Crash course: Which car brands are more likely to be involved in accidents, DUIs, and other violations?
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Crash course: Which car brands are more likely to be involved in accidents, DUIs, and other violations?
Cars are such an indelible part of society that they've engendered a few stereotypes: the driver of that Chrysler Pacifica minivan inching along in the right lane is probably a soccer mom, and the driver of the Tesla Model 3 speeding past might be a tech bro with enough disposable income for a home charging port. But how accurate are these assumptions?
Since the introduction of Ford's first Model T, companies have competed for consumer pocketbooks with new designs, features, and colors. In turn, buyers have used these vehicles as status symbols and a way to display their personalities on the road. For better or for worse, society has attached attributes to drivers of various makes and models.
According to insurance data, a few of these stereotypes bear out. Some car models tend to attract the worst (or most reckless) drivers. Spokeo examined incident rates across 30 popular car brands using data from loan marketplace LendingTree from November 2022 to November 2023. The LendingTree report used insurance data to identify which cars were involved in the most accidents, DUI incidents, speeding incidents, and citations.
Based on the data, Ram has the riskiest drivers—they racked up more speeding incidents than all other brands, with 32.9 incidents per 1,000 drivers. Ram drivers were also the second-most likely to be involved in an accident or a DUI and came in fifth in the citation category.
Their need for speed may have attracted those drivers to the Ram brand in the first place; J.D. Power lists the Ram 1500 as among the fastest pickup trucks on the market, able to go from 0 to 60 mph in as little as 7.4 seconds.
Not far behind Ram, Tesla drivers landed in second place, with more than 30 incidents per 1,000 drivers and the highest number of accidents (23.54 per 1,000 drivers) during the study's period. LendingTree published its report before Tesla's voluntary recall, which aimed to update the Autosteer feature in several models.
After Tesla drivers, Ram and Subaru were the only other brands with accident rates higher than 20 per 1,000. The safest drivers, those with the lowest likelihood of an incident occurring, operated Pontiacs, Mercurys, and Saturns, according to the report.
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Some car owners take more risks
Subaru came in third in driving incidents and led the way as the brand with the most incidents overall in four states: California, Minnesota, Missouri, and Montana.
Nationwide, Subaru, Volkswagen, and Mazda drivers also placed in the top five when counting driving incidents per 1,000 drivers, despite appearing in the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's list of best vehicles for safety in 2024. However, when one zooms into the category of driving under the influence, BMW significantly outpaces other brands. BMW drivers received DUIs at a rate of 3.13 per 1,000, while Ram drivers, who came in second in the DUI category, had a rate of almost half that at 1.72, according to LendingTree.
Though the vast majority of all car accidents do not lead to fatalities, in the first nine months of 2024, about 29,000 people died in car accidents in the U.S. That's down 4.4% from the same period in 2023, according to the Department of Transportation.
Several factors impact a driver's chances of being in a crash, including gender, age, driving experience, and, of course, the vehicle—and insurance companies are paying attention to that data.
In a company blog post, LendingTree noted that insurance companies look at a particular model's crash rate to help determine how risky it would be to insure. However, DUIs, tickets, and accidents on a driver's record typically may hold more weight—and they could all lead to higher car insurance rates.
So whether you are eyeing a trusty Mercury or Pontiac, ranked among the least-risky brands surveyed, or the new 2025 Ram truck, safe driving habits can make all the difference.
Story editing by Carren Jao. Additional editing by Elisa Huang. Copy editing by Kristen Wegrzyn.
This story originally appeared on Spokeo and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio.
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