Car Insurance Myths
We have all heard of urban legends, or urban myths as they are known in some circles. They are simply stories that have been told over and over again and picked up some pretty serious distortions along the way to make them more interesting. Some of them are fabricated from a grain of truth before they are blown out of proportion, but most of them are just wild stories. Did you know that urban myths also exist in the world of car insurance?
A car’s color has often been the subject of insurance myths. I’m sure you’ve heard somewhere along the way that a red car is more expensive to insure than any other color car. Although a car’s color can include it in many different statistics, insurance is typically not one of them. Odds are your insurance company won’t even ask you what color your car is before they give you a quote. Now, if the individual who drives a red colored car let’s the exciting, high energy feeling that the color inspires effect his driving habits, then yes, he’s going to have more tickets, more points on his license, and ultimately a higher insurance premium.
Here are some additional statistics of interest that were gleaned from this report – more than 50% of the drivers that were cited while driving one of the top five offending vehicles were women. The Hummers were the exception, they were most often piloted by men. The Scion TC boasted the youngest drivers on average (most of them between the ages of 16 and 30) and of those ticketed, a whopping 61% of them were women. Ladies, let’s work on slowing it down, urban legends abound when it comes to women drivers – we need not create urban truths out of them.
Another popular subject of rampant insurance myths is the color of the car. You’ve probably heard that a red car is more expensive to insure than any other color at least once in your lifetime. If you haven’t heard it yet, you probably will in the future and now, you will be prepared to impose your wisdom on the speaker of the legend. Red cars usually do not cost more to insure. In fact, most insurance companies won’t even ask you about the color of your car while calculating your rate quote. The color question comes after you’ve purchased your policy and it’s only for identification purposes. There are a select few companies that may modify your rates based on the color of your car if they have statistical data that states a higher percentage of accidents for that color. It doesn’t happen often, but if you’re insuring a red car there’s no reason to sweat it…. read on.
Here are a couple of fun facts – although a red car won’t cost you any more to insure, it will cost you more to buy. Red cars, no matter the make and model, list for roughly 9% more than any other color, and car salesmen are less likely to negotiate on the price of a red car. So, a red car may cost a little more up front, but according to another statistic, it is one of the safer colors to drive. Black cars are actually 12% more likely to be involved in a traffic accident during daylight hours, followed by gray, silver, blue and finally red.
When you look at the facts, it seems as though owning and driving a bright red sports car may actually be beneficial in many aspects. It won’t cost you any more to insure, the color alone will heighten your mood and energy levels and you’ll be less likely to be involved in a accident – pretty much makes up for that slightly higher purchase price.
Whether you drive a bright red Corvette, a dark green Nova or anything in between, you can trust Leland West for your classic car insurance policy.
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Kristen Wesch on April 1st 2011 in Car Insurance