We know that fast, sporty, high-performance vehicles cost more to insure, but we often buy them anyway.
No one buys an expensive sports car for a leisurely Sunday drive after church. They're built to travel in a blur, which is often the precursor to crumpling sheet metal. Their awe-inspiring speed is matched only by their gasp-inducing insurance rates.
Insure.com's annual rankings of the most expensive vehicles for insurance are always powered by offerings from BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Jaguar. (See the 2014 rankings for the least expensive cars to insure and car insurance rates by state.)
This year's list is topped by a beast whose nickname derives from a 1950s-era horror flick, "Godzilla." What could be more blood-curdling than owning a car with the most expensive insurance rates in the 2014 model year? It may be that shelling out well in excess of $100,000 for a car blinds many to the insurance premiums.
This year's rankings have "a lot of vehicles that are just the opposite of a family car," says Mark Takahashi, auto editor for Santa Monica, Calif.-based Edmunds.com. "They're for wealthy people who like to go fast. They're aspirational and firmly rooted in entertainment. And all of them are insanely fun."
The problem with insane fun is that many drivers get into trouble fast, says Takahashi.
For instance, the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, at No. 4, "is a tricky car to drive. It comes with a lot of electronic driving aids, such as electronic stability control and traction control. But if the driver is overconfident and turns off those features, bad things can happen very quickly and significantly. That's because the car is very fast, and performance cars on the whole are designed to be a little twitchy and very responsive."
Edmunds had a Mercedes SLS AMG in its fleet for months and Takahashi drove it many times. A veteran of racing school, he never felt confident enough to turn off the safety features. "It's very rewarding, and made me feel like a million bucks," he says. "But I didn't want to be the one to bend that car."
The No. 1 most costly vehicle to insure is so flat-out over the top that its nickname is Godzilla. The $115,000 Nissan GT-R Track Edition has all-wheel-drive, twin turbochargers that help its V-6 engine develop 545 horsepower, massive brakes, a trick dual-clutch automated manual transmission and an array of electronics to customize steering, suspension and brake settings.
Takahashi calls the Nissan GT-R "an affordable supercar." The GT-R was developed for people who desire an exceptionally high level of performance, and who might be taking it out on the race track now and again. "It was developed for the race track," Takahashi says. "And while it's not as tricky as the Mercedes SLS, because it has so many features working constantly to keep it on the road, it is blindingly fast."
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Try 190 to 200 mph. At those speeds, drivers without racing school experience are in over their heads, he says.
John Pearley Huffman, who writes on autos for Car & Driver and the New York Times, has also driven Godzilla. "It's an extremely specialized car," he says, that's "sold in extremely small numbers and goes to a dedicated cadre of enthusiasts."
Huffman also says "it's flat-out brilliant to drive."
Ron Henderson is a GT-R owner in Texas. He says because Godzilla is "very easy to drive" it can inspire confidence as a driver pushes the car to its limits, which may be why so many are wrecked.
"The GT-R is a very quick car, even without any modifications, and despite the electronic aids and all-wheel drive, any car can be pushed too far."
"I believe that given the combination of a novice driver and the ease with which the GT-R can be pushed hard, you can end up with a novice driver who has no idea how to recover from what was an inevitable mistake," Henderson says.
Karl Brauer, senior analyst for Kelley Blue Book in Irvine, Calif., says sales of high-performance cars are heavily weighted toward a male demographic that savors aggressive driving on the street, racetrack and often both. Cars like the GT-R Track Edition represent the ultimate in mechanical capability.
"Because these vehicles are equipped with advanced drive trains and exotic exterior shapes, they cost much more to repair after things go wrong," he says.
That is, if they can be repaired.
Takahashi notes that carbon fiber is used in some of the car's body panels. The components are "lightweight and strong for their intended purpose, but they're designed to shatter on impact," he reports. "You can't repair them; you just have to replace them."
Henderson agrees the GT-R is a complex, costly car with exotic materials and compact packaging throughout. Combine carbon fiber undertrays and subframe components, low front-mounted intercoolers and aluminum body panels, and "fender-benders" don't exist in a GT-R.
"Even a minor accident could easily cost tens of thousands to repair," Henderson says. "If it is repairable at all."
Don't forget the GT-R's speed, Huffman says. This is a car that goes from zero to 60 in three seconds.
"It's a fantastic car and I believe it to be an easy-to-handle car," Huffman says. "But the consequences of screwing up at 150 mph are radically different than screwing up at 50 mph."
Maybe the GT-R is still an insurance bargain at No. 1.
Takahashi, for instance, feels if a buyer has the money to buy a GT-R or other cars on the "most costly" rankings, they shouldn't have a problem with $4,000 to $6,000 for insurance.
"Sports cars and exotics are bought because they're raucous and fun," he observes. "It takes a level of affluence and skill to own and drive one of these. But as for their insurance being too expensive, I don't think it is, based on the expense of the cars themselves."
Methodology: Insure.com commissioned Quadrant Information Services to provide average auto insurance rates for 2014 models. Averages were calculated using data from six large carriers (Allstate, Farmers, GEICO, Nationwide, Progressive and State Farm) in 10 ZIP codes per state. Not all models were available, especially exotic cars. More than 850 models are included in the 2014 study. Averages are based on full coverage for a single 40-year-old male who commutes 12 miles to work each day, with policy limits of 100/300/50 ($100,000 for injury liability for one person, $300,000 for all injuries and $50,000 for property damage in an accident) and a $500 deductible on collision and comprehensive coverage. This hypothetical driver has a clean record and good credit. The rate includes uninsured motorist coverage. Average rates are for comparative purposes. Your own rate will depend on personal factors.