Most Expensive Cars to Drive: Dodge SRT-4

When you are researching new cars before you buy, you probably pay a lot of attention to the vehicle’s price, features, fuel economy, and size. An important factor you might be forgetting is how much it will cost you to insure the vehicle. A lot of buyers make the mistake of not looking into insurance costs until they already own the car. By that time, it’s too late, and you could be caught off guard by sky-high insurance premiums. If you decide to buy a Dodge SRT-4, you are in for an especially rude awakening. According to the Highway Loss Data Institute, the Dodge SRT-4 is the third most expensive car to insure based on collision loss data from 2002-2004. In this post, we’ll discuss the factors that influence premiums to help explain why the SRT-4 is so expensive to drive.

How Make & Model Influence Premiums

Even if you live in an area with low theft rates, have ideal insurance demographics, and a clean driving record, you are not completely safe from high premiums. Another big determinant of your insurance costs is the make and model of your vehicle. Make and model can have a huge impact on your premiums for comprehensive and collision coverage. When insurers issue a policy, they determine your premiums based on accident and loss statistics for drivers like you and for the vehicle that you drive. Thus, even if you are an excellent driver in a low-risk demographic, your rates will still skyrocket if you select a car that is statistically more likely to be driven by accident-prone drivers. The Dodge SRT-4 tends to be driven by younger drivers, which means more accidents and higher insurance costs. Below is a list of characteristics that can drive up your premiums:

• Size. You might think that because small cars are less capable of doing serious damage, they must be cheaper to insure. This is not the case with small sports cars like the SRT-4. Usually, small, sporty vehicles are driven by young male drivers, and they tend to be driven at high speeds and get into more accidents than other vehicles. Typically, the cars with the lowest insurance costs are family-size sedans.
• Performance. Beware of vehicles with a lot of horsepower. Higher horsepower means high performance, and, statistically, that leads to faster driving and more collisions. The insurers assume that vehicles capable of high performance and high speeds will actually be used for such purposes, which is not unreasonable.
• Vehicle price. More expensive cars will cost more to repair or replace, and your premiums will reflect this. Luxury cars require pricey parts, which means the insurer will have to pay more to get your vehicle back in working order after a collision.

Information about the Dodge SRT-4

Now that you know what drives up premiums on a car, you can see why the SRT-4 is so costly to insure. The “SRT” in the vehicle’s name stands for “Street and Racing Technology,” and the “4” is a reference to the number of cylinders. The vehicle comes with a turbocharged engine offering just under 300 horsepower. Clearly, this car is targeted toward racing and muscle-car enthusiasts, who tend to drive faster and more recklessly. This vehicle may be a dream car for you, but it is a nightmare for insurers.

Additional Resources

• 10 Most Expensive Cars to Insure
• Forbes Autos: Jaguar XK Convertible