When you’re out on that car lot looking at your next ride – simply looking at the sticker price could end up not being the cheapest cars to insure.

If you really want to save money, don’t pick a car solely by price. You need to look at how much it’s going to cost you to insure it. You will be paying to insure that car as long as you own it – so whatever you think you will be saving with a low monthly car payment, will be flushed down the drain when you find yourself paying higher insurance rates.

Insurer’s Crystal Ball

What you pay to insure your car is determined by a bunch of different factors beyond your driving record. The nature of factors, and how heavily each is weighed varies greatly from company to company. This is why insurance rates will be very different from one place to the next.

One thing that you can count on being judged on across the board is the type of car you are driving.

A good general rule of thumb when trying to predict how high a premium might be is to look at crash tests, theft rates, and what kind of safety features it comes with.

If a car performs well in crash tests, it isn't frequently stolen,and has additional safety or anti-theft devices, it will generally cost less to insure. On the other hand, if your car is flashier, attractive to thieves, and doesn't wow anyone in the crash tests, it will cost more to insure.
These are pretty general guidelines, so if you don’t want to play the guessing game there is a sure-fire way of finding out which cars will be cheaper to insure.

Why Play Psychic?

If you’ve already had your heart set on a couple of specific cars, and are trying to decide – run auto insurance quotes through a trusted site like insurancerates.com to get the best estimate on how much you should expect to pay. The make, model, and year of the car will get you reliable rate estimates, but if you can get your hands on the cars’ VIN numbers it’ll be even more accurate.

If you don’t know what kind of car to get, and decided to start by looking at which are the cheapest to insure – here’s a good list compiled by the experts at insweb:

10 Cheapest Cars to Insure

1. Oldsmobile Silhouette
2. Pontiac Montana
3. Saturn L Series Sedan
4. Chrysler PT Cruiser
5. Saturn L Series Wagon
6. Chevrolet Venture
7. Chevrolet Astro
8. Saturn Vue
9. Jeep Wrangler
10. Oldsmobile Bravada

Is Your Car Cheap to Insure? 3 Ways to Tell

1. Would James Bond Drive it?

If you drive a sporty, high performance car with a ton of horsepower, insurers will look into that crystal ball and envision you on a risky joy ride – resulting in higher rates.

All its fancy features will also strike fear into an insurer’s heart because if you get in an accident, even a fender bender, any damage will cost big bucks to repair.

2. Size Matters

Bigger is better when it comes to safety – but whatever savings you get as a result may be outweighed by the damage they cause.

SUVs and large trucks are generally safer than compact cars, but these giants of the road tend to require more expensive liability coverage because they cause more damage than most standard cars in accidents.

3. Family Friendly

When car insurance companies stare into that crystal ball and see a family friendly car (minivans, station wagons, family sedans) it’s hard for them to picture a reckless driver. These cars are usually carrying precious cargo – and as result tend to be involved in less accidents because for the most part they’re more carefully driven. As a result these are the cheapest cars to insure.