My New Car Is 3 Times More Expensive Than My Old One. Here's What Happened to My Insurance

The change may surprise you.

Recently, I had to purchase a new car in order to have a vehicle that drove better in bad weather and that could comfortably accommodate two car seats as well as a dog. In order to get a large enough car to meet our growing family's needs, I had to purchase one that was three times as expensive as the vehicle I previously owned.

I assumed my car insurance costs would increase dramatically as a result of the fact that my new car would cost a lot more to replace than my old one if something happened to it. But what actually happened surprised me.

Here's how my insurance costs changed when I bought my new car

When I switched to a new car that was three times as expensive as my old vehicle, my insurance premiums went up exactly $81 per year. This was a far less significant increase in auto insurance costs than I expected given how much extra the car would likely cost to fix or replace if something went wrong.

There was one key reason why my insurance costs did not go up nearly as much as I had feared they would. My premium increase was a very small increase because the new car had tons of safety features and anti-theft features that my old car didn't.

Since the new car brakes automatically to avoid collisions; has tons of cameras; has motion detectors in case people move around in the car when it has been parked; and has a whole bunch of other advanced safety features, obviously there is a significantly decreased risk of a collision or theft compared to my old car that lacked all of these features.

So while the insurer would have to pay out much more money if I made a claim, the chances that I would need to do that have gone down significantly because the safety and anti-theft features have significantly reduced the chances of either a collision occurring or the car being stolen. Insurers price policies based on risk, and my risk has been reduced enough that the company isn't charging much more than they did to cover a much cheaper vehicle.

How to make sure a new car purchase doesn't lead to unreasonable insurance premiums

In my case, I got very lucky that my insurance costs didn't go up much with my new car purchase. But that won't always be the case every time a vehicle switch occurs.

The best way to make sure auto insurance costs don't become unaffordable when switching vehicles is to shop around and compare coverage options before actually buying a new car. Insurers will give quotes based on the make and model of a vehicle, so it's possible to find out exactly how much it might cost to cover a car even before making a purchase.

By comparing insurance premiums before buying, it's possible to take insurance costs into account as one of the factors worth considering when choosing which new car to purchase. If one car is much cheaper than another that you're interested in, this could be a deciding factor in choosing the right vehicle for your needs.