Do Red Cars Cost More To Insure?
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Like the myth that red cars are cop-magnets and will get you pulled over, the idea that red cars cost more to insure makes a certain amount of sense but doesn’t reflect reality. The truth is that the color of your vehicle doesn’t have any impact on your insurance rates, even if it sometimes feels like it does.
So why do so many people think that red cars cost more to insure?
Well, it probably comes from the same idea that there’s a bias against red cars in police departments and the assumption that the insurance industry thinks that everyone driving red cars is going to drive recklessly.
But is there any truth to the idea that red cars cost more to insure? We decided to take a closer look and see why this myth persists even though insurance companies insist that red vehicles don’t cost any more than any other color. Turns out, there are some real reasons why this myth is still so popular and commonly believed today.
Does Owning A Red Car Really Make A Difference?
First off, if red is your favorite color, we have some good news for you. There’s not a difference between the costs of owning a black or a white car and owning a red one. Well, you might want to take your red car to the carwash a little more often, but that’s about it.
The idea that red cars cost more to insure, or that you’re going to get more tickets if you drive a red car, actually has a lot more to do with which kinds of vehicles are more likely to be red and the kinds of drivers that are attracted to red cars.
The color isn’t influencing your behavior, but your behavior might have consequences that are often falsely attributed to the color of your car.
We’ll dig more into that in a moment, but first, let’s talk about what insurance companies are actually thinking about when they decide how much it will cost to insure your vehicle.
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What Insurance Companies Care About
When it comes to carrying car insurance, there are a lot of hidden factors that can make rate shopping frustrating and difficult. After all, there aren’t that many insurance agents that will talk about why there’s such a big price difference between companies, especially when there are so many price differences with plans that are incredibly similar on paper.
Well, there are a few things to think about here.
The first is the make and model of the vehicle you’re insuring. Newer, nicer vehicles are almost always more expensive to insure than older vehicles or consumer vehicles. That means that your 2022 luxury vehicle will cost more to insure than a 2010 commuter vehicle – even if they’re both cherry red.
Insurance companies also think about what your vehicle can do when they’re setting insurance prices. For instance, a high-performance luxury vehicle can go a lot faster, which means that accidents have the potential to be a lot worse than slower vehicles – which translates to higher costs for them if you ever have to make a claim on your insurance. The higher cost of maintenance and replacement parts is also factored in to cost of insuring luxury vehicles.
But for older vehicles with lower value, the insurance company is a lot more likely to be able to total a vehicle and make a relatively low replacement payout because the vehicle isn’t worth as much as a newer or nicer model.
There are two more important factors insurance companies consider that we want to talk about. They aren’t the only two, and all insurance companies have slightly different criteria and ways to determine costs, but your age and gender are two important factors.
Younger drivers, especially young men, are known to be risk-takers and more likely to drive distracted, inebriated, or just recklessly compared with older drivers and women. That means that men often have slightly higher insurance rates than women, and young drivers almost always have higher insurance rates than older drivers.
The other factor is your driving record. If you have a record of a lot of speeding tickets, accidents, and citations, you’re going to have to pay more for insurance since the insurance company thinks you’re a higher-risk driver.
If you have a history of DUI, you’ll also probably have much higher insurance rates and might be required to have specialized insurance coverage to cover the higher costs if you drive under the influence again.
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Why It Seems Like Red Cars Cost More To Insure
There are a few reasons why it can seem like red cars cost more to insure.
For one thing, red isn’t actually the most popular color for cars right now – white cars are a lot more popular and have been for a decade or so. That means that people who are buying red cars are usually buying them for a reason.
Of course, it’s fine if you’re buying a red car because red happens to be your favorite color. But a lot of the people who buy red cars are buying them because of the associations with a red car, especially when they’re buying a brand new car or a nicer or sportier model.
If you’re buying a red car because it’s the iconic color of speedsters and incredibly skilled but reckless driving, you might be slightly more likely to speed and engage in other reckless driving behaviors compared with other consumers.
Now, we’re not here to critique anyone’s driving habits. But it’s worth considering whether your driving record might have an impact on how much your auto insurance costs. After all, insurance companies themselves admit to caring about your driving record, while they deny caring about your car’s color.
It’s also worth considering which cars are most likely to be red in the first place. Car manufacturers pay close attention to trends in what color people are buying for different models and different kinds of vehicles. That way, they can paint a certain percentage of each color to try and meet demand without repainting their stock.
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Since red cars are commonly associated with sports vehicles and luxury, it’s also relatively common for a larger percentage of those cars to be painted red, which means that the vehicles that are naturally more expensive are also a little more likely to be red.
So, if you’re wondering do red cars cost more to insure, the answer is a little complicated. For the most part, no, red cars don’t cost more than comparable cars of other colors. But cars that cost more to insure are a little more likely to be red, and the kind of people who want a red car are a little more likely to have higher-cost insurance coverage requirements.
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