The 2013 Ford C-Max is a new vehicle with no insurance past to speak of.

The 2013 Ford C-Max

It’s so fun when a new vehicle is created, like the 2013 Ford C-Max. People head to the dealerships just to see the new body type, the new features and anything else that the engineers put on it that they decided would make our lives easier. Unfortunately, with a brand new vehicle comes the uncertainty of insurance premiums.

Because insurance companies have no data to use to gauge what would be the appropriate premium to charge for a new vehicle, they have to work with data from similar vehicles. This also means that after the data collection has started and the insurance company is able to get some good statistics to use, owners of this brand new vehicle could see drastic changes in the premium later down the road.

Safety Ratings for the 2013 Ford C-Max

There was no safety ratings found for the 2013 Ford C-Max yet. It is a brand new vehicle and most likely the NHTSA (National Highway Transportation Safety Administration) and the IIHS (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety) have not been able to test the vehicle yet.

The good news is that the 2013 Ford C-Max has not had any safety recalls to date.

Insurance Thoughts for the 2013 Ford C-Max

Basically, this vehicle does not have much of a history; which statistic loving insurance companies don’t like. For us, it also makes it hard to do an insurance analysis on the 2013 Ford C-Max, but here are some basic thoughts.

First, there are no safety ratings. We have no idea if this vehicle is going to be a “Top Safety Pick” for the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety or if it’s a death trap on wheels. Okay, so most likely it’s not a death trap on wheels, but you are going to be paying less for your medical payments coverage with a “Top Safety Pick” than you are on one with no safety ratings yet.

Comprehensive and Collision coverage shouldn’t be too high due to the fairly decent sticker price that ranges from $25,200 to $28,500. This is about average for most sedans and is actually lower than other hybrids out there (Toyota wants anywhere from $22,000 to almost $40,000 for their Prius hybrid). However, with the serious lack of after-market parts for this specific new model of car and with it being a hybrid, insurance companies may error on the conservative side with premiums by putting them just a smidge higher than you would see for a regular vehicle that has a history on the market already.

Liability coverage should be fairly low on this vehicle. First, you aren’t going to see too many people drag racing in a Ford C-Max, and this type of vehicle isn’t the type that usually attracts drivers with a history of dangerous driving.

Second, the 2013 Ford C-Max is a smaller vehicle that won’t be able to do near as much damage to property or people as other bigger vehicles could.

All people in these 5 cities have to do to escape high car insurance is move.

There are very few drivers, and I definitely don’t know them, that don’t mind high car insurance premiums. Most drivers want to pay the least amount they can for car insurance. Unfortunately, for drivers in the following 5 cities, they are living the most expensive cities for car insurance premiums, whether they like it or not.

For most, just moving out of these cities will decrease their high car insurance.

(Please note that these annual averages from Runzheimer International are from 2011 as that is the data available at this time).

Highest City #5: Newark, New Jersey

I am not at all surprised to see a city in New Jersey in this list. The state as a whole has high car insurance (avg. $1,608), and regularly sits well above the average insurance premium that the rest of the nation pays. It is not anywhere near the highest state for insurance, though.

For the poor citizens in Newark their average car insurance is $2,867, which is just about double the national average of $1,438.

Highest City#4: Miami, FL

Not everything is perfect in paradise as the drivers in Miami can attest to. The state average for car insurance premiums may be $1,654, but drivers in Miami pay a high car insurance price of $3,388. These high car insurance rates are thanks to premiums hikes to cover both the increasing claims fraud and no-fault insurance laws.

Highest City #3: New Orleans, LA

Getting inexpensive car insurance is not all that easy in the Big Easy. With insurance premiums more than double the national average at $3,599 drivers in New Orleans might want to think about walking to save money.

Highest City #2: Philadelphia, PA

The City of Brotherly Love is definitely not feeling the love from the car insurance companies. Philadelphia doesn’t have the distinction of being the city with the highest car insurance premium though ; in fact it isn’t even close to number one. But having an average annual premium of $4,076 when the rest of your state is only paying $1,598 is pretty bad.

Highest City #1: Detroit, MI

Oddly enough, the motor city has the distinction of having the highest car insurance premiums of all the cities in the United States. Detroit has average annual insurance premiums of $5,941! That average premium is over 4 times the amount of the national average.

Looking at the locations for the 5 cities that top the list for high car insurance makes me glad I live out west.

A recent study reveals that the small percentage of people that look around to buy car insurance, are focusing on one thing.

Do you buy car insurance the same way this new study says people do?

When was the last time you shopped around to buy car insurance? We talk about it all the time here at Car Insurance Guidebook and I was wondering if people actually look around for new car insurance quotes as much as they should.

Well, I got my answer recently, and it was a resounding “NO”.

Princeton Data Source recently released the result of a survey they conducted where they found that over the last 12 months only 21% of the people they surveyed had looked around at new companies to buy car insurance from. So the remaining 79% of people must be really happy with where they buy car insurance from. That or they don’t want to bother with the trouble of looking around for new car insurance.

