Insuring a Kia

In the scheme of things, Kia vehicles haven't been sold in the U.S. for very long. The South Korea automaker has definitely made up for lost time, though, by offering a wide range of extremely affordable, feature-packed vehicles. While Kia cars will never be mistaken for being high-end vehicles, they typically offer a great deal of value. In comparable brands, finding vehicles that include many of the same features will set you back by a lot more money. Another way in which Kia cars save money is through low insurance premiums. The average yearly cost to insure a Kia vehicle is $1,436.24, and it is ranked 12th on a list of 36 makes. If you'd like to own a car that won't cost an arm and a leg to insure, a Kia may be right for you.

Brief History of Kia

Kia is a South Korean automaker, but it didn't debut in the U.S. until the 1990s. When it was originally founded in 1944, the company manufactured bicycle parts and steel tubing. It stuck with those products for some time. During the 1960s, it branched out to start producing motorcycles and scooters. Not surprisingly, the company finally got into the auto-manufacturing game. Kia built Korea's first car production facility in 1973. Kia parts started to be used in makes like Fiat and Peugeot. The first car for the U.S. market, the Sephia, debuted in the early 1990s. Since then, Kia has produced a variety of very popular economy cars.

Improved Safety Ratings Help Insurance Costs

For a while there, Kia cars didn't fare so well when it came to safety. The company set about to change all of that, and it's safe to say that it has largely succeeded. Although models like the Kia Rio are not tested by organizations like the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the IIHS has tested the Kia Sportage. Newer Sportages received across-the-board "Good" ratings by the IIHS. Late-model Kia Fortes have also received mostly "Good" ratings from that organization. Safety ratings come into play when calculating insurance premiums, and decent ratings help keep insurance costs low.

Kia Theft Rates are Low

Another thing that insurance companies take into consideration when calculating insurance premiums is theft rates. Vehicles that are stolen on a regular basis are usually slapped with higher premiums. Based on data from the National Insurance Crime Bureau, however, Kia vehicles are not popularly targeted by car thieves. In fact, not a single Kia vehicle shows up on the top-ten lists that the organization compiles for the 50 U.S. states. The top-ten nationwide list does not have a Kia on it either. This is good news in terms of insurance costs.

Rock-Bottom Price Tags have Dramatic Impact on Insurance Rates

The main thing that keeps the cost of insuring a Kia so low is the average cost of these vehicles. They usually have very low MSRPs. Even Kia vehicles at higher trim levels are generally very affordable. The Kia Rio, for example, has a starting MSRP of $13,400. The Kia Sportage, which is an SUV, has a starting MSRP of $18,500. The Kia Forte has a price tag that begins at $15,200. With prices that low, it's easy to see why insurance companies insure these cars for so little.

The average annual cost to insure various Kia models is as follows:

• Rio 4-Cylinder Sedan - $1,286.00
• Sportage 4-Cylinder SUV - $1,236.00
• Forte 4-Cylinder Sedan - $1,313.00