Written by Q: What is a good inexpensive car to insure for my teenager?
AIS Answer: There is no definitive right answer as you’re dealing with a teenager. Nearly any vehicle is expensive to insure once a younger inexperienced driver insured on the vehicle. Here are a few guidelines for finding cheaper vehicles to insure, though this is not a complete list.
-  Buy A Used Car: It may seem like a no-brainer, but a lot of people buy brand new vehicles for their kids (think graduation presents) and this can be extremely expensive whether good driver or bad, as new cars are expensive to repair.
- Safety Features: Nowadays most vehicles come with safety features that would put anything from the early 90′s to shame. Front, rear and side curtain airbags, standard ABS, LSD (Limited Slip Differential), and many others. Thankfully, you can buy a 3 – 5 year old model and still find many of these features, not only saving some money over buying new, but cheaper to insure because it isn’t new.
- Loan vs. Cash: If you’re financing a vehicle and you’ve got a lien-holder, you’re not the person in charge of determining the amount of coverage you can have on the car. When financing you can throw state minimum required auto insurance out the window, instead you’ll find the deductible will be around $500 (sometimes $250), with Comprehensive and Collision coverages at a fairly high amount. If your child owned the vehicle he/she could just purchase Liability only (though, you need to speak with a licensed insurance agent before doing so) and could save a bit of money instead of opting for comp and collision, though that maximizes the risk of a lawsuit in the event of an at-fault accident and the vehicle would not be repaired in at-fault accidents, vandalism, or theft among others. Even if it could save a substantial amount of money, liability only coverage should not be taken lightly.
Overall, as with most kids you get stuck with cheap car that’s hopefully reliable and insurance is ridiculous. That’s not always the case and as a parent it may just be easier to add your child to your auto insurance policy, and subsequently their car. Contact your car insurance company and see what you can do BEFORE you buy them a vehicle. Chances are if they are a good student, or have a clean driving record you can find some discounts, and it may not be so expensive to insure them after all.
I see a lot of VW Jetta’s. I would go for something a bit more reliable though like a Honda Civic.
get an older vehicle, not too old that you’re going to be stuck paying for repairs, but old enough that it’s cheap to buy, maintain, and insure. I would go with a late 90′s Honda Civic or Accord.
be like all the other parents that buy their kids a brand new vehicle that they trash within 1 year and looks like a bad drivers ed car.
Don’t get an SUV for a new driver. They’re going to roll it without experience.
Honda or Toyota are good choices for a young drivers. Plenty of safety features and reasonably priced when used. Car insurance isn’t bad on most used Japanese cars and they hold their value well.
set a $5,000 budget for a car and find the best one you can, anything more and you’re just throwing money out the window – any less and it would cost more to insure than buy.
don’t forget Toyota pickups. Most guys I know wouldn’t touch a honda civic, or any economy car for that matter. I don’t think everyone needs a Jeep Wrangler but Toyota has some good used pickups like the Tacoma and Tundra that are pretty reasonably for car insurance.
Scion’s are great. Low cost, cheap to maintain and likely very cheap to insure. If you can find a used Scion XB, XC, or XA it’s like $10k and made by Toyota.
Scion XA for the win…
don’t get a RAV 4, they suck.
I see a lot of people rockin’ the Ford Focus, but it looks lame but it’s cheep
you need to get something good on gas and safe. Old VW Jetta’s are pretty good, but they can break down easy. Best bet is stick with Japanes cars.
when I was a teenager I had a Nissan pickup and a Toyota 4runner…I don’t think it even mattered what vehicle I had it was all way expensive to buy, maintain, and insure.
Mazda Miata!!! Kidding. They’re only like $8k used and there’s a lot of them on the road so they must be easy to fix.
Maxda? No, they suck. Ford Aspire Yo! HA.
Kia RIO!!!! No, that car is no good. Hyundai Accent? too cheap. Hmmm…Honda makes good cars, Toyota makes good cars (the Yaris is cheap and gets good gas), The neon is popular.
get your kid a new chevy malibu, great cars.
1 vote for a Porsche 911
an 95 T-Bird, they’re unreliable and always broken down. Same with an old camaro.
zoom zoom zoom? No way. You don’t want a Mazda. Get a VDUB.
used BMW 325/330 (about 2001 – 2003) are affordable and pack some serious safety features. Car insurance rates aren’t that bad, but teens are expensive to insure as is.
buick regal has low car insurance but it’s ugly. Try a chevy cobalt, I bet they’re dirt cheap to insure. I would go cheap american vehicle on this.
Tyota yaris! that’s awesome. Toyota Corrollas are cheap to insure, and they’re certainly inexpensive to buy. You can get one for around $20k or under $20k and insurance would be like $80 bucks a month.
Getta Jetta
Nothing new that’s for sure. Buy the cheapest P.O.S. car you can find and put liability only on it…that’s next to nothing. I recommend an early 90′s Honda Civic.