Car And Bike Insurance Groups

by: Rob Laird - RPL Driving

When getting prices for insurance, one of the things the company looks at the the vehicle you're insuring.

This is a sliding scale from 1 to 20, with a car like a 998cc Vauxhall Corsa at the lowest group; insurance group 1, a mini cooper convertible higher at group 9, and pretty much every Ferrari up the top at group 20. Bikes have a very similar system.

There are several things need to be taken into consideration when assigning a group:

1. The price of parts, as if there is an accident, it will affect how much the company needs to pay out to repair your vehicle. Also if a vehicle is difficult to work on, making repair times longer, this will also tend to increase the group.

2. The security fitted to the vehicle. More security, less likely to be stolen, less likely for the insurance to need to be used, so therefore a lower group.

3. The cost, quite simply because if the car is written off, and it needs to be replaced, the higher costing vehicle, will have a higher group.

4. Look at a 1 litre car to a 3 litre, obviously the larger engined car would have a more expensive group. Overall acceleration and top speed are also taken into account.

5. Desirability, 2 very similar cars, might have 2 completely different groups if one of them has a history of being more attractive to car thieves.

So before you jump in and buy your car, do some research on the costs of insuring it first, and look at similar cars that might save you hundreds of pounds.