For dealers who have parents in their showroom looking for a used vehicle for that new young driver in the household that’s safe, reliable and cheap to run, CarInsurance.com created a list of 14 models that fit the mold.

To land on the list titled, “Best Cars for Teens,” the site examined four-year-old models retailing below $15,000 with top safety ratings and above-average reliability and fuel economy and then compared the cost of insurance for each unit.

Here are the Best Cars for Teens 2013 ranked by annual insurance cost:

1. Ford Taurus: $3,322
2. Honda Accord: $3,334
3. Ford Fusion: $3,494
4. Scion xB: $3,506
5. Subaru Legacy: $3,518
6. Volkswagen Jetta: $3,524
7. Audi A3 2.0T: $3,622
8. Toyota Corolla: $3,656
9. Subaru Impreza 2.5i: $3,732
10. Honda Civic: $3,738
11. Ford Focus: $3,800
12. Volkswagen Rabbit: $3,974
13. Honda Fit Sport: $3,976
14. Mitsubishi Lancer GTS: $4,392

Des Toups, managing editor of CarInsurance.com, highlighted that a crucial safety technology — electronic stability control — became available on a much wider array of inexpensive vehicles for the 2009 model year. 

“Stability control is a godsend because it limits a lot of the dumb moves a young driver can make,” Toups said. “But like every safety feature, it appears first on expensive cars and works its way down to the cheap ones.”

Stability control is a requirement to earn the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s Top Safety Pick designation — the starting point of the “Best Cars for Teens” rankings.

From there, CarInsurance.com looked for used models that cost less than $15,000, as tracked by Edmunds.com, achieved average or better reliability, as measured by TrueDelta.com, and earned a combined gas mileage rating above 20 mpg, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Finally, CarInsurance.com’s analysis weighed the insurance bills of the 14 vehicles that remained.

“There’s a big difference in insurance rates among the cars on the list,” Toups said. “But a teenage driver is going to pay a small fortune even if he chooses the most insurance-friendly car.”

For more details about each of the vehicles mentioned, go to:
http://www.carinsurance.com/best-cars-for-teens.aspx.

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