What Is the Cheapest Pickup Truck to Insure?
Last Updated on November 17, 2021
So you need a pickup truck – but you don’t want to pay a lot for insurance. Higher-end pickup trucks, just like higher-end cars, can cause your insurance to skyrocket. Fortunately, there are plenty of pickup trucks that come with low insurance costs.
Generally speaking, cars and pickup trucks cost about the same to insure. However, trucks have a slight edge because they’re cheaper to repair. The bed takes up more than half of a pickup truck. The bed is just sheet metal. The back of a car, meanwhile, has complex electronics, doors, windows, and other materials that can be costly to repair.
However, this isn’t true for all pickup trucks: some trucks have 4 wheel drive systems, for example, that can be costly to repair. The cheapest pickup trucks to insure always have 2WD systems.
Ultimately, as with most insurance plans, the costs vary widely between vehicles. With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at the cheapest pickup trucks to insure.
Top 5 Cheapest Pickup Trucks to Insure
Our friends at Insure.com recently calculated the average cost of pickup truck insurance across America. They created a list of the top 5 cheapest and top 5 most expensive pickup trucks to insure.
Here are the results:
1) Toyota Tacoma 2WD
The Toyota Tacoma offers great value even before you compare insurance prices. Priced at around $25,000, the Tacoma is one of America’s most popular mid-size pickup trucks.
A base Tacoma comes standard with rear-wheel drive, a manual transmission, and a 159 horsepower four-cylinder engine. These are lightweight specs for a truck – but it also means the Tacoma has some of the best fuel efficiency in the pickup truck industry.
In terms of insurance, you can expect to pay about $1250 per year to insure a 2WD Toyota Tacoma.
2) GMC Sierra 1500 2WD
The GMC Sierra 1500 2WD is the second cheapest pickup truck to insure. With an average annual insurance cost of about $1300, the Sierra 1500 2WD comes with a more powerful engine than the Toyota Tacoma, but insurance rates are still very manageable.
3) Chevrolet Silverado 1500 2WD
The Silverado offers good value for those who want a slightly larger vehicle, but don’t want to pay a premium price at the dealership or the insurance company. It has a 285 horsepower V6 engine and 6100 pounds of towing capacity, making it an ideal truck for work. In terms of insurance, you can expect to pay approximately $1310 per year to insure a Silverado 1500 2WD, putting it just behind the GMC Sierra 1500 for the number two position on our list.
4) Nissan Frontier S King Cab
The Nissan Frontier is a popular mid-sized truck. All of the other cheap trucks to insure on this list come with the regular cab configuration – which means cramped space in the backseat. The Frontier, meanwhile, pioneered the “intermediate” size King Cab configuration. Typically, expanding the cab leads to higher insurance rates. However, the Nissan Frontier still remains manageable with an insurance price of approximately $1325 per year.
5) GMC Canyon 2WD
The Nissan Frontier and the GMC Canyon are the only two trucks on this list that remain cheap to insure even when you extend the cab. The GMC Canyon 2WD with an extended cab and the 4 cylinder engine is one of the cheapest trucks in America to insure. Priced at an MSRP of around $22,000, the GMC Canyon comes with two doors, two-wheel drive, and a 200hp four-cylinder engine. It’s a decent mid-sized truck that will set you back approximately $1350 per year for insurance.
What Are the Most Expensive Pickup Trucks to Insure?
The same study we linked above also measured the most expensive pickup trucks to insure. The costliest trucks to insure, as you might expect, typically had larger engines, more complex 4WD systems, and extended cab sizes (like crew cabs).
Here are the costliest pickup trucks in America to insure:
1) Ram 2500 4WD V-8: $1850 per year
2) Ram 3500 4WD V-8: $1800 per year
3) Ford F-350 Super Duty 4WD V-8 Turbo Diesel: $1750 per year
4) GMC Sierra 3500HD 4WD V-8 Diesel: $1700 per year
5) Ford F-250 Super Duty 4WD Crew V-8 Turbo Diesel: $1675 per year
Can You Get Cheaper Truck Insurance?
The insurance rates linked above assume a minimum policy of 100/300/50, or $100,000 of injury liability per person, $300,000 of injury liability per accident, and $50,000 of property liability coverage per accident.
That’s not the cheapest car insurance you can buy: you can purchase bare minimum car insurance that can drop prices even lower. Certain states require just $10,000 of injury liability coverage per accident. However, you can expect the list of cheap and expensive trucks to remain the same as above.
Final Word on the Cheapest Pickup Truck to Insure
Pickup trucks can be expensive, but insuring a pickup truck doesn’t have to be. In fact, you’ll typically pay less to insure a pickup truck than you will to insure a car of the same value. Unless you start adding 4WD transmissions, crew cabs, and V-8 Turbo Diesel engines, insurance rates are manageable across the most popular truck models.
As always, compare insurance quotes to insure you get the best rate on the cheapest pickup truck insurance.
