you love someone deeply enough to spend your hard earned dollars on a life insurance premium -- month after month? After all, the benefit from a life insurance policy isn't for you. It's for the ones you love, but after you've gone. Life...

Travel Health Insurance: Reimbursement Depends On Following The Rules - News Canada
(NC)—Travelling, whether for business or pleasure, involves risk. A personal emergency may necessitate an early return, or you may need hospital treatment or air evacuation due to a medical problem. Travellers should be aware that the Ontario...