What not to buy the people you love

http://jalopnik.com/5669691/the-ten-cars-insurance-companies-hate/gallery/

How of us own one of these E36 M3 boxes?

That's kind of an odd mix of cars. The Cobalt and S-Class in the same list? Weird.

"Vehicle: Chevy Cobalt Two-Door

Relative Score: 151

Reason: The Cobalt is on the list for personal injury (172), medical payments (199), and at the top of the list for bodily injury liability (173). Remember that next time you're at the rental counter contemplating a $10 upgrade."

Who woulda thunk it. Some people were recently telling me how great a car this is. One even went on about how it was so good he bought one for his teenage daughter.

pinchvalve wrote: That's kind of an odd mix of cars. The Cobalt and S-Class in the same list? Weird.

It's not really all that weird because they are all on the list for varying reasons.

FlightService wrote: How of us own one of these E36 M3 boxes?

I have owned approximately none of those E36 M3 boxes.

bravenrace wrote: "Vehicle: Chevy Cobalt Two-Door Relative Score: 151 Reason: The Cobalt is on the list for personal injury (172), medical payments (199), and at the top of the list for bodily injury liability (173). Remember that next time you're at the rental counter contemplating a $10 upgrade." Who woulda thunk it. Some people were recently telling me how great a car this is. One even went on about how it was so good he bought one for his teenage daughter.

Yeah, it's the cars fault, not the douchebag behind the wheel... Whoever wrote this article must also believe that guns kill people.

In reply to racerfink:

You don't buy the idea that some cars are inherently safer than others?

So are you saying the S-Class is a giant flaming pile of poo guaranteed to kill you in a wreck too? The Cobalt is on there because of flat-bill idiot drivers, just like all of the other sport compacts (and probably the S-Class, too).

racerfink wrote: Whoever wrote this article must also believe that guns kill people.

It's mostly just the bullets that do the actual killing. The gun by itself is more suited for the occasional back-scratching or act of bludgeoning.

Man you guys can spin anything into what you want it to be. It's amazing!

Some cars are inherently safer than others in a crash. The Cobalt is the Neon for this decade. It's cheap and obviously, due to the reason for the rating, not as safe as another car in a crash.

I had a Chevy Tracker that was horrendous in crashes and my insurance showed it. I couldn't figure out why my insurance was so high until I got rear ended by a cop. The cost to repair was astronomical.

In reply to racerfink:

The insurance companies will use any excuse to take more of your money. Remember their thought process goes something like this:

Under 25? Pay more. Driving a car with a high payout index? Pay more. Wearing a plaid shirt? Pay more. Drink Sprite? Pay more. Don't drink Sprite? Pay more.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:

racerfink wrote: Whoever wrote this article must also believe that guns kill people.

It's mostly just the bullets that do the actual killing. The gun by itself is more suited for the occasional back-scratching or act of bludgeoning.

Guns don't kill people husbands that come home early do.

96DXCivic wrote: Guns don't kill people husbands that come home early do.

That's sexist.

You failed to note "wives whose husbands come home early".

And your credit rating has to be above 800 to get the best rate.

I'm not surprised at all by the inclusion of the Mercs on this list. After all, they are advertising all this new-fangled crash avoidance tech for their cars. The commercials amaze me. I'm paraphrasing here, but with lines like, "I wasn't expecting him to stop short", "I didn't realize someone was in my blind spot", "I didn't realize I was drifting into the next lane", etc, why doesn't Mercedes just publicly admit that the people who can afford, and buy their new model cars, are twats that have no business getting behind the wheel of an auto?

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:

racerfink wrote: Whoever wrote this article must also believe that guns kill people.

It's mostly just the bullets that do the actual killing. The gun by itself is more suited for the occasional back-scratching or act of bludgeoning.

Plus one for the bludgeoning.

The safety system (energy dissipation properties and the passenger safety cage in particular,) in the Cobalt/G5 is horrible. Sorry to the fans, but it truly is a bad car, but take heart the Kia is there with you.

Take cheap-as-possible engineering add drivers with little to no experience and you get a recipe for disaster.

The S-class and Escalade are there due to damage from theft and theft attempts.

The article is listed by insurance companies reasoning not the authors.

Brett_Murphy wrote: In reply to racerfink: The insurance companies will use any excuse to take more of your money. Remember their thought process goes something like this: Under 25? Pay more. Driving a car with a high payout index? Pay more. Wearing a plaid shirt? Pay more. Drink Sprite? Pay more. Don't drink Sprite? Pay more.

Your wrong, plaid shirt gets the deduction, T-shirts and Polos get the up charge.

The crash zones on my Miata are terrible too, but I make sure I pay attention to my surroundings, and to people that are more likely to have a wreck.

Many people that buy cheap cars, (i.e., the Chevy Cobalt) tend to be younger drivers and therefore, have less experience driving. They are also more likely to be distracted by ANYTHING.

If you do everything you can to avoid being in a wreck, your chances of being killed in a wreck go down dramatically.

FlightService wrote:

Brett_Murphy wrote: In reply to racerfink: The insurance companies will use any excuse to take more of your money. Remember their thought process goes something like this: Under 25? Pay more. Driving a car with a high payout index? Pay more. Wearing a plaid shirt? Pay more. Drink Sprite? Pay more. Don't drink Sprite? Pay more.

Your wrong, plaid shirt gets the deduction, T-shirts and Polos get the up charge.

Both wrong - wearing a shirt = upcharge. No shirt = didn't buy insurance also eligible for cops tv show episodes

captainzib wrote: I'm paraphrasing here, but with lines like, "I wasn't expecting him to stop short", "I didn't realize someone was in my blind spot", "I didn't realize I was drifting into the next lane", etc

I try really hard to be aware of my surroundings, but I'll admit that all three of those things have happened to me, probably multiple times.

Damn! Thats why the insurance on my piece of E36 M3 cavalier costs multiple times more than a 1980's RWD, turbo-charged sports car with no safety nannies.

racerfink wrote: Yeah, it's the cars fault, not the douchebag behind the wheel... Whoever wrote this article must also believe that guns kill people.

I remember an article about collision statistics. Interesting things:

ABS was not yet common, but incidents of 1-car accidents were far higher for ABS-equipped cars.

One car had two door, four door, and wagon versions listed separately, for collisions/mile: the Cavalier.

The 2-door was .4 units, the 4 door was .2 units, and the wagon was statistically insignificant (effectively zero)

So, yes, it's the fault of the nut holding the wheel.

Whoever wrote this article must also believe that guns kill people.

bravenrace wrote: Who woulda thunk it. Some people were recently telling me how great a car this is. One even went on about how it was so good he bought one for his teenage daughter.

I bought one for my wife.

Does anybody here buy cars based on their safety statistics, or ratings?

I don't, and don't know a single person that does.