Insurance groups

Car insurance groups give an indication of the cost of insuring a particular car. They obviously don't tell you exactly how much the insurance is going to cost as so many factors are involved.
If cheap insurance is important to you then choosing a car with a low insurance group is critical. This particularly applies to younger drivers, or drivers with recent claims or convictions.
To an mature driver without any recent speeding fines and a full no claims bonus, the insurance group won't make a huge difference in your premium - yes, of course you'll pay a lot more for your insurance on a group 20 car than you would on a group 1, but the difference will be probably be hundreds of pounds rather than thousands. Conversely a younger driver with any convictions or claims will find it almost impossible to get insurance on a car that falls into any of the highest categories.
Even for drivers with good driving records, some insurers won't be interested in the very highest groups. We found some wouldn't touch anything over about 18 and there may be others who prefer to stick to the cars in groups 1 to 10. When looking for insurance on a Porsche Boxster S, we also found one or two insurance companies who would only insure a maximum value of £40,000 so the that excludes new models of most of the Porsche range as it doesn't take many Porsche options to push the cheapest models over that limit, and the Boxster S at the time was around £40,000.
The insurance groups in our lists have been compiled from a variety of sources. In our experience there seems to be some difference of opinion on the exact group for many cars; in these cases, our data reflects an average figure. Our Insurance Group figures are never intended as an absolute guide, rather they're an indication of which cars are going to cost a lot to insure and which cars won't. For precise figures we recommend you contac your insurance company, broker or agent. They will have a list of insurance groups for almost every possible vehicle and that will be the insurance group used to set the price for your insurance.
As always, our advice is to shop around for insurance whatever your circumstances are. You can almost always find a cheaper quote, though do take note of the level of cover offered; there is no point getting 'cheap insurance'; what you want is good insurance for the lowest possible price.


If you're changing your car you'll want to think about the cost of insurance before you commit to buy. The insurance group rating is the key.

Most new cars are assigned to an insurance group – a rating between 1 and 50* that indicates the level of risk as seen by the insurers.

Insurance group ratings are advisory - insurers don't have to follow them.

Insurers take many factors into account when setting premiums but with all else being equal, the lower the group number the lower the insurance premium should be. This means that the insurance group can give you an idea of relative insurance costs when comparing different models.

Specials, such as kit cars, imports and conversions are generally not covered by the insurance group rating scheme.