The Top 10 Cheapest Cars to Insure in 2026

Written by Mark Rodgers, President and Founder, Trailstone Insurance Group

About a year and a half ago we published our list of the cheapest cars to insure, and it turned out to be one of the most-watched things we have ever put out. So we went back and ran it again for 2026. Half of last year's winners did not make it back, the dollar figures moved more than most people would guess, and along the way we found something that explains why every website you check gives you a different answer.

Here's the Short Answer

The Honda CR-V is the cheapest car to insure in 2026. It placed in the top four on four of the five rate studies we reviewed, more consistently than any other vehicle, with a national average full coverage premium of roughly $161 per month.

Behind it, the list is dominated by one very specific kind of vehicle. All ten are SUVs or crossovers, and most of them are small ones. There are no sedans, no pickups, no electric vehicles, and nothing carrying a luxury badge.

Three things make a vehicle cheap to insure, and they have not changed: strong crash test results, affordable and widely available repair parts, and low theft rates. Everything else is noise.

The 2026 List: Counting Down From 10 to 1

A quick note on how we built this. There is no single official ranking of the cheapest cars to insure. Several research groups publish their own studies every year, and we reviewed five of them: Insurance.com, CarInsurance.com, The Zebra, ValuePenguin, and MoneyGeek.

For the ranking itself we used one of those datasets from top to bottom rather than blending them, because mixing dollar figures from studies with different methodologies is exactly how these lists go wrong. Every number below comes from the same source, measured the same way, so the comparison is real. We then used the other four studies to check the result, and we explain where they disagree further down.

Two things about scope. We limited this to current passenger vehicles, nothing older than three model years, so everything here is something you can actually walk onto a lot and buy. And we left out commercial work vans, which price well but are not what anyone means when they ask this question.

These are national averages for full coverage, meaning liability plus comprehensive and collision, for a 40-year-old driver with a clean record and a $500 deductible. Ranked cheapest to most expensive. Treat them as a directional guide, not a quote.

Just missed the cut: the Volkswagen Taos and Subaru Crosstrek both landed about $2 a year behind the Tucson, close enough to call a tie, at roughly $172 per month. The Toyota RAV4 came in at about $174 and the Chevrolet Equinox at about $174. The Ford Maverick is the cheapest pickup at about $177 per month, and among sedans still in production the Honda Civic is one of the most affordable at about $191.

That last number is worth sitting with. One of the cheapest sedans in America still costs more to insure than every single vehicle on this list. If your instinct is that a smaller, cheaper car automatically saves you money on insurance, the data says otherwise.

What Happened to Last Year's List

Here is the part we owe you. Four of our ten picks from last year made it back into the top ten. Six did not.

One correction worth making. The Jeep Cherokee was on last year's list, and it should not have been. Jeep discontinued the Cherokee after the 2023 model year, so for most of the period we were talking about, you could not buy a new one. Jeep brought the nameplate back for 2026 as an all-new hybrid starting around $36,995, and one of the studies we reviewed now ranks it among the most expensive SUVs in its dataset because of higher theft and repair costs. Either way, it does not belong on a cheapest-to-insure list this year. A few of you pointed that out in the comments, and you were right.

Why Every Number Went Up

If you compared last year's figures to this year's and felt your stomach drop, that reaction is fair. But it is important to separate two very different things: the market actually got more expensive, and the way these lists are calculated changed the picture on top of that.

Start with the market. Full coverage car insurance costs rose roughly 46 percent between 2022 and 2024. According to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, car insurance prices rose 17.4 percent from 2022 to 2023, then another 17.8 percent from 2023 to 2024. Two back-to-back years in the high teens is not normal, and most households felt it.

The good news is that the worst of it appears to be behind us. The full-year increase in 2025 was 2.8 percent, the smallest annual gain in five years. As of early 2026 the year-over-year figure had ticked back up to 5.9 percent, so pressure has not disappeared entirely, but we are nowhere near the 2023 and 2024 peaks.

The underlying cause was not greed, and it was not you. In 2022, personal auto insurers had their worst underwriting year in roughly half a century, paying out about $1.22 in claims for every $1.00 they collected in premium. Carriers spent the following two years filing rate increases to dig out of that hole. Repair parts costs, catastrophe losses, and litigation costs all climbed at the same time.