What People Concentrate on When They Buy Car Insurance

Of the 21% of people that actually shopped around for insurance there was one factor that they concentrated on the most – price. Price accounted for 81% of the reasons for why the switch to buy car insurance from another company was made.

Where People Buy Car Insurance from Now

Per the results of the survey, people are mostly buying insurance over the phone (54%); which really surprised me. I would have thought that most people buy car insurance online now, but there are still some insurance companies out there that don’t allow you to purchase insurance online. To get their insurance, you have to contact them directly or an insurance agent that represents them.

Buying car insurance online, like you can at this link here, did come in at a very close 2nd at 48%. Coming in last was purchasing insurance in person, with only 39% doing so.

How Many Quotes before People Buy Car Insurance

We always say that you need at least 3 insurance quotes when you are shopping around for insurance and people are doing just that. Of those that were shopping around for car insurance 59% of them got 3 or more quotes before they made a decision. There were even those out there that took it a step further with 26% getting 4 or more quotes.

Now do I agree with how people are shopping around for car insurance as seen in this study? Not completely, but people have to do what’s right for them when it comes time to buy car insurance.

Better be careful not to get snagged on one of these silly driving laws while you are behind the wheel.

Some driving laws make more sense than others.

There are so many laws on the books that it is easy for lawmakers to forget to take out the old ones after they are no longer useful. The old laws must have been important when they were first put in place to be enforced because there is usually someone who did something stupid to cause the law to be needed in the first place.

However, when looking at many of these old laws today most of us are just left scratching our heads wondering what our forefathers were thinking.

Silly Driving Laws Involving Animals

• You have to pay the parking meter just like you would for a vehicle when you tie an elephant to it in Florida.

• You can’t tie an alligator to a fire hydrant in New Orleans.

• In Massachusetts, you are not allowed have a gorilla in the back seat of your car.

• You are not allowed to park an elephant on Main Street in Virginia, Minnesota.

• Camels are not allowed to be driven on the highways in Nevada.

• Cars cannot pass horse drawn carriages in New Jersey.

Now the silliest of the driving laws pertaining to animals in from Pennsylvania:

“Any motorist who sights a team of horses coming toward him must pull well off the road, cover his car with a blanket or canvas that blends with the countryside, and let the horses pass. If the horses appear skittish, the motorist must take his car apart, piece by piece, and hide it under the nearest bushes.”

Silly Women Driving Laws

• Women are not allowed to drive in a housecoat in the state of California.

• In Memphis, Tennessee a man has to run waving a red flag in front of any car driven by a woman (yet, women have the lower insurance rates).

Silly Sunday Driving Laws

• You are not allowed to drive a black car on Sundays in Denver, Colorado.

• It is illegal to show movies or attend a car race on Sundays in Oregon (which would explain why there are no NASCAR races there)

Driving Laws that Make You Sad

• The “Ice Cream Man” and his truck are not allowed in Indianola, Iowa.

• In Wilbur, Washington you may not ride an ugly horse (well, we can’t all afford pretty horses).

These are just a small handful of the many silly driving laws that are still on the books. A person could probably fill an entire book with how many silly driving laws are in the United States and across the globe.

**Thank you to the Allstate Blog and the Land Rover Club for digging up these silly laws we got to laugh at today.

The 2013 Chevy Impala is from a historic car line with an average line of insurance.

The 2013 Chevy Impala has kept up with the times as it ages, with a sleek sporty look.

The 2013 Chevy Impala is the latest model of a car line that has been around for a very long time. The Chevy Impala first hit the road over 50 years ago and is still going strong today, just in a sportier more elegant body.

With prices that start at a little over $25,000 and a fairly good safety rating, the 2013 Chevy Impala’s modern body isn’t the only thing that looks good.

Safety Ratings for the 2013 Chevy Impala

The 2013 Chevy Impala earned an overall rating with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) of four out of five stars. The NHTSA’s ratings of a little higher than average also match with the safety ratings that the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) gave the 2013 Impala.

The IIHS gave the 2013 Chevy Impala a “good” rating for both frontal crash tests and side impact tests. The “good” rating is the highest rating that the IIHS gives to a vehicle.

For the rear crash tests and the roof strength test (rollover crash) the 2013 Impala only earned an “Acceptable” rating. “Acceptable” is just a step down from a “good” rating with the IIHS.

As far as recalls, there are none that can be found at this time.

Insurance Thoughts on the 2013 Chevy Impala

With the safety ratings being fair, the insurance premium for any medical payments or personal injury protection are going to be about average. The 2013 Impala is not a “Top Safety Pick” and could have higher safety ratings to give it a lower premium, but where it stands now you won’t be saving a whole lot of money in this area with this particular vehicle.

The comprehensive and collision coverage though, will have a pretty good premium. With the Impala being around for the last 50 years there is an established supply of aftermarket parts for this vehicle. This means that the insurance companies will have to pay less for damaged parts on this vehicle than they would with a newer car.

Also with the price of the vehicle starting at a little over $25,000 the cost to total out the vehicle in the event of a serious accident will also be less. The premium for these two coverages won’t be as low as a vehicle that starts at under $20,000, but will be much better than a $50,000 luxury car.