Cheapest car insurance UK: Best family cars, EVs and sports cars, plus the cheapest insurance for new drivers

Car insurance experts have revealed the cheapest models to insure whether you’re looking for your first ever car or something to carry the whole family.

Savvy parents could pay as little as £300 a year by picking the right family model - saving them more than £100 over the average premium - while new drivers could save hundreds of pounds by opting for a cheaper vehicle.

Car insurance premiums have actually fallen to their lowest point in more than six years, according to the Association of British Insurers, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth trying to save some more money on insurance, especially with other motoring costs soaring.

While other factors, such as your age, driving experience and postcode all affect the price you pay, the car you drive is also a central part of calculating your premium. With that in mind, Admiral insurance crunched the data from five million customer inquiries to identify the cars with the cheapest average premiums across several categories including family cars, sports cars, EVs and cars for new drivers.

Cheapest cars to insure for new drivers

Young and newly qualified drivers constantly face the highest insurance costs of any group, so choosing the right models can save you hundreds of pounds a year.

Small cars with less powerful engines are your friend here, with the Volkswagen Up the cheapest model for 17-year-olds to insure, at an average cost of £710.87. The Ford Ka (£780) and Fiat 500 (£783) are close behind, ahead of the Toyota Aygo (£790), Hyundai i10 and Kia Picanto.

For the broader 17-25 age group, the Skoda Citigo - a rebadged Up - is the cheapest option but the Up is the second cheapest option and several of the top 10 models are the same, with the Up, Peugeot 107, Citroen C1 and Fiat 500 making it onto both lists.

Cheapest family cars to insure

The Admiral figures showed that the Ford Puma compact SUV was the most affordable family car to insure, with an average premium of £307.42 for the fun and surprisingly spacious crossover.

Thanks to the way Admiral classifies a “family” vehicle, the VW Up makes a surprise appearance on this list as well, with an average premium of £309. It’s a great city runaround but we wouldn’t recommend trying to take a family of four on holiday in one.

Behind it, small to mid-sized SUVs dominated the list, with Skoda’s Karoq and Kamiq models appearing alongside the related Volkswagen T-Roc and Seat Arona, as well as the budget-friendly Dacia Duster and MG ZS.

Cheapest sports cars to insure

With their high performance and desirability, sports cars will always been more to insure but the Porsche Boxster proves it doesn’t have to break the bank, with an average policy cost of £444.92. It is one of four Porsche models on the list, which also includes the Cayman, 911 and Macan. The BMW Z4 is the second cheapest, however, with an average cost of £445, just ahead of the evergreen Mazda MX-5 at £472. Laughably, the classification includes the Polestar 2 and Tesla Model 3 and Model Y, despite these EVs offering nothing sporty other than a quick 0-60 time.

Cheapest electric cars to insure

While those three EVs made it onto the sports car list, none of them was affordable enough to make it onto the list of the cheapest EVs to insure. As well as being among the cheapest electric cars on sale, the MG5 estate was also the cheapest all-electric model, at £348 per year. The Peugeot e-2008 was marginally more expensive, at around £375, with the VW ID.3 separating it from its smaller 208 stablemate and the MG ZS SUV.