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- Written by: Doug Hartley
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I had fun researching this one. Honestly, I knew nothing about electric or hybrid cars until recently when my daughter bought a Tesla. She still hasn’t taken me for a ride in it yet. I got to sit in it for a minute. She showed me all the cool features. Still, I didn’t know how it worked.
The horror stories of electric cars spontaneously bursting into flames and burning down houses with people asleep inside kept me from investigating them further. A customer asked me the other day—hence the reason for this article—which was cheaper, a regular gas car or electric. I didn’t know the answer. So, we looked online for vehicle identification numbers of various electric, hybrid, and plug-in hybrid models to compare the prices.
Complete this Quote Request Form and give us as many VINs a you need to see how much each one might lower or raise your rates.
The car manufacturers made it challenging to compare a model within a single brand. I expected every car manufacturer to have one model made in all four platforms. Boy, was I wrong. Maybe one car company made a gas and hybrid option, but not all four.
For this customer, the price varied from $700 to $1,500 for six months, depending on the model and the insurance company. We noticed that power platform didn’t matter. The electric vehicles varied from $800 to $1,500. The hybrids (no plug-in) were like the plug-in models in price, maybe a little lower. Gas or diesel cars were all over the board, depending on safety features. Some were as low as $600, others $1,500. Your insurance costs might be higher or lower depending on your driving record and credit history.
What did we conclude? Shop around. Before you buy, give your agent a bunch of VIN numbers to research which one will be the cheapest for you. Don’t settle on the first one the salesperson shows you. We were both amazed at how much the price varied in all four platforms. Of course, the price of the car, number of seats, and the country of origin all influenced the cost of the insurance. Perhaps the insurance companies factor in the availability of parts. Most of the vehicles we quoted were in the $30,000 to $50,000 price range.
Final note. I now know that there are a ton of safe options out there along the vehicle power plant spectrum. The dangerous, exploding electric cars are rare, and enough time has passed for the manufacturers to solve most problems. My research persuaded me toward the plug-in hybrid. That way, if your battery runs out of charge, your vehicle can run on fuel until it gets recharged by the energy produced by the car, or you can plug it in. Some PHEV’s claim they can go as far as 700 miles on a single fill of a 12-gallon tank and a charge with 70% less toxic emissions. I reached this conclusion because I do little city driving. My driving includes longer road trips. My 15-gallon tank can go barely 380 miles on the freeway. A hybrid might be better for you if you drive in heavy city traffic. These indeed are exciting times.
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1. Price of the Vehicle. This one is straightforward. How much did you pay for the car? I could include another to the list and make it eight. How much did the interest cost if you financed the automobile? Because you paid $25,000 for the purchase price, you ultimately might pay close to double that over the next five to seven years, including finance charges. This question applies to new or used vehicles.
2. Fuel. How fuel-efficient is the car? Does it get 10 mpg or 40? What type of fuel does your car take? Regular gas for a standard car, or is it a high-performance vehicle that requires premium? Is your car a hybrid with an electric motor that will assist in city stop-and-go traffic? Did you purchase a plug-in version of the hybrid that might get better mileage on long distances? How about an electric car that can go 250 miles on a single charge? The size and efficiency of the automobile will significantly influence the cost to power it.
3. Maintenance. How much does it cost to change the oil and maintain the other fluids? Can you do it yourself, or do you have to take your car to a dealer? How much are brake pads and calipers and other consumable parts on your car, like tires? You’d be surprised how much the cost to maintain one model of a vehicle varies from another.
4. Repair. Because a car is new doesn’t mean it won’t need repairs. If you buy a used car, check the maintenance and repair history, if available. How many recalls did the vehicle have? Were the recall repairs done? Maybe you could look up what certain parts would cost, like an alternator or transmission, for the automobile you are considering. If the car is cheap to buy, it might be expensive to fix. Weigh possible or known repair costs before you purchase.
5. Licensing and Registration. The age of the car might determine how often you must renew your tags and registration. Newer cars get a longer time between renewals than older cars. Does your vehicle have special plates? That could cost you a couple hundred more each renewal if they do. Keep your title in a safe place. Replacements might cost you.
6. Insurance. We are experts in this area. We beg you to please call or text us with a vehicle identification number before you commit to buying a car. Please! Why? Because EVERY vehicle has a different price for liability or full coverage. If a model tests poorly after manufacture, then the base price for insurance will be higher. Suppose the car has experienced multiple accidents or has a high mechanical failure rate and requires constant towing. Those incidents are recorded and will show up in the insurance companies’ reports to determine auto insurance prices. We’re not joking. Even if your car was stolen and recovered without damage, insurance on that car will cost you more.
We get comments all the time like, “Why is it so high? The car is old.” We aren’t insuring the car! We insure your ability to drive the vehicle in its current condition. There is a big difference. Another factor popped up in the last few years: How many seats does the car have? “What does that have to do with anything?” you ask. If passengers occupy all the seats of a seven-passenger van, and the driver runs off the road, how many passengers’ medical bills will the insurance company pay? Seven! More seats in the car usually means a higher price for the insurance.
7. Depreciation. This cost is tough to determine. Let’s say you are buying a brand-new car. It’s impossible to know how much that car will be worth in three to five years when you are likely to sell it. What you could do is look at other years of the same models, see what they sold for new, then subtract what they are worth now. Divide that figure by the cost new, and you have a depreciation percentage. For example, if the car sold for $20,000 five years ago and is worth $10,000 now, the depreciation would be 50%. Compare that to a model similar to the one you want to buy, which sold for $25,000 five years ago but is still worth $15,000 today; the percentage would be 40%. A little better. That still doesn’t mean your car will have the same result. Perhaps that model and manufacturer have improved in quality. For the math geeks out there, depreciation is something to consider.
