Cost guide
Car insurance cost: what drives it and how 73 Auto estimates it
What car insurance costs depends mostly on who drives, where the car is kept and the car itself. 73 Auto estimates an expected annual comprehensive premium for a specific car and driver, calibrated so that across the UK's insured drivers it averages out to the premium people actually pay, as tracked by the Association of British Insurers (ABI). Every estimate comes with an 80% range and a confidence level. It is a figure for planning and comparing cars, never a quote.
Published 2026-09-28 · Publisher: 73 Auto
What drives an insurance premium
- The driver: age, years licensed, no-claims bonus, recent claims and convictions.
- Where the car is kept: how much vehicle crime there is locally, and where it's parked overnight.
- The car: its insurance group (which reflects its value, repair costs, performance and security) and how often that kind of car is stolen.
- How it's used and covered: mileage, commuting, excess and how you pay.
Estimate insurance for a specific car
Enter a UK registration, then add your postcode and driver details to narrow the range. Your first check is free and shows the vehicle summary and its headline ownership cost. The category-by-category breakdown is part of a paid check.
UK number plate or 17-character VIN
How 73 Auto estimates it
The model estimates the expected cost of claims for the three parts of a comprehensive policy: injury and damage to other people, damage to your own car, and theft. It then turns expected claims into a premium using the relationship between claims costs and premiums published by the Financial Conduct Authority, and calibrates the result so that across the UK's insured drivers it matches the ABI's average premium paid for comprehensive cover. The ABI benchmark is refreshed each quarter.
Location uses recorded vehicle crime for the local authority (Home Office figures) per licensed car (DfT figures). The insurance group is inferred from the car's launch list price, because there is no licensed group database; if you know your car's group, you can enter it.
The range and confidence level
The 80% range means the model expects the premium for that car and driver to fall inside it four times out of five. The more you tell it, the narrower it gets.
| Confidence | 80% range | Typical case |
|---|---|---|
| High | about 0.8× to 1.2× the estimate | Full driver profile, postcode and a known insurance group |
| Medium | about 0.7× to 1.5× | Full driver profile and postcode, insurance group inferred |
| Low | about 0.5× to 2× | Driver details without a postcode, or no driver details at all |
| Very low | wider | Rare, classic or commercial vehicles, or thin evidence |
If you don't enter your details
The estimate uses a standard reference driver, shown in the report. This driver is lower-risk than the average policyholder, because the market average includes young drivers and drivers with claims and convictions. Details you leave out widen the range; they don't push the price up.
- Age
- 48
- Licence
- Full UK licence held for 25 years
- No-claims bonus
- 5 years or more
- Claims and convictions
- None in the last 5 years
- Mileage
- 7,400 miles a year
- Area
- UK average
- Cover
- Comprehensive, paid annually, £250 voluntary excess
What the insurance figure is based on
| Input | Where it comes from | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Average premium paid | ABI Motor Insurance Premium Tracker (comprehensive cover) | Published statistics |
| Claims split, theft and the claims-to-premium relationship | Financial Conduct Authority motor insurance publications | Published statistics |
| Vehicle crime by area | Home Office recorded crime and DfT licensed vehicle statistics | Official data |
| Driver age risk | DfT driver statistics | Official data |
| Insurance group | Inferred from launch list price, unless you enter it | 73 Auto estimate |
| Postcode, driver history, cover choices | What you enter on your profile | Your input |
Full detail on every source is on the data sources page, and how each category is calculated is on the methodology page.
Common questions
Does 73 Auto use price comparison quotes?
No. No insurer quote engine or comparison site is used, and no quote journey is automated. The estimate is built from published statistics, official data and 73 Auto's own reference data. 73 Auto also deliberately doesn't use neighbourhood classification data that can act as a proxy for protected characteristics.
What if I already have a quote?
Enter it. A premium you enter is used in place of the estimate, and the estimate is shown beside it for comparison.
See insurance in a full worked example
A mid-priced worked example of each fuel type, showing insurance alongside every other cost.
| Vehicle | Fuel | Per year | Per month | Per mile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MINI Mini 2018 | Petrol | £5,078 | £423 | £0.69 |
| Tesla Model Y Long Range AWD 2022 | Electricity | £5,177 | £431 | £0.70 |
| Toyota RAV4 2017 | Diesel | £5,691 | £474 | £0.77 |
| Toyota Corolla 2019 | Hybrid Electric | £5,983 | £499 | £0.81 |
About these examples. All 53 were calculated under one standard scenario: 7,400 miles a year, 3-year ownership, finance purchase. They describe the specific vehicles 73 Auto has analysed, not every car of that type in the UK. They were calculated on 21 Jul 2026. Since then, 73 Auto has rebuilt its fuel prices and VED rules, tyres, servicing, repairs and maintenance, depreciation and insurance models, so a new report for the same car today can give different figures from its example.
Limitations
Insurers price from details no model can see, including your full claims history, exact address and their own underwriting at the time of the quote. The estimate is for budgeting and comparing cars; get real quotes before you buy.
How 73 Auto works this out
Every category is explained in the methodology, and the data sources page lists which inputs are official data and which are 73 Auto estimates. How pages are written and kept up to date is set out in the editorial policy; to report a factual error, see corrections.