Car Insurance Groups 1–50: The Complete UK Guide (2026)

Every car sold in the UK is assigned an insurance group between 1 and 50. Group 1 is the cheapest to insure, group 50 the most expensive. If you are choosing a used car on a budget, the group rating can be the difference between affordable cover and a quote that costs more than the car itself.

The system is well-defined, but it is also widely misunderstood. The group is not your premium. EVs are not always cheaper. A higher trim of the same model can sit ten groups above the base car. This guide walks through how the panel makes its decisions, which models sit where in 2026, why electric cars often surprise people, and how to use the group as one input alongside everything else insurers care about.

Who decides the groups

Insurance groups are set by the Group Rating Panel, a joint body made up of members from the Association of British Insurers (ABI) and Thatcham Research, the motor insurers' research centre based in Berkshire. Every new car model sold in the UK is tested and assigned a group before it goes on sale, and the panel meets monthly to review new models and significant updates.

Thatcham is the real engineering work — they crash-test cars at low speeds, dismantle them to assess repairability, time how long it takes a body shop to fit a new bumper, and price the parts. The ABI side brings the claims data. Together they produce a number between 1 and 50 that insurers use as a baseline risk indicator.

The panel considers seven main factors when assigning a group.

1. Damage and repair costs

This is the single biggest input. Thatcham runs a 15 km/h front and rear impact test (close to a typical car-park bump) and measures the cost of returning the car to its pre-accident condition. Cars with bonded panels, aluminium structures, integrated sensors or one-piece bumpers score badly because a low-speed knock means a high-cost repair.

2. New parts prices

The cost of common replacement parts — bumpers, headlights, wings, windscreens, door mirrors — is tracked directly. Manufacturers that overcharge for spares push their cars up the table. Brands with cheap and widely available parts (Dacia, Suzuki, Hyundai at the lower end) tend to score well.

3. Repair times

How long a body shop has to spend on each repair. Modular construction with quick-release fasteners scores better than welded inner panels.

4. Performance

Engine power, 0–60 mph time, top speed and power-to-weight ratio. Faster cars are statistically more likely to be involved in accidents and tend to be driven harder, so they sit higher in the table.

5. Safety features

Euro NCAP rating, autonomous emergency braking (AEB), lane assist, blind-spot monitoring and similar systems can pull a car down the table. AEB in particular has measurable claims-cost benefits. You can see the Euro NCAP star rating for any UK car on our free car check — the panel uses the same underlying ratings as one of its inputs.

6. Security

Factory-fitted alarms, immobilisers and Thatcham-approved locking systems reduce the rating. Cars without an immobiliser, or with poor key security (rolling-code weaknesses, relay-attack vulnerability), get pushed up.

7. Bumper compatibility

Thatcham checks whether the car's bumpers align with the standard European bumper height. Good alignment means less damage in low-speed impacts — and predictably lower repair bills.

What the bands look like in practice

The 50 groups are not evenly priced. Most mainstream cars cluster between groups 10 and 30, and the difference between adjacent groups at the bottom of the table is much smaller in pounds than the difference between adjacent groups at the top.

These are illustrative. A 19-year-old in a high-risk postcode can pay four times these figures; a 55-year-old with maximum no-claims in a low-risk rural postcode often pays less. The group sets the baseline — your circumstances do the rest.

A useful rule of thumb: for a 30-year-old in a mid-risk postcode with five years' no-claims, moving from a group 1 car to a group 20 car typically adds £400 to £600 a year to the premium. The gap widens sharply above group 30 and explodes above group 40.

Cheapest cars to insure: groups 1–5

These are the cars insurers price as the lowest possible risk. Small engines, cheap parts, modest performance and a long history of low claims frequency.

If you are insuring a new driver, anything in this band is a safe starting point. Pair the low group with a telematics policy and the premium can drop further again. Most of these cars also sit in the cheapest VED bands and have low running costs generally, so the savings compound.

Affordable family cars: groups 6–15

The classic supermini and small-hatchback territory. Slightly more equipment, slightly more performance, but still cheap to repair and statistically low-risk.

The Toyota Yaris Hybrid is a useful illustration of how hybrids are treated. The hybrid system pushes parts costs up slightly, but Toyota's claims experience is excellent and Thatcham scores the safety package highly — so the Yaris sits only a couple of groups above the equivalent petrol Fiesta.

Mid-range: groups 16–30

Once you move into hatchbacks with bigger engines, premium small cars and the popular mid-size SUVs, you cross into the range where most mainstream EVs also live.

