Are Sedans Cheaper to Insure than Coupes

When looking at purchasing a car, many people forget to take insurance into account. We often are caught in the excitement of a car that is running a great lease deal or financing special that brings the car into our price bracket, that we overlook the need for insurance.

Insurance costs can over double our monthly automotive expenses, keeping insurance in mind is critical when buying a car. There have always been a couple of questions about insurance that have stuck in my head when searching for a new car, however. 

I have always been curious if the classic saying, “Those seats are only there for insurance purposes,” was actually true. I’m sure you have had similar thoughts while pursuing used car sites and ours late at night after the second or third glass of wine has set in. No? That’s just me? 

Regardless of how you spend your evenings alone, the question still lies, do rear seats help save on insurance? 

The Truth 

The fact of the matter is, no, it doesn’t really affect your costs, and here’s why. 

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of factors that go into deciding insurance costs. Insurance companies have complicated software designed to take every factor into consideration to produce the most analytically driven result possible for the company. 

Typically, the body style of the vehicle does not affect the result, but rather the type of vehicle it is. For the most part, coupes are typically performance cars, or performance-based cars, and therefore, come with a higher insurance cost as they pose more of a risk of cost the insurance company money through payouts. 

This is not always the case, however. There are plenty of coupes that are not performance-based cars. Vehicles such as the Honda Accord Coupe, Honda Civic Coupe, Buick Cascada, and many more, are not performance cars. 

What are the major factors that influence insurance costs?

Age and Driving Record

These two go without saying. If you have a difficult time keeping your foot out of the throttle, or have an affliction for meeting police officers on the side of the road, you may have a more difficult time getting cheap insurance. Similarly, younger people, particularly young males, have higher insurance rates. I think you can figure out why that may be the case. 

Safety Equipment

Safety features will play a major role in bringing down your insurance costs, much more than having an additional set of doors. A vehicle that can protect the driver and passengers more than a similar make or model is going to cost the insurance agency much less if an incident does occur, and they will, therefore, charge you far less for your insurance. 

Springing for those additional advanced safety features such as adaptive cruise control, automatic braking, and blind spot monitoring. 

Repair Expenses

Another factor that will influence your rate far more than rear seats ever would, are the repair expenses. Insurance agencies research repair costs for each make and model and have extremely accurate estimate tools for any repair. The higher your vehicle costs them to repair, the more they will charge you, it’s simple math. 

Direct Comparison

I know what you’re thinking, just tell me if two cars of the same make and model, similarly equipped, will cost the same in coupe or sedan form. For the most part, they will. For example, a Honda Accord sedan and Honda Accord coupe cost the same to insure. Where it gets tricky are vehicles such as the Audi A5, BMW 4 Series, and so on, which are the two door version of the A4 and 3 Series. In the circumstances, there are sometimes differences in price. However, the vehicles are also designed to be the more “sporty” model. 

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