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Research your insurance cost before buying a new car.

Are you buying a new car? Have you thought about what the car insurance premium will be? Before you go to the car dealership, have a general idea of what car insurance will cost and what kind of premium you can afford. You might be surprised to find that some less expensive cars could be quite a bit more to insure. Ask your agent for a quote, or simply some advice before shopping or finalizing a deal.

Sports Cars and performance cars tend to be more expensive than minivans. That one seems obvious. However, you might be surprised that you can find a $40,000 car that will cost less to insure than a $16,000 car. What? That's right. It isn't just the cost of the car that has an impact on the insurance rate. The cost to repair the vehicle and the average amount of damage to a vehicle when in an accident can make a big difference.

Here is an example. If you are pulling into a parking spot and miss the brake pedal on your Ford Escort, causing you to hit a tree, you might cause $1,200 in damage to your car. However, if you are pulling into that same parking spot and miss the brake pedal in your Ford Explorer, you might scratch your bumper and have $100 repair. The average cost to repair the Escort is much higher which causes the cost for the collision and comprehensive coverage to be much higher.

This is simplifying things a bit, but it does put it into real terms. Things that also matter are theft rate, injury rate and severity, average damage costs, etc.

A local agent can be helpful. Shop around and compare top insurance company rates.