Insuring a Hyundai

Although it's a relative newcomer to the U.S. auto industry, Hyundai has made quite a name for itself. The Korean automaker has carved out a niche for itself as a producer of feature-packed cars that have remarkably affordably price tags. To sweeten the deal, Hyundai vehicles also come with some of the best warranties in the industry. When you buy a Hyundai, you can rest assured that it will be reliable and durable. As if having low starting MSRPs isn't good enough, the average cost to insure a Hyundai car is exceptionally low too. The average annual cost to insure a Hyundai is $1,398.93, which ranks it sixth on a list of 36 vehicles. Many popular Hyundais are also fuel efficient, so you can save money on gas too.

How Hyundai Began

The Hyundai make did not appear in the United States until 1986, but the company had a long history before that. When it was originally founded by Chung Ju Yung in Korea in 1947, the company was named the Hyundai Civil Engineering Company. As its name implied, it engineered various products. The company finally decided to start producing automobiles during the 1960s, and its name was changed to be Hyundai Motor Company in 1967. The following year, it formed an alliance with Ford Motor Company. That alliance definitely changed things for the fledgling automaker. Its U.S. debut, the Excel, proved to be wildly popular, and the make has flourished ever since.

Rock-Bottom Theft Rates Drive Down Insurance Premiums

Insurance companies look at several different things when calculating insurance premiums. The average theft rate of a vehicle comes into play. The low cost to insure a Hyundai is partly due to the fact that these cars aren't popular with thieves. Indeed, not a single Hyundai vehicle appears on the nationwide top-ten list that is published by the National Insurance Crime Bureau. No Hyundai cars appear on individual top-ten lists for the fifty states either. Since these cars are unlikely to be stolen, their insurance premiums are kept in check.

Fairly Decent Safety Ratings Help Too

In the scheme of things, safety ratings for Hyundai vehicles are so-so. There are definitely economy brands out there that have better safety scores, but Hyundai's track record for safety isn't abysmal either. The Elantra, for example, has generally received perfect "Good" ratings in crash tests by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The government only gave it two stars out of five for front passenger safety. The Accent fared alright with the IIHS, receiving a mix of "Goods," "Acceptables" and "Marginals." The Sonata has received the best safety ratings among popular Hyundai vehicles.

Low MSRPs Really Drop Insurance Rates

Expensive cars cost a lot of money to repair, which is why insurance rates for pricey vehicles tend to be quite high. Hyundai cars have very low MSRPs, so they are usually very affordable to insure. The Elantra, for instance, has a starting MSRP of $15,345. The Sonata's starting MSRP of $19,745 is very low. Finally, the Accent has a starting MSRP of $12,545, which puts it within easy financial reach of just about any driver. It's easy to see why people like Hyundai cars.

The annual cost to insure popular Hyundai cars is as follows:

• Elantra Sedan 4-Cylinder - $1,356.00
• Accent Sedan 4-Cylinder - $1,371.00
• Sonata Sedan 4-Cylinder - $1,311.00