We’ve been looking at used cars in Ontario, Canada, all in the same price range—CAD$9-15k.
Subarus seem to be way cheaper to insure compared to Toyota, Infiniti, Nissan, and Hyundai models from the same year and price range. Why is that? I should’ve considered this when budgeting because the insurance savings more than make up for the higher maintenance costs, especially if we keep the car long-term.
We just passed on a 2009 Forester because we didn’t want to deal with the timing belt replacement (CAD$1,300 plus whatever else might come up), but that’s about the same as the extra insurance cost for the car we’ll likely get instead… per year.
Subarus have lower insurance payouts compared to other brands. You can check out the data on insurance losses by make and model from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). It could also be because Subaru focuses a lot on driver visibility, which might lead to fewer accidents overall.
It really depends on your area. Insurance rates factor in how often certain cars get into accidents, break down, or get stolen. A Subaru could be cheaper than a Honda in one city but more expensive than a luxury car in another.
Where you live, Subaru owners might get into fewer accidents and take better care of their cars compared to other brands.
I’ve even seen cases where moving a car from the street into a garage increased the insurance rate. Weird but true.
My Audi is actually $40 cheaper per month to insure than my Ford.