Which Cars Attract the Most Tickets?

It’s fairly common knowledge that the type of car you drive can impact your car insurance rates. There are a number of reasons for this. Among them: Certain types of cars are more likely to be stolen; others have poor safety features and thus are more likely to cause serious injuries in the case of an accident.

But does the type of car drive impact how well you drive? That’s difficult to say, according to Penny Gusner, consumer you analyst for Insurance.com. The company recently did a study looking at traffic violation data by car model and while it’s difficult to prove a cause-effect relationship, significant patterns emerged.

“It’s the driver that gets the tickets, not the car,” Gusner said, in a company press release. “But it is interesting to see what vehicle makes and models attract drivers who are prone to traffic violations."

To wit, the company’s report found sporty cars like the Nissan 350Z and Dodge Charger had drivers with higher ticket rates. Drivers of luxury vehicles tended to have the fewest tickets, the study found.

The study is based on insurance claim and traffic violation data form 331 car models and more than 323,000 customers. It covers the two years between February 2014 and February 2016.

Not surprisingly, Gusner said there was also a correlation between traffic tickets and insurance claims.

“It’s notable that cars on the most tickets list also appear to have an above-average number of insurance claims,” she said. Overall, 19% of drivers surveyed had made an insurance claim in the two-year time frame. Among drivers of “most ticketed” models, 23% had filed a claim.

So which models had the most tickets and which had the fewest? What follows are the 10 least-ticketed models, according to Insurance.com, followed by the least ticketed. After each model is the percentage of drivers of that model who received a ticket during the two-year timeframe.

Least-Ticketed Models

Photo: Flickr user The NRMA/Creative Commons

10. Land Rover Range Rover (11% of drivers ticketed between Feb. 2014 and Feb. 2016)

Photo: Flickr user nakhon100/Creative Commons

9. BMW 320i (10%)

Photo: Flickr user RL GNZLZ/Creative Commons

8. Audi A3 2-Series (9%)

Photo: Flickr user RL GNZLZ/Creative Commons

7. GMC Savana (9%)

Photo: Flickr user FotoSleuth/Creative Commons

6. Cadillac Escalade (8%)

Least-Ticketed Models (continued)

Photo: Flickr user Charlie/Creative Commons

5. Chevrolet Express (8% of drivers ticketed between Feb. 2014 and Feb. 2016)

Photo: Flickr user Autoviva/Creative Commons

4. Cadillac ATS (6%)

Photo: Flickr user Autoviva/Creative Commons

3. Acura ILX (6%)

Photo: Flickr user Tino Rossini/Creative Commons

2. Lexus IS350 (3%)

Photo: Flickr user Autoviva/Creative Commons

1. Buick Encore (3%)

Most-Ticketed Models

Photo: Flickr user Mathew Cerasoli/Creative Commons

10. Toyota Tacoma (30% of drivers ticketed between Feb. 2014 and Feb. 2016)

Photo: Kentaro Masui/Creative Commons

9. Acura 3.0s (30%)

Photo (cropped): Flickr user Greg Gjerdingen/Creative Commons

8. Dodge Stratus SXT (30%)

Photo: Flickr user Rocco Demas/Creative Commons

7. Volkswagen GTI (30%)

Photo: Flickr user Saurabh Mishra/Creative Commons

6. Mazda 3S (30%)

Most-Ticketed Models (continued)

Photo: Flickr user Greg Gjerdingen/Creative Commons

5. Chevrolet Monte Carlo LS/LT (31% of drivers ticketed between Feb. 2014 and Feb. 2016)

Photo: Flickr user nakhon100/Creative Commons

4. Volkswagen Jetta GL (31%)

Photo: Flickr user Johan Viirok/Creative Commons

3. Dodge Charger SE/STX (32%)

Photo: Flickr user Tomas Kral/Creative Commons

2. Nissan 350Z (33%)

Image: Wikipedia/Public Domain

1. Lexus ES 300 (33%)