Vehicle Risk Rating (VRR) explained
Quick answer
Vehicle Risk Rating is Thatcham Research's replacement for the 1–50 car insurance group scale. It scores a vehicle from 1 to 99 across five separate pillars — performance, damageability, repairability, safety and security — and applies to new model ranges launched from 1 August 2024. Cars already on sale keep their existing insurance group.
- 1–99 scale, replacing the 1–50 insurance group system
- Applies to new model ranges from 1 August 2024
- Five scored pillars instead of one blended number
- Can be revisited over time — old groups were effectively fixed
What VRR actually changes
Search for VRR car insurance and you will mostly find references to a change that has been quietly under way since 2024. For about three decades, every car sold in the UK carried a single number between 1 and 50 that summarised how expensive it was likely to be to insure. That number did a lot of work: it blended repair cost, parts price, performance, safety and security into one figure, and it stayed put for the life of the model.
The new car insurance rating system unpicks that. Instead of one blended number, a vehicle is scored on five distinct pillars, each measuring something an insurer genuinely prices differently. And instead of being fixed at launch, a VRR can be revisited as real claims data arrives. The practical effect is that two cars which would once have shared a group can now be told apart — one might be cheap to repair but easy to steal, the other the reverse.
The five pillars a VRR score is built from
Each pillar is assessed separately, which is the whole point of the redesign — a weakness in one area is no longer hidden by strength in another.
| Pillar | What it measures | What pushes the score up |
|---|---|---|
| Performance | How much power and speed the vehicle has relative to its weight, and how that translates into crash risk. | More power, faster acceleration and higher top speed. |
| Damageability | How easily the vehicle is damaged in the low-speed impacts that make up most insurance claims. | Fragile structures, exposed sensors and bumper designs that transmit damage inwards. |
| Repairability | How difficult, slow and expensive the vehicle is to put right once it is damaged. | Bonded panels, scarce parts, calibration-heavy driver-assistance systems and restricted repair networks. |
| Safety | How well the vehicle protects occupants and other road users, including crash-avoidance technology. | Weak injury protection or missing crash-avoidance tech (strong safety pulls the score down). |
| Security | How well the vehicle resists theft — of the car itself and of things in it. | Vulnerability to keyless relay theft and weak physical or electronic security. |
Which cars have a Vehicle Risk Rating?
Only new model ranges that came to market from 1 August 2024 onwards. That is a much smaller population than it sounds: the overwhelming majority of cars on UK roads today — every used car, and every model range that was already on sale — still carries a classic 1–50 insurance group, and will do for years.
In practice that means the two systems run side by side during the transition. If you're buying used, the number you want is still the insurance group, which you can check by registration here. If you're buying a brand-new model that launched recently, your insurer may be working from a VRR instead.
VRR vs insurance groups, side by side
| Classic insurance group | Vehicle Risk Rating | |
|---|---|---|
| Scale | 1–50, where 1 is cheapest | 1–99, where 1 is lowest risk |
| Applies to | Model ranges on sale before 1 August 2024, and used cars generally | New model ranges launched from 1 August 2024 onwards |
| How it is built | A single rating reflecting repair cost, parts, performance, safety and security | Five separate pillar scores — performance, damageability, repairability, safety and security |
| Can it change? | Effectively fixed once a model range has been rated | Can be revisited as real-world claims, repair and security data comes in |
| Directly comparable? | No — a group 20 car is not 'the same as' a VRR 40 car | No — the two scales measure different things on different ranges |
Why we don't publish VRR scores per model
You may notice we show insurance groups for individual cars but not VRR scores. That's deliberate. Per-vehicle VRR data isn't openly published the way insurance groups have historically been, and the honest position is to explain the framework rather than invent numbers to fill a table. Where we don't have something, we say so — the same rule that governs our insurance-group methodology.
If you need a specific new car's VRR, your insurer or broker will be working from the licensed data directly, and Thatcham Research is the authority on the framework itself.
What this means if you're buying a car now
For most buyers, nothing changes yet. Check the insurance group before you commit — it's one of the few costs you can know in advance — using the reg checker or our group and model guides. If you're ordering a brand-new model that has only just launched, ask the dealer or your insurer which rating applies, because the answer may be a VRR rather than a group.
Either way, the underlying logic is unchanged: cars that are fast, expensive to repair or easy to steal cost more to insure, and that is what both systems are measuring. Our guide to how insurance groups are decided covers the same factors from the classic-scale side, and how your group affects your premium covers what it actually does to the price you pay.
Frequently asked questions
What is Vehicle Risk Rating?
Vehicle Risk Rating (VRR) is Thatcham Research's successor to the classic 1–50 car insurance group scale. It scores a vehicle from 1 to 99 across five separate risk pillars — performance, damageability, repairability, safety and security — rather than compressing everything into a single group number.
Which cars have a Vehicle Risk Rating?
VRR applies to new model ranges that went on sale from 1 August 2024 onwards. Cars already on sale before that date, and used cars generally, keep their existing 1–50 insurance group.
Does Vehicle Risk Rating affect used cars?
No. If you're buying a used car that launched before August 2024, it still carries a traditional 1–50 insurance group, and that's what insurers will reference. VRR only affects newer model ranges as they come to market.
Is a VRR score out of 99 comparable to an insurance group out of 50?
No, and it's important not to treat them as interchangeable. The two scales cover different vehicle populations and are built differently — a VRR of 40 does not mean 'like group 40, but on a bigger scale'. Compare like with like, or use the rating your own insurer quotes against.
Can a Vehicle Risk Rating change over time?
Yes, and that's one of the real differences from the old system. A classic insurance group was effectively fixed once a model range was rated. VRR is designed to be revisited as real-world claims, repair and security data accumulates — so a car's score can move during its life.
Why was the insurance group system replaced?
Modern cars broke the old model's assumptions. Driver-assistance sensors, bonded structures, EV battery packs and keyless entry all changed what damage costs and how cars get stolen. Splitting the assessment into five pillars lets those factors be scored explicitly instead of being averaged into one number.
Will my car's insurance group change to a VRR score?
Not retrospectively. Existing rated vehicles keep their 1–50 group. The two systems run alongside each other during the transition, which is why you'll still see group numbers quoted for the vast majority of cars on UK roads.
Does a VRR score decide my premium?
No more than an insurance group did. Both are one input into an insurer's pricing, alongside your age, postcode, claims history, mileage, occupation and cover type. The rating describes the vehicle; the premium describes you in that vehicle.
More on how the rating system works
Car insurance groups explained
The pillar guide: what the 1–50 scale means and how it's used.
How groups are decided
The Group Rating Panel, Thatcham's testing and the factors behind each number.
VRR vs insurance groups
Side by side: which applies to your car, and why the two scales aren't comparable.
Can an insurance group change?
Why classic groups are fixed, what VRR changes, and the postcode myth.
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.