If you want a fuller breakdown of what pushes an individual rate up or down, we covered twenty of those factors in detail here: The 20 Things That Secretly Control Your Car Insurance Rate.

What Most Rankings Get Wrong

Here is the thing we did not expect to find, and it is the single most useful part of this article.

We reviewed five reputable studies. Not one of them named the same vehicle as the cheapest car to insure. Insurance.com said the Honda CR-V. CarInsurance.com said the Subaru Crosstrek. The Zebra said the Buick Envista. ValuePenguin said the Toyota RAV4 and Honda CR-V. MoneyGeek said the Mazda CX-5.

They are not contradicting each other. They are measuring different things and using the same headline to describe it.

The practical takeaway: when you see a cheapest-cars headline, scroll straight to the methodology before you believe the number. If a site claims you can insure a new SUV for $30 a month, it is almost certainly quoting state minimum liability from the single cheapest carrier for an ideal driver. That is not the policy most people should be buying, and it is not the policy your lender will accept if the vehicle is financed.

For reference, the national average for full coverage in 2026 lands somewhere between roughly $181 and $244 per month depending on which study you read. Even the benchmark is a range.

Where You Live Matters More Than What You Drive

Here is the uncomfortable part of any national ranking. Picking the right vehicle can move your premium by a meaningful amount. Picking the right ZIP code would move it far more, and you probably are not moving.

Average full coverage premiums range from roughly $128 per month in Vermont to roughly $335 per month in Nevada. Louisiana and Florida sit just behind Nevada, all three running at least 50 percent above the national average. That gap is wider than the gap between the cheapest and most expensive mainstream vehicle on our entire list.

The reason is that rates are built around local claim environments. Repair labor costs, medical costs, theft frequency, weather losses, litigation patterns, and state regulations all feed into what carriers expect to pay out in your area. A driver with a perfect record in an expensive state can easily pay more than a driver with a blemish in a cheap one.

Two practical consequences. First, a national list tells you which vehicles tend to be affordable, not what you personally will pay. Second, carrier fit matters more in expensive states, not less, because the spread between the best and worst carrier for your exact profile widens as the underlying rates climb. We covered the state-by-state cost picture in more depth here: The 10 Most Expensive States for Home and Auto Insurance.

Three Things That Surprise People

1. The same vehicle can rank near the top and near the bottom. One study ranked the Jeep Wrangler the second cheapest vehicle in America to insure. Another ranked it among the two most expensive SUVs in its entire dataset. Both used real rate data. They simply weighted coverage levels and theft exposure differently.

2. Electric vehicles have caught up. EV insurance now averages around $1,600 per year, essentially identical to comparable gas-powered sedans. Two years ago EVs carried a meaningful premium. That gap has largely closed, which means EV shoppers should now focus on comparing carriers rather than assuming an electric vehicle carries an automatic surcharge.

3. Theft risk does not depreciate. Two of the most popular affordable sedans in America are also among the most stolen, which pushes their comprehensive premiums above vehicles with higher sticker prices. Buyers who choose a car for its low purchase price are sometimes surprised by the first insurance quote.

How to Actually Use This List

Do not buy a car off a national ranking. Use the ranking to build a short list, then get real numbers before you sign anything.

Get an insurance quote before you buy, not after. This is the single easiest way to avoid a bad surprise, and almost nobody does it. Two vehicles with nearly identical sticker prices can differ by more than $1,200 a year in premium.

Quote the exact trim you are considering. A loaded trim carries more sensors, cameras, and calibration cost after a fender bender than the base model. That shows up in your rate.

Compare at the same coverage level. If you are comparing a full coverage quote to a minimum coverage quote, you are not comparing anything at all.

Check theft data for the model, not just the brand. Theft exposure varies dramatically between models from the same manufacturer.

Confirm what your lender requires. If the vehicle is financed or leased, full coverage is almost certainly mandatory, which makes the cheap minimum-coverage headlines irrelevant to you.

Shop more than one carrier. The gap between the cheapest and most expensive carrier for the identical vehicle and driver is routinely several hundred dollars a year.

