Buying a car is one of the most expensive purchases a person can make in their lifetime. Depending on the make and model you buy, you can easily spend $30,000 to $40,000 after paying down your principal and interest. Most people don’t consider insurance when shopping for a car, even though it can easily add $100-$200 to monthly car costs. This leaves many car buyers shell-shocked when they realize they didn’t budget for this added expense.

You don’t want this to happen to you. Before you go out and buy a new car, consider the top five cars offering the cheapest auto insurance quotes by Forbes and Insure.com.

#1: Hyundai Santa Fe
The Hyundai Santa Fe was listed as the least expensive vehicle to insure in 2009 with a average yearly insurance cost of $832.

This car’s main qualifier for the cheapest rate quote is a Highway Loss Data Institute report of “substantially better than average” for comprehensive insurance losses, as well as “better than average” for personal injury protection insurance losses. Some of the safety features that play a role in this vehicle’s low coverage costs include brake assist, body-side reinforcements, 3-point seatbelts, 4-wheel ABS, traction control, shift interlock system, front-rear crumple zones and multiple air bags.

#2: Kia Sportage
The second least expensive vehicle to insure is the Kia Sportage. With an average yearly insurance cost of $840, buying the Sportage makes insurance affordable.

The main reason insurance costs are so low with this vehicle is its safety ratings. With the NHTSA Star Ratings alone, the Sportage received the highest rating --  five stars -- for frontal and side tests on the driver, passenger, front seat and rear seat. Some safety features of the Sportage include multiple air bags, 4-wheel ABS, traction control, side-impact door beams and lower anchors & tether for children (LATCH).

#3: Hyundai Entourage
The Hyundai Entourage ranks number three on the list with an average yearly insurance cost of $848. Not bad!

The reason this car was quoted for a low insurance cost was because it received high safety scores from both the NHTSA and the IIHS. Some of the safety features on the Entourage include front side and curtain side airbags, ant-iskid system, traction control and anti-lock brakes.

#4: Kia Sedona
The Kia Sedona was an IIHS 2009 Top Safety Pick for its good performance in front, side and rear tests, as well as standard electronic stability control. Because of its top rankings across the board, the average yearly auto insurance rate for this minivan is $857. There are a ton of safety features on this car that give it its ranking. Some include electronic stability control, brake assist, 4-wheel ABS, passenger/side head/rear head air bags, height-adjustable front and 2nd row seatbelts, 3-point seatbelts, and an energy-absorbing steering column.

#5: Kia Rio5
The Kia Rio5 rounds out the list of the top five cars with the cheapest auto insurance quotes. This mini SUV offers a sleek look and great safety features to match. It received four stars from NHTSA for drivers and passenger side frontal impact and rollover resistance, as well as five stars for front-occupant side impact, giving it a average yearly insurance cost of $870. Some of its safety features include driver/passenger/side head/rear head air bags, rear 3-point seatbelts, LATCH, side-impact door beams, an impact-absorbing steering column and front/rear crumple zones.

As you can see, there seems to be a consensus that both Kia and Hyundai vehicles offer top-quality safety and thus help to lower your auto insurance rate. So it’s good to keep this in mind as you search for cars and attempt to lower auto insurance. But if you’re interested in a different type of car that didn’t make this list, it’s good to consider other ways to lower your auto insurance.

Additional Ways to Lower Coverage

• Buy an economy car – Having a smaller car can help lower your auto insurance. So consider this as an option as you look for cars to purchase.

• Consider PAYD insurance – Also known as “Pay as You Drive,” this is a relatively new type of insurance that’s only available in a few states so far, but it allows drivers to pay based on mileage rather than their driving habits, credit report, age, gender, etc. If you drive a short distance, this could benefit you pretty well.

• Seek discounts – Most insurance companies offer some one or more discounts that their customers can take advantage of. So whether you’re a good student, good driver or have purchased multiple policy types (ex. life, homeowners) with this company, you can probably receive a discount in the process.

• Shop around – If you don’t shop around for competing quotes, it will be hard to determine which is the cheapest. So make sure you shop around with various insurers before settling on coverage for your car.

