Car insurance group guides
Quick answer
28 guides covering the whole subject: how the 1–50 rating system works and who decides it, what each group costs in real money, the Vehicle Risk Rating framework replacing it on new models, advice built specifically for young and new drivers, and the edge cases — modified cars, imports and write-off categories — where a group lookup alone is not enough.
Everything here is written by our editorial team, reviewed by the motoring data desk, dated, and linked to the primary sources behind it. If you only need a number rather than an explanation, the registration checker will give you one in a few seconds.
How the rating system works
Start here if you want to understand what the number actually means and where it comes from. These are the foundation guides everything else builds on.
Car insurance groups explained
The pillar guide to the 1–50 scale: what it measures, who uses it and how to read it.
How insurance groups are decided
The Group Rating Panel, Thatcham's testing, and the fifteen-odd factors behind every rating.
Vehicle Risk Rating explained
The 1–99 successor framework and its five pillars, for model ranges launched since August 2024.
VRR vs insurance groups
The two scales side by side, which applies to your car, and why they never convert.
Can an insurance group change?
Eight things people think move the number, and the one case where it genuinely does.
Groups vs bands vs categories
Untangling the terminology — group, band, bracket, class and category all mean different things.
Group letters (E, U, A, D) explained
What the letter suffix on older ratings meant, and why you still see it on listings.
What it costs, and how to pay less
The money pillar. What a group is worth in pounds, what else moves your premium, and which levers are genuinely in your control.
How your group affects your premium
A group-by-group, age-by-age cost comparison built from our published methodology.
What affects car insurance price
Everything outside the car — age, postcode, mileage, claims, cover type — ranked by real impact.
What is a good insurance group?
What counts as low, average and high, and the right target for your own situation.
Cheapest insurance groups
The bottom of the scale: which groups are cheapest and what sits in them.
How to lower your car insurance costs
What actually works once the car is already on your driveway.
Check the group before you buy
The pre-purchase sequence that locks in a lower premium for as long as you own the car.
Young and new drivers
Where the group matters most, because the age loading multiplies it. Six guides that each do a different job rather than repeating one another.
Insurance groups for young drivers
Which group to target by age, and what each band costs at 17, 21 and 24.
Cheapest cars for 17-year-olds
First-policy specifics: telematics, named drivers and what year one realistically costs.
Cheapest cars for new drivers
For anyone newly qualified at any age, and why passing later changes the maths.
Best first cars with low insurance
Holistic picks weighing safety, space and running costs — not just the lowest group.
Low insurance group cars list
The ranked data: every car we cover with an entry trim in groups 1–10.
First car insurance tips
The policy side only — twelve things that move the price, and the fronting rules.
Special cases and edge situations
Where the standard 1–50 rating doesn't tell the whole story, or doesn't exist at all. These are the questions a straightforward group lookup can't answer.
Does telematics affect your insurance group?
No — and the distinction between rating the car and rating the driver matters.
Modified car insurance groups
Why mods don't change the published group but do change your premium, and the duty to declare.
Imported car insurance groups
Grey and parallel imports often have no UK group at all. What insurers do instead.
Write-off categories vs insurance groups
Cat A, B, S and N explained — a completely different classification from the 1–50 scale.
Using the checker
How to look up a specific car, and what the tool can and cannot tell you.
What insurance group is my car?
Look up any UK registration against the DVLA record and get a group in seconds.
How to check a car insurance group
Four methods compared — by reg, by make and model, on the V5C, and via your insurer.
Insurance groups 1–50 list
The full scale with typical costs and example cars in every group.
Browse all groups and models
Every group number and every car model we cover, in one index.
Browse by vehicle type and brand
Electric, hybrid, small, family, 7-seater, SUV, 4x4 and van hubs, plus 16 brand hubs.
Frequently asked questions
Which guide should I read first?
If you just want your car's group, use the checker on the homepage — no reading required. If you want to understand the number, start with car insurance groups explained, then how insurance groups are decided. If you are buying a first car, start with insurance groups for young drivers.
Why are there several guides about young drivers?
Because they answer genuinely different questions: which group to target, what a first policy at 17 involves, how it differs if you pass later in life, which cars are best all round, the raw ranked data, and the policy levers. Each one links to the others so you can jump to the one that fits.
Are these guides kept up to date?
Yes. Every guide carries a published and last-updated date, names the editorial team responsible, and links out to the primary sources behind it — Thatcham Research, the ABI and the DVLA. Our editorial policy sets out how we review and correct them.
Do you cover Vehicle Risk Rating as well as insurance groups?
Yes, in two dedicated guides. We explain what VRR is and how its five pillars work, and we compare it directly with the 1–50 scale. We deliberately do not publish per-model VRR scores, because that data is not openly published and inventing it would be misleading.
Check your car's insurance group free
Enter your registration and we'll look up the DVLA record and match it to an insurance group in seconds. No signup, no cost, and we don't store your reg.
Check my insurance group →Sources & further reading
- Thatcham Research — The motor insurers' automotive research centre. Co-runs the Group Rating Panel that sets UK insurance groups, and publishes the Vehicle Risk Rating (VRR) framework.
- Association of British Insurers (ABI) — The trade body for UK insurers. Co-runs the Group Rating Panel behind the 1–50 insurance group scale.
- DVLA — Get vehicle information — The official GOV.UK service for vehicle details by registration. Our checker uses the DVLA's Vehicle Enquiry Service API, the same underlying record.