What a Performance Car Changes

Nobody is surprised that a performance car is treated differently. What is less obvious is that several separate factors are stacking, and understanding which ones apply to your particular car tells you a lot about the quote you will get.

Claim severity, not just frequency

The important word in performance underwriting is severity. A collision at a higher speed does more damage to more things, and injury claims follow the same curve. Loss data for high-output vehicles reflects this, and it is the largest single reason they are positioned where they are.

Repair cost is compounding

Performance versions frequently carry larger wheels and brakes, specialized suspension, unique bodywork, adaptive dampers and lightweight materials. Every one of those is a more expensive part with a smaller supply chain behind it. Then add the paint and aero work that goes with them.

Theft appeal

Desirable vehicles are desirable to more than just buyers. Both the whole car and its parts have a market, which puts pressure on the comprehensive side.

Who tends to drive them, and how

Insurers rate the vehicle and the driver separately, but the vehicle's loss history already embeds something about how that model is typically used. A car that spends its life being driven hard accumulates a different record than one that does not, and that record is attached to the model rather than to you personally.

The things that are actually in your control

• Trim choice. Within one model, the step from a normal version to the high-output one can be the largest single change you make. Quote both before you order.
• Track use. Standard auto policies commonly exclude timed events and competitive driving, and often organized track days as well. If you intend to do it, ask about a separate product rather than hoping.
• Modifications. Adding power to an already fast car changes the vehicle the policy was written for. Disclose it.
• Storage. Garaged and alarmed is a different theft picture from parked on a street.

What we will not tell you

We will not give you a figure for how much more a performance car costs to insure, because that number does not exist in the general case — it depends on the exact vehicle, your record, your location and which carrier is looking at it. Anyone who quotes you a percentage before seeing those things is guessing.

Give us the exact trim and we will get you the real number.