Reader question:

What makes my high performance car more likely to suffer damage in a car insurance accident?

Mikey

Thank you for your question, Mikey.

There are several factors that refer to the safety of your high performance car, but I want to address two of the main ones which I think that every person should consider before they sign on to get a vehicle. After all, among all of the other factors that go into your car insurance premium decision, the damage likely to be incurred or caused by a certain vehicle is a big factor when it comes to a consideration of the safety of the car for car insurance rating purposes. While most people with high performance cars don’t have to worry much about this, many do.

• Is your high performance car crashworthy?

This means, how well does your high performance car hold up when it gets in a certain type of car insurance accident? There won’t be a single answer for all types of high performance cars, because based on how they are made all of these factors vary, even when one safe car is from the same manufacturer of another more dangerous car, or if one car is more dangerous for one model year than it was in the year previously.

There are two organizations that handle the ratings for these cars by giving them tests to determine how they will hold up in different types of crash. One is a government organization, called the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. You can get ratings at its website. The other is one that is given money and run by the insurance business, and it is called the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. You can get ratings from its website, as well.

These organizations test for four different kinds of car insurance accidents. One if a crash at low speeds, another is a crash from the rear, then from the front, and then a side impact car crash test. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is also very helpful in that it gives ratings for things such as a car’s propensity for rollovers, and for tire safety on different brands.

• Bumpers.

Bumpers that don’t match in height and width have caused some of the most expensive car insurance accidents. Even if two cars are going very slowly, much damage can be caused even so because one bumper will go over the other and cause damage significantly. This is why big trucks and sports utility vehicles often aren’t considered safe, because they have higher bumpers and wreak havoc on smaller cars when the two meet in a car insurance accident. These bumpers normally don’t absorb impact very well to protect the car itself, and crumple very easily when force is exerted on them thanks to the material most are made of. When my husband got rear ended by a guy a couple days ago, the guy’s bumper crumpled even though our car is smaller than his by a bunch. That’s just an anecdote, but it’s backed up by studies.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.