{"id":179245,"date":"2019-03-19T14:04:57","date_gmt":"2019-03-19T14:04:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.finder.com\/uk\/?p=179245"},"modified":"2026-04-24T16:17:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T15:17:26","slug":"insurance-groups","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.finder.com\/uk\/car-insurance\/insurance-groups","title":{"rendered":"Car insurance groups"},"content":{"rendered":"

Insurers take several factors into consideration when calculating your car insurance premiums<\/a>, but one of the biggest is the type of car you drive. Read our guide to learn more about the car insurance groups that all cars are put into and how this can affect your premiums.<\/p>

What are car insurance groups?<\/h3>

All new cars in the UK are given an insurance group rating, from 1 to 50, to help insurance providers decide how to calculate car insurance premiums. The rating essentially tells insurers which cars are the most expensive to cover as well as which ones are the cheapest to cover.<\/p>

How are car insurance groups calculated?<\/h3>

A car\u2019s insurance group rating is set by a Group Rating Panel. The panel includes members from both the Association of British Insurers and Lloyds Market Association. It is also assisted by Thatcham Research, a research centre established to maintain safety standards and reduce motor insurance claims.<\/p>

When setting a car\u2019s insurance group rating, the panel considers a number of factors, including:<\/p>

  • The original sale price.<\/strong> The price of a car when it\u2019s new is a big indicator of how much it will cost the insurer to repair or even replace it. If you paid a small fortune for your car, expect to pay higher premiums. If your new car was an absolute bargain, premiums are likely to be much lower.<\/li>
  • Performance.<\/strong> High-performing sports cars that roar into life and are nippy around corners are more likely to be involved in accidents, which can result in higher premiums.<\/li>
  • Security level.<\/strong> A car that has an alarm and other security features that make it harder to steal will be cheaper to insure.<\/li>
  • The price of the most common car parts. <\/strong>The more parts cost to replace, the higher the insurance group rating will be.<\/li>
  • The price of repair work.<\/strong> The more repair work costs on a car and the longer that repair work takes, the higher the group rating is likely to be.<\/li>
  • Safety features<\/strong>. Cars fitted with an autonomous emergency braking system are less likely to be involved in front-to-rear accidents, and this could be enough to put them in a lower insurance group. The performance of a car\u2019s bumper in an accident can also affect its grouping.<\/li><\/ul>

    What does a car\u2019s insurance group mean?<\/h3>

    Most insurers use the group rating system to help them establish the premium you\u2019ll pay for a specific car.<\/p>

    To put it simply, the lower the insurance group number, the cheaper a car will typically be to insure. Some insurance providers may have their own insurance rating system, but these are likely to be based on similar factors.<\/p>

    Bear in mind that, while a car\u2019s insurance group will have a big impact on the cost of insuring it, this doesn\u2019t mean that 2 people with the same car will necessarily receive similar quotes. The price you pay for insurance will also be influenced by factors such as where you live, your age and a history of previous claims.<\/p>

    Average premiums by insurance group<\/h3>

    To give you a sense of how a car\u2019s insurance group can affect the cost of car insurance, the table below shows the average annual premium depending on which group a car is in.<\/p>

    Our data shows that you can expect to pay \u2013 on average \u2013 about twice as much to insure a car in groups 46-50 as a car in groups 1-5.<\/p>
    Car insurance group<\/th>Average annual premium<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
    1 to 5<\/th>\u00a3506<\/td><\/tr>
    6 to 10<\/th>\u00a3595<\/td><\/tr>
    11 to 15<\/th>\u00a3649<\/td><\/tr>
    16 to 20<\/th>\u00a3698<\/td><\/tr>
    21 to 25<\/th>\u00a3731<\/td><\/tr>
    26 to 30<\/th>\u00a3770<\/td><\/tr>
    31 to 35<\/th>\u00a3795<\/td><\/tr>
    36 to 40<\/th>\u00a3856<\/td><\/tr>
    41 to 45<\/th>\u00a3930<\/td><\/tr>
    46 to 50<\/th>\u00a31,006<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>
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