Trim matters a lot in this band. A Ford Focus 1.0 Titanium can sit around group 14, but the ST-Line with sportier suspension, bigger wheels and extra body trim moves up several groups even though the engine is identical. Always check the exact variant of any used car before getting quotes — the same nameplate on different trims can sit five or more groups apart.

Performance and premium: groups 31–40

This is where bigger engines, four-wheel drive, sports trims and lots of standard tech start to compound.

Plug-in hybrids deserve a note here. The PHEV version of an executive saloon often sits two or three groups above the petrol equivalent because of the battery and the extra drivetrain components. The running-cost saving from electric-only commuting still tends to win overall, but the gap is narrower than people expect.

The top of the table: groups 41–50

High-performance, luxury and supercars. Repair bills here can run into five figures for a single panel, and the claims frequency among the driver pool is much higher.

If you are insuring anything in this band, brokered or specialist cover usually beats the comparison sites — the mainstream pricing engines tend to flatten out at the top.

Why EVs often sit higher than expected

This is the biggest surprise for buyers in 2026. Many people assume an EV will be cheap to insure because there is no engine to break and no exhaust to replace. In practice, mainstream EVs cluster in groups 25–40 — higher than equivalent-size petrol cars.

There are three reasons.

Battery cost. A high-voltage battery pack is the most expensive single component on the car. Even a low-speed underbody impact can trigger an inspection, and an inspection alone can run to four figures. Outright replacement is rare but the risk of the battery being written off after what looks like a survivable crash is real, and insurers price it in.

Sensor density. Most EVs are also relatively new designs, which means they carry the latest generation of ADAS hardware — radar in the grille, cameras in the windscreen, ultrasonic sensors all round the bumpers. Each of these is expensive to replace and requires recalibration after any bodywork.

Repair network maturity. Bodyshops with EV certification are still scarcer than conventional ones. Repairs take longer, and longer repair times push up courtesy-car costs that flow back into the group rating.

A few illustrative 2026 placements:

The MG4 and the older Nissan Leaf are the two outliers worth knowing about — both come in noticeably lower than the Tesla Model 3 despite offering broadly similar size and range. If insurance cost is a deciding factor, those two cars are usually the cheapest mainstream EVs to cover. The Tesla Model 3 is more than twice the group rating of the MG4, and the premium gap reflects that.

If you are weighing up an EV against a petrol equivalent, factor the insurance gap into the total cost — the running-cost saving on electricity can still come out ahead, but it is closer than the headlines suggest.

Factors that can bump you up a group

The group itself does not change after you buy the car, but your premium does — and a handful of common changes can push you into a higher pricing tier with most insurers, even if the official group stays the same. Treat the following as effectively "moving up a group" for premium purposes.

Performance modifications. Engine remaps, turbo upgrades, induction kits, aftermarket exhausts and any change to the ECU. The biggest jumps come here — some insurers will not quote at all on a remapped car.

Suspension changes. Lowering springs, coilovers, adjustable dampers. Even cosmetic lowering counts.

Wheels. Larger-than-standard alloys are an additional cost on every claim, both because the wheel itself is dearer and because the larger contact patch tends to mean more body damage in low-speed kerbing.

ADAS retrofits. Aftermarket parking sensors, retrofitted reversing cameras, third-party blind-spot monitors. They may help you avoid accidents but they have to be declared, and most insurers do not give a discount for non-factory kit.

Aftermarket alarms. A non-Thatcham alarm replacing the factory unit can void the Thatcham approval on the car overall and push the premium up. If you are adding security, choose Thatcham-approved equipment fitted by an approved installer.

Hardwired dashcams. A dashcam plugged into the 12V socket usually does not need to be declared, but a hardwired install spliced into the fusebox often does — the wiring is treated as a modification. Check your policy wording.

Tinted windows. Beyond the front-side and windscreen legal limits, tints are a modification. Even legal tints should be mentioned on most policies.

The legal principle is simple: anything fitted to the car that was not there when it left the factory must be declared. Failing to do so gives the insurer grounds to void the policy, which can leave you uninsured at the worst possible moment.

When you are looking at a used car, do not take the seller's word that it is unmodified. Look for non-standard exhaust tips, aftermarket wheels, sunken stance, a glowing aftermarket head unit, or tell-tale wiring under the dashboard. Our guide to essential checks before buying a used car walks through what to inspect, and the broader hidden costs of buying a used car covers the items that catch most buyers out — insurance step-ups are one of the biggest.