Sometimes it’s tough to think in terms of auto insurance rates when you’re wowed by the beauty of a new car. They put so many bells and whistles in them nowadays that it’s hard to think of anything else. However, car notes are expensive enough without adding an expensive car insurance premium to it. So before you buy a car, it’s good to consider how much insuring it will cost.

This was a guest post written by GoInsuranceRates.com, where you can find the best deals on auto insurance, home insurance, life insurance, and health insurance.

Auto Insurance

Believe the commercials, the risk is real, and if you drive without insurance you are breaking the rules.  Is it worth losing your license, risking fines, or even worse ruining a stranger financial security because you didn't want to buy auto insurance?  Let's look at a few reasons why it's important to have auto insurance and not just because you are suppose to.

Just having an auto insurance policy is better than going without, but it's also important to be familiar with what your existing policy covers.  For instance, if you ever rent a vehicle, will your policy cover an accident in the rental vehicle?  Next, just because you may be injured in an automotive accident doesn't mean the auto insurance will cover living expenses and continuing costs if you become disabled.  This becomes a more glaring issue if you are at fault and without insurance to help the people you hit.

Throughout your life your auto insurance policy should grow with you.  If nothing else but to protect your assets and family in the case of a tragic costly accident.  Younger people who are renting and don't own a home won't need the level of auto insurance that someone older with more assets should be concerned with.  It's true, if your auto insurance doesn't cover the cost of an accident, you can be sued to cover the difference, putting all your assets including your home on the line.  So as you progress through life it's important to review your policies to make sure you are getting the proper coverage.

Lastly, to have a good policy doesn't necessarily mean that it should be a lot more expensive.  You can reduce the monthly cost of your auto insurance by simply increasing the deductible.  This means that you will be out of pocket more money in the case of an accident, but pay less per month for comparable policies.  Don't skimp on the important aspects of a policy, your life can change in the flash of an eye, protect yourself and your family.

It happened to me, I got a chip in my windshield a  few days ago, thanks to some sloppy driving by dump trucks carrying a load of rocks.  The rock jumped up and placed a chip in my auto glass smaller than the size of a quarter, but right in my line of sight.  It's frustrating and even more blood boiling knowing I'm responsible for getting it fixed since I was unable to get information from the culprit dump truck.

After doing some checking around I found that a chipped windshield can be easily fixed and in some cases can even be done with a home kit available from Wal-Mart.  I read some reviews and decided that fixing the chip in my windshield myself was not the best idea, again considering the chips location.  Therefore, I turned my research to my insurance providers website, Progressive.

According to them, like most other auto insurers, you can get a chipped windshield repaired for free.  That means no deductible, no out of pocket expense, only time to take your car to the autotive shop.  As long as the repair is done by a reputable and accredited company, Progressive will pay for the entire cost of repair.  Also, typically they will only cover the cost, no deductible, if the crack or chip is less than the size of a dollar.

Great news!  I plan on getting my windshield repaired by a reputable glass repair shop.  And for others looking to get annoying chips and cracked glass fixed, most insurance companies will cover the repair for free without out of pocket expense for a deductible.

Buying auto insurance becomes a complicated buying process, if you avoid the cheapest is best scam.  One common difference between policy is full auto coverage and only liability coverage.  So, what is full auto coverage?

I would consider full auto coverage an insurance policy that covers you if you cause an accident and if you are involved in an accident caused by someone else.  Liability insurance only covers the person's vehicle you get in an accident with, it will not cover the damage to your vehicle.  Full auto coverage however will cover both you and the other persons car in the case of an accident.

This question came up to me recently when I paid off two of our vehicles.  If you have a lien on your vehicle the lien holder requires full coverage to protect their investment and loan collateral.  Therefore, I had the option to drop down to a lower cost liability only auto insurance coverage.  No thanks.

For the little cost involved per month, I would much rather sleep easier knowing that my vehicle was under full auto coverage.  My wife and I are both really good drivers and (knock on wood) have only been in 1 accident our entire lives.  But the peace of mind knowing that we will have money towards a replacement vehicle, because of our full auto coverage, helps me breathe easier.

