(Copyright (c) 2009, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)
By Joseph B. White, The Wall Street Journal


The insurance industry doesn't like my car. It may not like yours, either.
You would do well to find out.
It's not that auto insurers have it out for my car, the Subaru Impreza WRX. It's just their business to keep track of what insurance claims all the people who drive my car file, and try to discern trends that will help them predict future losses, and charge accordingly.

On that score, the Subaru WRX apparently hasn't done so well.
In a report on insurance losses for 2005-2007 models released by the Highway Loss Data Institute earlier this month, the Subaru WRX ranks No. 1 on the Top Ten list of models with the highest losses for all types of coverage.
The HLDI ranks vehicles using an index in which 100 is average. The WRX scored a 189. That's close to my typical one-round golf score, and as in golf, higher is bad.

Auto insurance costs aren't the first thing most shoppers think about when they evaluate a new car to buy.
But it's an important cost to consider -- even if you decide, as I did, that you are willing to pay extra in order to drive a car you like.
If I buy a big car that gets 20 miles to the gallon, instead of a small car that sips fuel at the rate of 30 miles to the gallon, I could pay about $625 a year more for fuel, assuming gas stays at about $2.50 a gallon and I drive about 15,000 miles in a year.
If I choose to insure a Subaru WRX at my new address in Washington, D.C., I could pay $576 a year more than if I purchased the same coverage for a 2007 Ford Five Hundred, which is among the 10 vehicles with the lowest overall insurance losses, according to the HLDI study. I got those prices from Allstate Corp.'s online price quoting site.

What you drive is an important factor, because insurance companies factor the claims experiences related to certain models into their rate setting.
Even if you have a spotless record of safe, accident-free driving in a Subaru WRX, you are also paying for the damage racked up by the other WRX drivers who aren't as careful as you are with this high-performance, turbo-charged machine.

"It's in more frequent crashes and it takes more insurance dollars to repair them," says Kim Hazelbaker senior vice president of the Highway Loss Data Institute.

Michael McHale, a spokesman for Subaru's U.S. sales arm, says he hasn't seen the HLDI survey, but points out that Subaru models, including the WRX, get good ratings from HLDI's allied organization, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
"We always encourage responsible driving," he says.
What are the cars with the lowest -- meaning best -- overall claims experience?
The best on the HLDI's ranking of 2005-2007 models is a vehicle that is out of production, the Buick Rendezvous, a midsize crossover wagon.
Three of the top 10 are minivans, including the Honda Odyssey, the Chrysler Town and Country long wheelbase model, and the discontinued Buick Terrazza.

Two are station wagons, the Volvo V70 and the Subaru Outback. The Ford Five Hundred, a large sedan that has been restyled and renamed the Ford Taurus, is in at No. 7.
From this, you'd assume that those insurance actuaries are killjoys out to confine us all in the most boring vehicles possible.
But that's not quite fair.
Three of the vehicles that appear on the ranking of cars with the lowest overall insurance claims are sports cars: the Chevrolet Corvette, theMazda Miata and the Pontiac Solstice, a small roadster that competes with the Miata for customers in second childhood who want a breezy two-seater but don't desire to spend the money required for a 'Vette.
The car with the best ranking for personal injury claims is the Porsche 911 convertible, followed by the 911 coupe.
"A big piece is where and when these vehicles are operated," Mr. Hazelbaker says.
Exotic sports cars usually aren't driven through the hurly-burly of weekday rush-hour traffic.
They are generally reserved for weekends, when there's less chance of a fender bender, though if you do hit something in your sports car, the bill for fixing your vehicle will be steep -- more than double the average claim, according to the HLDI data.
Knowing the HLDI scores for a car can be useful, even if they aren't the decisive factor in a purchase.
Mr. Hazelbaker says parents buying a car for teens might make good use of these data to avoid getting sticker shock when they try to cover their young drivers.

A kid who is driving a Scion tC (second-worst on the overall claims list for 2005-2007 models) or one of the other worst-ranked cars on HLDI's list might think she looks cool.
However, she will find that she has a lot less money to spend at the gas station and Buffalo Wild Wings.
Besides, who's paying those bills anyway?
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