How insurers actually use the group

This is the part most guides skip. The group is one input, not the answer. Two drivers in identical group 15 cars can be quoted £450 and £1,800 — both correct quotes — because everything else around the car is different.

The factors insurers weigh, in roughly descending order:

1. Driver age. A 19-year-old pays three to five times what a 45-year-old pays in the same car. This dwarfs every other variable.
2. Postcode. Theft rates, accident frequency, claims history at the postcode level. Inner-city postcodes can pay 60–80% more than rural ones.
3. No-claims discount. Five years' NCD typically removes around 60% of the premium. It is the single biggest discount most drivers can earn.
4. Annual mileage. Less time on the road means less exposure. Going from 12,000 miles to 6,000 typically saves 10–15%.
5. Where the car sleeps. Driveway, garage, street — in that order of cost.
6. Occupation. A handful of job titles are flagged as higher-risk by insurers' models. Whether that is fair is a separate debate.
7. Convictions. Any motoring conviction inside five years has a material effect on the premium and the panel of insurers willing to quote.
8. Use class. Social-domestic-pleasure-and-commuting (SDPC) is the most common; business use steps up the premium meaningfully.
9. Insurance group. The baseline risk indicator for the vehicle.

The group only sets the floor. If two drivers in identical group 15 cars are quoted very differently, the reason is almost always one of the eight factors above the group on this list — not the car.

This is also why "I had a quote of £450 on a group 18 car, so a group 22 will only be a bit more" is usually wrong. The marginal cost of moving up a group depends entirely on where you sit on every other axis. For a 19-year-old, two groups can mean hundreds of pounds. For a 50-year-old with maximum NCD in a quiet postcode, the same two groups might mean £15.

How to check a car's insurance group before you buy

The order of operations matters. Get the spec right first, then the group, then a real quote.

1. Confirm the exact variant. Trim, engine size and gearbox can all shift the group. Run the registration on our free car check to see the exact factory specification, including Euro NCAP rating where available — both are inputs the panel uses.
2. Look up the group. Thatcham's website lists groups by model. The major comparison sites (Confused, GoCompare, MoneySuperMarket) display the group on the quote screen.
3. Get a real quote. The only number that matters is the quote on your details. Run at least three quotes with slightly different mileage assumptions and excess levels to see how sensitive the price is.
4. Factor in running costs. A cheaper-to-insure car is usually cheaper to tax and fuel as well, but not always — the valuation and depreciation profile of a car affects the total cost of ownership more than insurance alone in many cases.
5. Plan the first service. A pre-purchase service history check and a fresh service straight after purchase do not change the group, but they reduce the chance of a costly claim — which is what protects your no-claims discount, which is what controls your future premium. Compare local garage prices on BookMyGarage before you commit.

Tips for cutting the premium

You cannot change the group, but you can change almost everything else. The biggest wins:

• Build no-claims discount and protect it once you have five years. This is the single largest discount any UK driver can earn.
• Increase your voluntary excess. Adding £250 of voluntary excess typically saves £40–£80 a year. Don't over-do it — you have to be able to actually pay the excess if you claim.
• Pay annually. Monthly instalments add 15–30% in interest. If you can find the lump sum, it pays back immediately.
• Park off-road. A driveway is meaningfully cheaper than the street; a locked garage is cheaper again.
• Use telematics if you are a young or low-mileage driver. A good telematics policy can cut a young driver's premium by 20–40%.
• Tell insurers your real mileage. Over-estimating to "be safe" costs you money. Under-estimating can void the policy.
• Shop renewal every year. Loyalty is no longer rewarded in the UK insurance market — sometimes it is actively penalised.

The bottom line

The insurance group is the most useful single number for comparing one used car against another on the forecourt. It captures real engineering work — crash repairability, parts pricing, security, safety — and it correlates with real claims experience. But it is a baseline, not a premium. Two identical group ratings can produce wildly different quotes, and the same model in two different trims can sit ten groups apart.

For most buyers in 2026 the practical takeaways are: keep an eye on EVs sitting higher than their petrol equivalents, treat any modification — even a "useful" one — as something to declare, and remember that the real lever on your premium is your no-claims discount and your postcode, not the badge on the bonnet.

Want to check the insurance group of a specific car before you buy? Enter the reg on our free Car Checker to see the exact make, model, variant and Euro NCAP rating — the same factory data the Group Rating Panel uses as its starting point.