Hyundai/Kia easy theft

[veeman]

Because it's super easy to steal Hyundais and Kias which use a key to start the car, and theft rates of those cars have skyrocketed, the 6 month insurance on my base model Hyundai Veloster is $632 whereas for my Infiniti QX60 is $467    My Infiniti is worth 3X more than my Hyundai. 

It's a stick shift and I've bought an old school steering wheel club so I'm not concerned about it getting stolen.  The increased insurance is not enough for me to change the car but it is annoying. 

[r0tor]

I think the stick shift is probably a better anti theft device than the club

[GoCougs]

Are you sure it's because of the risk of theft? Thing is theft is covered by comprehensive coverage, which is typically just a fraction of the cost of collision coverage (in my case it's about a 1/4). My bet is the Veloster on average gets in a lot of wrecks (i.e., lots of legal and medical bill payouts, which = many many times more expensive than the cost of replacing a stolen vehicle) so it has much higher collision coverage cost.

[veeman]

Are you sure it's because of the risk of theft? Thing is theft is covered by comprehensive coverage, which is typically just a fraction of the cost of collision coverage (in my case it's about a 1/4). My bet is the Veloster on average gets in a lot of wrecks (i.e., lots of legal and medical bill payouts, which = many many times more expensive than the cost of replacing a stolen vehicle) so it has much higher collision coverage cost.

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/major-insurance-companies-halt-new-policies-for-kias-hyundais-amid-st-louis-area-theft-surge/article_98089542-db90-5cb0-ba0c-a86882f94adb.html

I'm not sure but I have State Farm.  I don't live in St. Louis but I'm sure whatever is happening in urban areas is also affecting suburbia.

Hyundai policy is $287 for liability bodily injury and property damage, $53 for comprehensive, $186 for collision, $68 for underinsured motorist conversion bodily injury.  Total including other small fees is $632.

Infiniti policy is $169 for liability bodily injury and property damage, $41 for comprehensive, $163 for collision, $68 for underinsured motorist conversion bodily injury.  Total including other small fees is $467.

So it looks like bulk of added cost is liability bodily injury and property damage.  Which goes to your point that the bulk of cost is related to Veloster drivers driving like asshats.  By googling, if you are involved in a car accident and found to be at fault, bodily injury liability insurance covers medical expenses to others.

I called my State Farm agent's right hand woman about 2 months ago (someone I know on a first name basis for last 10 years) to inquire about why it costs so much more to insure my Veloster than my QX60 and she transferred me to someone else who then said they would call me back.  Never got a call back.  I like State Farm and my point person at State Farm a lot so I'm not going to change companies.  I'm sure they just go by whatever table they have and there's not much I can do about it. 

[CaminoRacer]

Does your Veloster have push button start or a key?

[veeman]

Does your Veloster have push button start or a key?

Key.  It's a manual transmission, although I doubt that affects insurance rates even though probably less likely to be stolen.

[Gotta-Qik-C7]

Yeah it's an epidemic here in Cleveland! Some police departments have given free wheel clubs to any Kia/Hyundai that wanted one.

[r0tor]

Weren't wheel clubs shown to be completely pointless like 30 years ago?

[Soup DeVille]

Weren't wheel clubs shown to be completely pointless like 30 years ago?

Yes, but theoretically those thieves have moved on and the new ones will be delayed a bit until they too learn how to cut steering wheels with a greenlee ratcheting cable cutter.