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It’s simple math. The more seats, the greater the number of potential injuries. It doesn’t mean every seat gets filled, but a family of seven, with a working parent and one who stays home to run the household, six of the seven seats might go occupied while doing errands. Long family trips mean everyone gets to go.
So? What if the driver becomes distracted or gets broadsided by a truck? Everyone in the van might need medical attention, some more severe than others. Compare that to a two-seated pickup truck with more steel surrounding the passengers. How many potential victims will the insurance company have to pay for if the vehicle gets hit or rolls? Two. See the difference? Unless the driver allowed ten bodies to pile in the back. That’s a bad idea.
A business owner may employ that same seven-passenger van to haul materials or tools around. That’s a different category. Commercial policies will see the use from a different perspective if the driver and an employee occupy the two seats after the rest of the benches have been removed.
Another topic relates to the number of seats. How friendly to securing child safety seats is the automobile? Do the seatbelts quickly adapt to the ports in the child seat, or can hooks connect to the back?
The automobile insurance claim predictive landscape is changing. As the insurance industry gathers data and correlates the cause to the severity of the claim, auto insurance pricing will respond to those changes.
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If you are out shopping for a new automobile, here are a few safety features you should request. Not all cars have them.
1. Forward Collision Warning. Cars equipped with this have cameras attached to the front. Those cameras connect to a computer that constantly compares the road ahead to what should be there. If a foreign object appears in view, it will beep or chime, commanding the driver to pay close attention. Most often, it is another car that has slowed or braked in the car’s path.
2. Automatic Emergency Braking. This feature usually leaves the factory paired with the Forward Collision Warning system. If the driver fails to respond to the warning, the computer will autonomously apply constant pressure to the brakes until the car stops. The computer estimates the distance and speed, so it has enough time to react.
I am alive, or at least uninjured, because of this technology. I stopped in heavy traffic on the freeway when a distracted driver came around a corner at approximately 70 mph. I watched in the rearview mirror in horror as the car aimed straight for me, but the driver’s eyes were looking down at something (most likely a cell phone). To my surprise, the car braked all on its own and stopped just a few feet from my bumper. The driver looked up in total shock. To me, this is an essential feature that should come installed in all vehicles. It may not prevent all crashes, but can certainly reduce the severity of the impact.
3. Rearview cameras. Avoid back-over accidents by watching the dashboard screen for objects, people, or animals that might be in your path. Some vehicles come equipped with sensors in the back connected to the dashboard computer that gives out a warning signal, much like the Forward Collision Warning system.
4. Electronic Stability Control. This feature effectively keeps the driver from over-correcting when facing an object that has entered the roadway. Let’s say a deer or child on a bicycle has come into your path, and you swerve to avoid hitting them. When you have expertly missed them, the body often jerks the wheel beyond what it thinks the position was before the event. The onboard computer senses the change and signals the wheels to either release or brake to compensate for the over-correction or to prevent it from happening.
5. Blind Spot Warning. Cameras in the side of the vehicle ‘see’ the adjacent occupied lane. The system will give the driver a visible warning, usually in the side-view mirror coupled with an audible alarm. This feature helps prevent collision with another car that is in the lane the driver wants to take.
Bonus features to consider. I promised you five safety features, but a few more are worth mentioning if available.
Brake Assist is similar to or a part of the Emergency Braking System. It avoids panic-braking. When you encounter a dangerous situation in the roadway ahead, the computer will ‘assist’ the driver in applying the brakes. Lane Departure Warning systems alert the driver that the automobile has drifted out of its travel lane and might leave the roadway or collide with another car or guardrail. Lane Keeping Assist is similar in that it will not just warn the driver but will automatically turn the wheel, bringing the vehicle back into its lane. A Driver Inattention Monitor is nothing more than a camera somewhere in the dashboard area that watches the driver’s eye movements to be sure they stay on the road ahead. If the driver looks away too long, say at a smartphone or some other distraction inside the car or out, a warning alarm will sound, hopefully drawing the driver’s attention back. This feature is also practical if the driver nods off to sleep. Some vehicles come equipped with Automatic Crash Notification, which senses a crash and calls 911 automatically, transmitting the coordinates of the accident location. Some systems will patch a live person to a speaker and microphone in the car to talk to the driver or passengers.
There you have it. My top favorite new features and a few others to help if they are available.
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1. Safety First. If you decide to purchase a reconditioned or reconstructed vehicle, find out the nature of the impact that led to it being totaled. Was it a cosmetic dent or scratch over several parts or a severe impact that compromised the structure’s integrity? Did the airbags deploy? Was the frame bent, or did the suspension or braking system receive damage? These are all questions you should answer before you buy. I’ve seen fantastic body mechanics pull the imploded parts out and make them look brand new with Bondo, sandpaper, and paint. But the interior, the part that keeps passengers safe, went untouched. Scary!
A second impact, especially in the same zone as the first, could cause serious injury to the passengers. The engineering to create the crumple zones has already performed its magic and cannot be repaired. Covered up? Yes. Repaired? No. What is your safety worth?
2. Resale Value. Make sure you know the history of a car before you buy it. If you unknowingly pay full price for a branded title car, you won’t be able to sell it for much unless you find another unsuspecting buyer.
3. Insurance Rates. Auto insurance companies charge a lot more for reconstructed vehicles—sometimes double or triple. If you buy full coverage on a totaled auto, the company would only have to pay its actual, depreciated value, not the market price of an undamaged model. Some insurers will not cover reconstructed cars, period.
If you want to know if a car has a reconstructed title before you commit to buying it, please call or text us the vehicle identification number (VIN). We’ll be happy to check prices on the car and tell you if the vehicle comes back as branded.