That last point is the one we spend the most time on with clients. A vehicle that one carrier prices aggressively may be a poor fit at another, because every company keeps its own loss history for every make and model and weighs it differently. This is exactly why we compare across more than 40 A-rated carriers instead of asking one company for its opinion: The Value of Choice: Why 40 Insurance Companies Beats Shopping One.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the cheapest car to insure in 2026?

The Honda CR-V, at a national average of roughly $161 per month for full coverage. It placed in the top four on four of the five major rate studies we reviewed. The Honda HR-V and Volkswagen Tiguan finished closest behind.

Why do different websites name different cars as the cheapest?

Because they measure different things. Some quote full coverage and others quote state minimum liability. Some average all carriers and others report only the single cheapest carrier. Some price brand-new vehicles and others price used ones. Always read the methodology before comparing two headlines.

Are SUVs really cheaper to insure than sedans?

On average, yes, and it surprises most people. SUVs tend to produce lower bodily injury claim rates than smaller cars. In 2026, one of the most affordable sedans still in production runs about $191 per month, which is more than every vehicle on our top ten list.

Will buying a car from this list actually lower my rate?

It helps, but it is only one of several factors. Your driving record, ZIP code, annual mileage, coverage limits, deductibles, claims history, and credit-based insurance score in most states all carry significant weight. Vehicle choice is one lever, not the whole machine.

Are older cars cheaper to insure?

For full coverage, generally yes, because the carrier's maximum exposure drops as the vehicle depreciates. For liability-only coverage, rates are close to identical between new and used, because liability prices your risk as a driver rather than your car's value.

Should I drop full coverage on an older vehicle to save money?

Only if you could comfortably replace the vehicle out of pocket tomorrow. A common rule of thumb is that once your annual premium approaches 10 percent of the car's actual cash value, full coverage stops paying for itself. Just be honest that dropping it is not really saving money, it is moving the risk onto your own balance sheet.

Does adding roadside assistance to my policy raise my rate or affect my record?

It depends on how you buy it. Roadside service purchased as a policy add-on can generate a claim record with your carrier, and repeated tow or lockout calls can follow you on a CLUE report even though nobody was at fault. This is why we offer AutoHero Roadside as a standalone plan. Service calls through AutoHero do not create claims and do not appear on your CLUE report, which keeps your insurance profile clean.

Do electric vehicles still cost more to insure?

Not meaningfully. EV premiums now average around $1,600 per year, nearly identical to comparable gas-powered vehicles. The bigger variable for EV shoppers is now which carrier you choose, not which model.

Your Checklist Before You Buy

• Pull an insurance quote on your top two or three vehicles before you visit a dealership, not after you sign.
• Quote the specific trim and model year you actually intend to buy.
• Decide your coverage level first, then compare quotes at that same level across every carrier.
• Confirm your lender's coverage requirements if you are financing or leasing.
• Review your deductible honestly. Pick a number you could write a check for tomorrow without stress.
• Ask for a discount audit. Most households are missing at least one discount they already qualify for.
• Re-shop at renewal, especially after a vehicle change, a move, a new driver in the household, or violations aging off your record.

Your Next Step

If you are car shopping right now, or if you looked at those 2026 numbers and realized your own premium has drifted, the fastest thing you can do is let us run the comparison for you.

Our TRAC process, short for Trailstone Risk Assessment and Comparison, is a complimentary annual review where we shop your profile across more than 40 A-rated carriers and show you the results side by side. We will tell you plainly where you can safely save money, where cutting coverage would quietly move risk onto you, and whether a different carrier is a better fit for the vehicle you drive.

Reach out to Trailstone via our website at www.trailstoneinsurance.com or give us a call. Trailstone will provide a complimentary review of your insurance and a written summary for your records, so you have everything documented in plain English whether you make a change or not.

Written by Mark Rodgers, President and Founder, Trailstone Insurance Group

Rate figures in this article are national and state averages compiled from published 2026 rate studies by Insurance.com, CarInsurance.com, The Zebra, ValuePenguin, and MoneyGeek, along with industry data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Insurance Information Institute, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, and the National Insurance Crime Bureau. Averages are not quotes. Your actual premium depends on your ZIP code, driving record, coverage selections, vehicle details, and carrier.