Sports Car Insurance: What You Need to Know

The feeling of gravity pushing you back into your seat as you push on the gas pedal is like no other. The horsepower under the hood gives you a sense of power and excitement.  You purchased your Porsche, Lamborghini, Ferrari, or Maserati because you wanted to feel that power and speed, and take the risk of such a considerable investment. Enter sports car insurance. When you call your insurance agent, your sports car induced high starts to evaporate as you realize that your wallet is about to be a lot lighter.

Coverage

Sports car insurance is similar to regular auto insurance when it comes to the structure of the policy. Each policy will contain liability and physical damage coverage.

Liability: This coverage will include bodily injury and property damage to others if you are at fault in an accident.  While you may have heard state minimum limits are sufficient, this is not the case, especially driving a sports car that can go higher speeds than a family car. Insurance companies are going to consider the liability higher with a sports car, so prepare yourself by having higher limits.

Physical Damage: This coverage includes damage to your sports car for two areas: comprehensive and collision. Comprehensive coverage will pay for “acts of God” which include hitting a deer, glass breakage, or a tree falling on your vehicle. Comprehensive covers anything other than a collision.

Collision includes colliding with any other object, such as another car. If you are the victim of a hit and run, that will be covered under here as well. Both of these may be subject to a deductible out of your pocket.

Of course, you will have extra coverages available on some policies which can include rental reimbursement, towing coverage, and new car replacement. Each insurance company will offer different coverage enhancements, so be sure to check into all of them.

Rating Factors

You probably already expected to pay a little more for your sports car than your family car, but maybe you want to understand a bit more about why. Insurance companies will consider many factors when rating an auto insurance policy. For sports cars, here are some things they may consider:

• Parts: Since you are driving a more expensive, high-performance car, then you know the parts are going to cost more than traditionally expected for a vehicle. The more unique the sports car, the higher the cost of parts. The cost of looking cool can be high.
• Horsepower: As a general rule, the more horsepower your sports car has, the more you will pay for insurance. As mentioned above, the liability is higher on a car that has more power.
• Analytics on theft: Is the type of sports car you drive stolen often?  If so, this may impact your insurance rates. For example, for every 10 Chevrolet Corvettes that are owned by consumers, more than one has been stolen in the last thirty years according to Forbes.com.
• Is it your primary: If your sports car is your primary vehicle, then you can plan to pay a higher premium than if it was a secondary vehicle. Maybe save your awesome car for beach trips.

For more tips on managing your car insurance, and some suggestions for future cars, consider our list of The Top 10 Cheapest Cars to Insure.

Ways to Save

Since you just spent a significant amount of money on your hot new sports car, here are some ways to save on your insurance premiums.

1. Make it your secondary car: Most companies will give you a discount if you drive your sports car less than 4,000 miles a year. So, it might cost you less to insure two vehicles with your family car being your primary vehicle.
2. Safety features: Just because it has power, doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be safe.  Be sure to purchase a sports car that has safety features as you are more than likely to get a discount for that. An annoying anti-theft thorn might come in hand.
3. Clean driving record: Probably the most obvious way to save money on your sports car insurance is to maintain a clean driving record. Don’t get caught while speeding, okay?

Enjoying your new sports car is going to be much easier if you aren’t paying a fortune for your insurance.  Now that you have the tools to know what to look for and how to save, get back into your beautiful sports car.