When calculating your car insurance premium, insurers will look at:

• Your age and location: New or young drivers typically pay more for insurance than older drivers. If you live in an area with a high crime rate or a high number of road accidents, you’ll also pay more for cover.
• Your driving history: You’ll get cheaper car insurance if you haven’t made any claims on past car insurance policies, and you have a clean licence. A history of claims or motoring convictions will see your premium go up. 
• Your car: This includes the make, model and trim, engine size, number of seats, modifications and security features.

When it comes to your car, the following will impact how much you pay for car insurance:

Engine size

In general, the bigger engine your car has, the more your insurance will cost. That’s because drivers with powerful high-performance cars are deemed more likely to be involved in an accident. Large, powerful cars are also more expensive to repair or replace. Smaller cars with smaller engines are less likely to be involved in high-speed high-value crashes and will cost less to repair if they are.

Insurance group

Most insurers use industry-standard insurance groups. A vehicle’s insurance group is decided by the Association of British Insurers (ABI) Group Rating Panel, which includes members from ABI and the Lloyds Market Association. The panel uses data from Thatcham research and assigns new car models to an insurance group based on a number of factors.

Modifications

A modification is any kind of alteration to a vehicle that wasn’t in the manufacturer’s standard specification, or wasn’t fitted as an option when the vehicle was made. Modifications normally aim to make a car go faster or look better. If you significantly increase a car’s power and performance, most insurers will see the vehicle as a higher accident risk and so you’ll pay more for insurance. Other modifications might make a car more tempting for thieves – so, again, you’ll pay more for cover.

Security

Security features such as an alarm, immobiliser or tracking device can both reduce the likelihood that your car will be stolen and boost the chances of it being recovered, and returned to you if it is. Standard security features have got better over the years, with many new cars already having an immobiliser and alarm system fitted.

Every car make and model is put into an insurance group by the ABI Group Rating Panel. This group system makes it easier for buyers to have a general idea of the cost of insuring any car they are thinking of buying. It’s important to note that different models of the same car with a different trim or engine size can be in different groups.

The panel looks at the following factors when assigning new car models to an insurance group:

• New car value: Usually, the cost of a car correlates with the amount it would cost to repair or replace that car.
• Cost of parts: Cars with high parts prices are typically dearer to repair, especially if parts are hard to come by or need to be imported from overseas.
• Repair times: The panel compares a list of 23 common repair items with similar manufacturers. The longer the average repair time, the higher the insurance group. Conversely, some cars with the best safety features will take the longest to repair.
• Performance: More powerful cars are capable of faster acceleration and higher speeds than smaller cars. They are also more likely to be driven by drivers who take risks. All these factors mean they are more likely to be involved in an accident. 
• Safety features: Vehicles fitted with the latest safety features such as autonomous emergency braking (AEB) are less likely to be in low-speed rear-end accidents, which could mean being placed in a lower insurance group. You can also check a car’s New Car Assessment Programs (NCAP) rating. Cars are rated between one and five stars for safety.
• Security: The harder it is for the car to be stolen or broken into, the lower the insurance group will be. Alarms and immobilisers can reduce the chances of a car being stolen, while some types of keyless cars are more susceptible to theft.
• Trim level: Premium trim levels include additional features, technology and performance enhancements. These will cost more to repair or replace in the event of an accident.