It is possible with a little effort to slash the amount that you are paying for auto insurance by 50% by grasping a few simple ideas and facts about how auto insurance works and how the premiums are calculated. Once you grasp how it all works, you could save significant amounts on your premium not only this year but also every year.

The first thing you need is your auto insurance declarations page, if you don’t know what that is. Its one of the pages of your current policy, that sets out the details of your coverage.

You need to read through the details and be sure to make brief, but detailed notes of certain aspects of exactly what you are being covered for at the moment. You will first need to check that you are receiving all the discounts that you are liable for.

Auto insurance discounts can be given to you, for vehicle safety features that you car has fitted. These include air bags, make a note of what kind you have front, side, head and so on. Anti theft, systems can also attract a discount, especially electronic tracking devices.

Simple items like automatic seat belts can also give you a small discount. Don’t forget other safety items such as Traction control or ABS and any other features that your vehicle may be fitted with. Note down these, any other safety, and security devices fitted to the vehicle.

Next, go to the details of any deductibles that are included in the policy, all standard policies should carry a minimum of a $500 deductible. The reason for this is simple, if your policy has a $200 deductible, altering to $500 can save you 30-40% on your premium, on average that will save you $450.
Moving you’re deductable up to $1000 will then save you $650 per year on your premium. So simple math says if you don't have an accident for two years you will have saved $1300. If you should have an accident after 15 months, you will have still paid your premium twice, even after paying the $1000 you are still $300 in pocket. It’s a gamble to up your deductable, but the odds are stacked well in your favor.

Now move on to the property damage clause, let’s say that you are insured for $150,000. This covers you for damage to ‘property’ such as a house, a wall, a mailbox. So let us assume you hit a house, not common, but it can happen. How much damage would you have to inflict to need $150,000 worth of repairs? If you hit a wall how much could that cost, $5000? $10,000?

The truth is that this kind of risk is not very liable to amount to a huge bill; in reality, $50,000 should cover nearly all ‘property damage ‘possibilities.

Another thing to consider is if you have little or no net worth then your risk is minimal anyway, so maybe you should reduce the cover even further, down to your states minimum level.

Bodily injury liability will be next on your list; it covers all drivers and passengers of your vehicle and any other vehicle that you may collide with as well as all pedestrians.

The best way to calculate how much bodily injury cover you should have is to calculate your net worth; your insurance should be equal to that figure. You may currently be covered for $150,000, your net worth, what you are worth if you sold everything you own, may only be $30,000. So why would you need bodily injury that is several times what you are worth on paper?

The last thing for you to review is your uninsured or under-insured motorist cover, this cover increases your premium by around $200. The perception is that you will be covered if you are involved in an accident with a motorist who has little or no insurance.

This is incorrect if you have a comprehensive policy you are already covered, you don’t need this additional, double coverage. If your state doesn’t require that type of insurance, cancel it, if it does then reduce it to the minimum.

That is how four minutes can save you hundreds of dollars one your auto insurance premiums. There are other ways to make savings if you contact an online agent he will be able to show you other simple ways to save lots of money on your auto insurance premium.

Recently I came across an article that discussed the figures behind accidents and households that own multiple cars. According to the study a household with more than one car are 22% less likely to be in an accident. But why would multiple vehicles pose as a reducer in accidents? It's hard to find cheap car insurance, so maybe having multiple cars will help with rising rates.

The study claims that multi-car households own more expensive vehicles, therefore are more cautious when they are driving. I'm not sure how much I personally believe this is the case, because I've been almost hit by a number of Lexus drivers who refuse to get off their cell phones. At any rate, it's normal when buying online car insurance for multiple vehicles to get a discount. My problem is that I have too many vehicles, so I get a fleet discount.

What's also interesting about the study, is that it discusses automobile enthusiasts and their impact on safer driving. This I can get my brain around as being believable, after all, if I care about the car I'm driving, I'm gonna be more careful. Nicer vehicles does not always translate into caring MORE. What's so confusing about insurance, is that it varies so much from company to company and this study is bias, mainly because it was put out by the Admiral. I'd recommend getting car insurance quotes from multiple online sources, for your multiple vehicles.