Car Insurance Groups: The Full 1 to 50 List

Who sets car insurance groups?

The Group Rating Panel sets them, drawing members from the Association of British Insurers and the Lloyd's Market Association. Thatcham Research runs the system and assesses the cars.

Thatcham lists the factors behind each group: damage and parts costs, repair times, the new car's price, a standard basket of 23 common parts, performance, safety kit such as automatic emergency braking fitted as standard, how well the bumpers match other cars, and security. Its own explainer sets them out.

The rating is advisory. Thatcham says insurers generally use it as a key input, but none are required to follow it, and your own details always matter more to the final premium than the car's group does.

Is the 1 to 50 insurance group system being replaced?

Yes, for brand-new models. Thatcham launched a Vehicle Risk Rating in September 2024 that scores performance, damageability, repairability, safety and security from 1 to 99 each.

The switch is due to be complete in the second half of 2026, and model ranges launched after it get only the new rating. Cars already on the road, and new versions of model ranges that existed before August 2024, keep their 1 to 50 group, so the familiar scale will cover the used market for years.

Which cars sit in each insurance group?

Each band lists typical models and what its policies cost. Open a band for its cars, its costs and what every group in it means.

UK car insurance groups 1 to 50, with median premiums by band
Groups	What typically sits there	Median premium*
1 2 3	The very cheapest cars to insure e.g. variants of the Volkswagen Up, Skoda Citigo, Hyundai i10	£428
4 5 6	Budget city cars and small superminis e.g. variants of the Fiat 500, Toyota Aygo, Dacia Sandero	£428
7 8 9 10	Mainstream superminis e.g. variants of the Ford Fiesta, Volkswagen Polo, Renault Clio	£428
11 12 13 14 15	Family hatchbacks and small crossovers e.g. variants of the Ford Focus, Volkswagen Golf, Vauxhall Astra	£485
16 17 18 19 20	Well-equipped family cars and entry premium models e.g. variants of the Audi A1, BMW 1 Series, Mercedes A-Class	£485
21 22 23 24 25	Premium hatchbacks, saloons and crossovers e.g. variants of the Audi A3, Mercedes CLA, Volkswagen Passat	£543
26 27 28 29 30	Executive cars and mainstream electric models e.g. variants of the Audi A4, BMW 3 Series, Mercedes C-Class	£543
31 32 33 34 35	Larger executive cars and hot hatches e.g. variants of the Audi A6, BMW 5 Series, Mercedes E-Class	£660
36 37 38 39 40	Performance models and premium electric cars e.g. variants of the Audi TT, BMW Z4, Tesla Model 3	£660
41 42 43 44 45	Sports cars and luxury models e.g. variants of the Porsche Cayman, Jaguar F-Type, Ford Mustang	£792
46 47 48 49 50	The most expensive cars to insure e.g. variants of the Porsche 911, BMW M3, Audi RS 6	£792

*Median annual price of comprehensive policies sold through MoneySuperMarket in July 2026, for the surrounding ten-group band (1–10, 11–20 and so on). Ratings are per variant, so one model can span several groups depending on engine, trim and security kit.

What do the letters after an insurance group mean?

The letters after an insurance group, as in 13E or 27D, are Thatcham's security verdict. A car scored as group 13 is listed as 12E with strong security and 14D with weak security.

Insurance group suffix letters and what they mean
Suffix	Stands for	What it means
E	Exceeds	Security beats the requirement for a car of its type, so the group shown is one lower than the car would otherwise get.
A	Meets	Security meets the requirement for the group, so the number is not adjusted either way.
D	Doesn't meet	Security falls short of the requirement, so the group shown is one higher than the car would otherwise get.
P	Provisional	The group was set before complete rating data was available at launch.
U	Unacceptable	Security is regarded as unacceptable. The car can still be insured, but some insurers insist on an upgrade first.
G	Import	A car not built for the UK market, so it has no standard UK group and each insurer prices it its own way.

Source: Thatcham Research, The Group Rating System.

How do I find my car's insurance group?

Many insurance quotes state the car's group, and most manufacturers' UK price lists show it for new cars. Comparison sites and motoring publishers list groups by model and trim, and some look them up by registration using licensed industry data.

The group is not on the V5C logbook or the DVLA's vehicle record, so our vehicle report does not show it.

Vans and motorbikes are rated separately. Vans have their own 1 to 50 group scale, so a van in group 30 is not directly comparable with a car in group 30, while bike insurers band motorcycles themselves, commonly 1 to 17. The scale on this page is the car one.

How should insurance groups change which car you buy?

Insurance groups matter most when you are choosing between two cars. A couple of steps rarely matters, but the gap between a group 10 supermini and a group 30 executive saloon shows up at every renewal for as long as you keep the car.

Check the whole car, not just the group. The free MOT check shows its test history in seconds, and the £5.00 vehicle report reads back the spec the rating is built from, plus the car's DVLA and MOT record.

For the long story, read our insurance groups guide, or see what a car costs to run with the running cost calculator.

Insurance groups: common questions

What are car insurance groups?

Car insurance groups are a 1 to 50 rating of how costly a car is likely to be to insure, where 1 is the cheapest. The Group Rating Panel sets them for every UK car variant, with Thatcham Research assessing each car, and insurers use the group as a starting point for pricing.

What is the cheapest car insurance group?

Group 1 is the cheapest car insurance group. Policies for groups 1 to 10 sold at a median £428 a year through MoneySuperMarket in July 2026, the lowest of the five bands.

Are lower insurance groups always cheaper?

Broadly yes, all else being equal, but it never is. Your age, postcode, claims history, mileage and excess move a premium far more than one group step, so a careful driver in a group 20 car can pay less than a new driver in a group 3 one.

Do electric cars sit in higher insurance groups?

Often, yes. Battery and sensor repairs are expensive and many electric cars are quick, so plenty of them sit in higher insurance groups than petrol cars of a similar size and price.

Does modifying a car change its insurance group?

No, the insurance group stays with the standard variant of the car. Insurers price any modification on top, and an undeclared one gives them grounds to refuse a claim.

Figures last checked against the official source on 23 September 2026. Check the source yourself.

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Car insurance groups, 1 to 50