What to Do If a Car Insurance Company Won’t Cover Your Vehicle

According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, vehicle thefts in the U.S. dropped by 17 percent in 2024, falling below the 1 million mark for the first time since 2021. But claims for certain Hyundai and Kia vehicles already led to insurance headaches for some owners.

“There have been instances where insurers have temporarily stopped accepting new customer applications in some states for certain model years of Hyundai and Kia vehicles because theft losses for those models have increased dramatically,” Loretta Worters, a spokesperson for the Insurance Information Institute, told CR in 2023. Some older Hyundai and Kia models without an electronic ignition lack electronic immobilizers that prevent thieves from simply breaking in and starting the car. Immobilizers are standard equipment on nearly all other similar vehicles from other manufacturers. The problem got far worse after a spate of YouTube and TikTok videos, often referred to as the "Kia Boys" or "Kia Challenge," that show how to bypass the ignition. (If you own one of these vehicles, Hyundai and Kia now offer software updates and security upgrades that make your car harder to steal.)

Similarly, some Tesla Cybertruck owners have complained in online forums about being dropped from their car insurance. According to these owners, their insurance companies cited the vehicle’s low sales volume and unique design as factors that could lead to higher repair costs.

There are other theft-prone models insurers may be wary of, especially when the driver’s characteristics also give them pause.

“A high-risk driver who owns a Corvette is not going to be an attractive candidate for a policy,” Worters says. Douglas Heller, an insurance expert at the Consumer Federation of America, says that in addition to high-performance sports cars, those with historic value that are collector’s items may also fall into an insurer’s “unacceptable risk” category.

Thefts of catalytic converter thefts have decreased but continue to be a concern due to the high price of the precious metals inside them. (Many states have enacted more stringent rules around scrapping catalytic converters, but thieves still rip them from the bottom of people’s cars—a task made easier with vehicles, like pickup trucks, that have more ground clearance.) If your car—or the one you want to buy—is statistically likely to be stolen or cannibalized, insurers will work that into their calculus and it will cost more to insure.

In addition to the vehicle, insurance companies also look at a driver’s overall risk profile or how likely that person is to file a claim.

The factors that make up that profile include your age, gender, driving record, credit score, and history (in all but the three states that outlaw this). Where you live matters too, Worters says. If you live in a place with a lot of traffic and a high rate of crashes, you’ll be considered riskier to insure than someone who lives in a rural area without many cars. But like the people who drive them, each type of car, whether it’s a powerful sports car or a run-of-the-mill SUV, has its own associated risk profile as well.