Home Car insurance Survey The 10 vehicles that cause the most property damage The 10 vehicles that cause the most property damage Written by: Jeffrey Steele | Reviewed by: Michelle Megna Michelle Megna Michelle, the former editorial director, insurance, at QuinStreet, is a writer, editor and expert on car insurance and personal finance. Prior to joining QuinStreet, she reported and edited articles on technology, lifestyle, education and government for magazines, websites and major newspapers, including the New York Daily News. | Posted on April 16, 2014 Why you should trust Insure.com Quality Verified At Insure.com, we are committed to providing honest and reliable information so that you can make the best financial decisions for you and your family. All of our content is written and reviewed by industry professionals and insurance experts. We maintain strict editorial independence from insurance companies to maintain editorial integrity, so our recommendations are unbiased and are based on a comprehensive list of criteria. Big and tall vehicles are the bulls in the china shop of the contemporary motoring scene. The list of 2014 vehicles that cause the most property damage, just released by Insure.com, is proof: It comprises massive pickup trucks and larger sport-utility vehicles. The common element in all these vehicles is a bumper that does not match up with the bumpers found on passenger cars. Workhorses like the Ford F-250 pickup truck and large SUVs like the Infiniti QX80 generate the biggest property damage claims and thus the heftiest liability insurance bills of the 750-plus 2014 model-year vehicles analyzed by Insure.com in its annual car insurance comparison study. Rates for the property-damage liability portion of your auto insurance policy are generally a reflection of claims made against other owners of the same kind of vehicle. Property-damage liability coverage pays when you damage someone else’s car or property. Most drivers carry much lower limits on property damage liability than for bodily injury, so that portion of their insurance bills is usually smaller. Even so, premiums differ wildly from state to state and vehicle to vehicle. A 40-year-old with a clean record would pay $471 a year for $50,000 in property damage liability on a Dodge SRT Viper in West Virginia — and just $22 a year in Michigan, which has a very different set of laws. Averaging rates nationwide, the Ford F-250 racks up the highest bill at $194 a year and the Porsche Cayman the lowest, at $116. Worst vehicles for property damage claims Among vehicles with highest rates for property damage liability: Infiniti QX80 Photo credit: InfinitiThese vehicles carry the biggest liability bills, and thus are likely to inflict the most property damage: Ford F-250GMC Sierra 2500Ford F-350Ram 1500Infiniti QX80Dodge DurangoToyota TundraJeep Grand CherokeeCadillac EscaladeChevrolet Silverado 1500Source: Insure.com. See the methodology of our annual car insurance rates study. Bumper to bumper, or not Why the mismatch between bumper heights of different vehicles? “The main problem is that the federal government sets minimum bumper performance requirements for passenger cars, but these regulations don’t apply to vans, SUVs or pickups,” says Russ Rader, spokesperson for the Arlington, Va.-based Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). Even though the requirements for cars are weak, they do ensure that cars are equipped with bumper systems that generally line up with each other in crashes, some 16 to 20 inches above the ground, Rader says. Pickup and SUV bumpers are higher than that level. “This means that when cars and SUVs collide, the bumpers can go right past each other,” Rader says. “The energy of these collisions will bypass the bumpers and go directly into the vehicle bodies. Even if the bumpers do overlap, they may slide off each other, instead of staying engaged. Either way, the result is expensive car body damage.” Mismatch turns a fender bender into a wreck How do vehicles’ weight, height, bumpers and other features combine to make a substantial difference in the amount of property damage they cause? Differing heights often result in override and underride situations, says Pete Leiss, head of the crash practice for Lancaster, Pa.-based Robson Forensic, a company that specializes in expert witness services in courts of law. Robson Forensic provides its services to both the legal industry and the insurance field. Consider a family sedan, riding relatively low at about 16 to 20 inches off the ground. If that car impacts the back of an SUV with a higher bumper, the sedan will suffer greater damage to its headlights, grill, and possibly the radiator and the air conditioner condenser, Leiss says. A typical override situation is just the opposite, and involves, for instance, an SUV or truck rear-ending a sedan. The bumper of that striking vehicle will travel over the back bumper of the sedan and impact its tail lights and the trunk lid as well as damaging the rear quarter panels, Leiss says. “In the most severe collisions, we will see the tail lights end up about where the rear seat was prior to the collision,” he adds. “That’s not only bad from a property damage standpoint, but the injuries to those individuals in the backseat can be serious if not fatal.” (See “Best and worst vehicles for preventing passenger injuries.”) The Insure.com list of those vehicles most likely to cause property damage dovetails with his observations, Leiss says. The list, he notes, is dominated by large pickup trucks that typically feature higher bumper heights than passenger vehicles. “Also, you see the [Jeep] Grand Cherokee, known for its off-road prowess, with very good ground clearance and thus higher bumpers.” QuickTake 10 dirty little secrets of insurance companies 7 ways to investigate an insurance company online How to give a car as a gift -- and keep it a secret What are your favorite foods to eat while driving?: Insure.com survey 2021 Insure.com survey 2021: Why do many parents not enforce teen driver laws? 10 things that are illegal but shouldn’t be Do red cars cost more to insure? Cost of a good midlife crisis: $240,000 Will people crash into you because of your car's color? The states with the rudest drivers – and the states that hate them The worst days to do 20 common activities Cars that attract the ladies (and guys) Don't blame high-performance cars alone for their high accident and death rates See more > In case you missed it Best Car Insurance Companies of 2023 Car insurance rates by state: The most expensive and cheapest states for car ins... What is Full Coverage Car Insurance? A complete guide to car insurance costs for seniors A complete guide to adding a teenager to your car insurance policy What to do after a car accident that’s not your fault Total warfare: What to do when your auto insurer totals your car Car insurance claims: Who gets the claims check? Buying and insuring a used car: Most and least expensive models to insure in 202... The Best Car Insurance for Bad Credit of 2021 The best car insurance companies for speeding tickets Car insurance after a DUI Guide to Car Insurance Discounts Proper insurance coverage for college-bound children How to read (and actually understand!) your auto insurance policy Car Insurance Companies New driver insurance grace period: What you need to know How much do insurance agents make Autonomous cars: 5 delightful and 5 distressing things Busted! Part 1: How insurance companies spot bogus claims Insurance options for rideshare drivers 10 things that are illegal but shouldn’t be 1/1 Table of contents Worst vehicles for property damage claims Bumper to bumper, or not Mismatch turns a fender bender into a wreck Get instant quotes now ! Please enter valid zip Get Quotes