The highest percentage of recently-ticketed drivers operate a Lexus ES300, according to a new survey by Insurance.com, the car insurance comparison-shopping website. The stylish Lexus sedan sits at the top of this year’s list of cars with the most tickets.
traffic ticketIn a previous Insurance.com study, conducted in 2014, the Subaru WRX ranked as the highest “ticket magnet,” but that make and model dropped to number 12 in the most recent data analysis. Insurance.com reviewed insurance claim and traffic violation data from 331 models and more than 323,000 recent customers.
While the most frequently ticketed vehicles include a variety of economy and luxury cars, the cars with the lowest percentage of tickets are generally more expensive vehicles, such as the Buick Encore (3%), Lexus IS350 (3%), Acura ILX (6%) and Cadillac ATS (6%).
“It’s the driver that gets tickets, not the car,” says Penny Gusner, consumer analyst for Insurance.com. “But it is interesting to see what vehicle makes and models attract drivers who are prone to traffic violations.”
Cars with the most tickets
Here are the top 20 vehicles by rank/make and model by the percentage of surveyed drivers who received tickets. Drivers were surveyed between February 2014 and February 2016:
1. Lexus ES 300 – 33%
2. Nissan 350Z – 33%
3. Dodge Charger SE/SXT – 32%
4. Volkswagen Jetta GL– 31%
5. Chevrolet Monte Carlo LS/LT – 31%
6. Mazda 3S – 30%
7. Volkswagen GTI – 30%
8. Dodge Stratus SXT – 30%
9. Acura 3.0s – 30%
10. Toyota Tacoma – 30%
11. Mazda Tribute – 30%
12. Subaru Impreza WRX – 30%
13. Lexus LS 400 Series – 30%
14. Subaru Impreza 2.5I – 30%
15. Mercedes-Benz C300 4 Matic – 30%
16. Chevrolet Malibu 2LT – 29%
17. Lincoln LS – 29%
18. Ford Fusion S – 29%
19. Mazda 3I – 29%
20. Chevrolet Tahoe K1500 – 29%
Insurance companies often pay more attention to claims than they do to traffic tickets when setting rates. Car models with high insurance claim rates can result in higher premiums for everyone owning those vehicles. Violation tickets drive up the individual coverage costs for the person who receives a citation.
“It’s notable that cars on most tickets list also appear to have an above-average number of insurance claims,” says Gusner. Twenty-three percent of surveyed drivers at the top of Insurance.com’s ticket list filed an insurance claim during the survey period, while only 19 percent of all other cars made insurance claims within that timeframe.
Cars with the least tickets
Below is a list of surveyed vehicles whose drivers received the fewest number of tickets. Readers can find the entire study results at our cars that get the most tickets page.
1. Buick Encore – 3%
2. Lexus IS350 – 3%
3. Acura ILX – 6%
4. Cadillac ATS – 6%
5. Chevrolet Express – 8%
6. Cadillac Escalade – 8%
7. GMC Savana – 9%
8. Audi A3 2-Series – 9%
9. BMW 320I – 10%
10. Land Rover Range Rover – 11%
Methodology
Insurance.com analyzed online quote information submitted by 323,349 drivers between January 1, 2014, and February 1, 2016; rankings were calculated on models for which more than 250 quotes were sought to ensure a significant sample size was available.