It's probably no surprise that young people prefer sporty
compact cars.
J.D. Power and Associates'
Power Information Network this week released a list of new-car
models with the highest percentage of Gen Y (ages 16-35) owners.
Volkswagens and Acuras dominate the list.
Yet there is one big surprise: The most powerful car in the
lineup is the cheapest to insure, which may matter a little more to
this expensive-to-insure demographic. (See "
The cheapest age for car insurance
.")
We created a typical Gen Y buyer -- a 24-year-old male -- and
dropped him in a hipster hot spot: Seattle. We gave him a clean
driving record and chose a leased, sporty or high-tech variant of
each of the models on the list. Using the cheapest rate we
found in our comparison-shopping engine, annual premiums for the
top 10 Gen Y favorites ranged from $2,039 a year for the
370-horsepower Dodge Charger R/T to $3,236 for the 237-horsepower
Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart.
Here's how Generation Y's top 10 stacked up:
Model, Gen Y % and annual premium
- Acura ILX 2.4 Premium: 40.2% $3,016
- Acura TSX Tech 34.3% $2,516
- Dodge Charger R/T: 34.7% $2,039
- Mazda 3 S: 40.2% $2,480
- Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart: 48.6% $3,236
- Scion tC: 50.2% $2,571
- Subaru Impreza Sport Premium: 37.4% $2,596
- Volkswagen Golf TDI: 34.7% $2,367
- Volkswagen GTI: 44.5% $2,727
- Volkswagen Jetta GLI: 35.2% $2,503
For context, we also put the same driver into the most boring
car we could find and into one of the most exciting. Our
hipster would pay $2,126 a year to insure a 178-horsepower 2013
Toyota Camry SE -- and $2,854 to insure a 505-horsepower Chevrolet
Corvette Z06.
"There's no getting around your age," says Penny Gusner,
consumer analyst for CarInsurance.com.
"You're paying more for the added statistical likelihood that
you will crash a car. You're paying more for the
fun urban neighborhood
you live in. But you're also paying more because cars driven mainly
by younger people tend to have more claims. Insurers notice." (See
"
How a car gets a bad reputation
.")
Methodology: CarInsurance.com compared quotes for a 24-year-old
male driver, no accidents or violations, driving 12,000 miles a
year with a 10-mile one-way commute to work. He has good credit, is
single, is a college graduate and is buying $100,000 in bodily
injury liability coverage (up to $300,000 per accident) and $50,000
in property damage liability coverage. He carries a $500 deductible
on comprehensive and collision and has purchased uninsured motorist
coverage. He also has bought $10,000 in personal injury
protection.