One of the most important considerations that determines the price of your quote is the insurance group allocated to your car.

Why buy a Group 1 insurance car?

The biggest advantage of a group 1 rated car is that it keeps down the cost of your car insurance.

In particular, they are an excellent choice for young drivers who will already attract an increase in their insurance simply due to their age and driving inexperience.

The on-going maintenance of running a group 1 vehicle is much lower as the servicing cost will be cheaper, the road tax maybe lower and any non-insurance repairs should cost a lot less than a higher performance vehicle.

Group 1 insurance rated cars

• Chevrolet Spark
• Citroen C1
• Fiat Panda
• Ford Ka Plus
• Hyundai i10
• Kia Rio
• Nissan Micra Hatchback
• Seat Mii
• Skoda Citigo
• Skoda Fabia Hatchback
• Smart Forfour
• Vauxhall Corsa Hatchback
• Volkswagen Fox
• Volkswagen Polo Hatchback
• Volkswagen Up

How are car insurance groups decided?

With so many different car makes and model, UK insurance underwriters divide up vehicles into group ratings of between 1 and 50.

The higher the group, the more expensive your insurance is likely to be. Lower car insurance groups can attract a discounted rate and keep your premium lower.

The group ratings are based on a number factors including:

Performance of your car

Insurance statistics clearly show a correlation between high performance cars and accident claims. Therefore, cars with larger engine sizes and faster acceleration are considered high risk.

On the other hand, a group 1 car with a smaller engine means less speed and less accidents - a much safer risk for underwriters.

Cost and availability of replacement parts

Expensive and high performance cars inevitably attract higher cost replacement parts that may be difficult to source. Cheaper value group 1 cars generally have easily available and less costly spare parts.

Cost of labour to repair the vehicle

The underwriter needs to know that even though spare parts can be sourced, will fitting them and repairing the vehicle prove difficult and require specialist knowledge. Mass produced group 1 vehicles can usually be fixed at most garages at a pre-determined labour cost.

The value of the car

The insurer has to factor in the replacement value of a car in the event of a write-off. Group 1 cars generally cost much less to buy and are therefore a lower risk for underwriters.

Safety features built into the car

Less accidents equals less claims and more profit for insurers. So, safety features such as Autonomous emergency braking (AEB) will help towards a lower insurance group rating.

Car security

Cars that have a standard fitting of a high quality alarm, immobiliser and secure door locks, will attract a much more favourable rating.