What kind of cars sit in group 18?

Higher-spec family cars and the first rung of the premium brands, where parts prices start pushing groups up.

Typical residents of groups 16 to 20 include variants of the Audi A1, BMW 1 Series, Mercedes A-Class, Mini Hatch, Ford Puma and Volkswagen T-Roc.

The word variants matters. Ratings are set for each engine, trim and security combination separately, so the same badge can span several groups.

A car that is cheap to fix and hard to steal earns a lower group than its price tag would suggest, which is how the panel scores every model.

Where group 18 sits on the scale

17 groups are cheaper to insure than group 18, and 32 groups are dearer, so it sits about 35% of the way up.

A single step either side is rarely worth agonising over. Group 17 and group 19 sit in the same part of the market and usually quote within a few pounds of each other. It is the jump between bands that shows up at renewal.

What group 18 costs in practice

The group is only one input into a premium. As a yardstick, the median annual price of comprehensive policies sold through MoneySuperMarket in July 2026 was £428 for groups 1 to 10, rising to £791 for groups 41 to 50.

Cars in groups 11 to 20 came in at £485 a year on the same data.

Treat those as landmarks, not quotes. Your age, postcode, occupation, mileage, excess and claims history each move a premium more than a single group step does, which is why two drivers of the same group-18 car can pay wildly different amounts.

Group 18 with a letter after it

A rating like 18E or 18A is not a different scale. The letter is Thatcham's verdict on the car's security, and two of the letters change the number you see.

  • 18E means security exceeds the standard, so the group was reduced by one (it would otherwise be group 19).
  • 18A means security is acceptable for the group. No adjustment, and the most common suffix.
  • 18D means security fell short, so the group was raised by one (it would otherwise be group 17).
  • 18P marks a provisional rating, set before complete data was available.
  • 18U means security is significantly below standard. Some insurers ask for upgrades before covering the car.

How to check a specific car

The group is an industry rating, not a government record. It is not on the V5C and not on the DVLA file, so no reg check, ours included, can read it back.

Thatcham Research runs the official lookup, the big comparison sites offer free group checkers, and any insurance quote will state it too.

What a vehicle report does tell you is the spec the rating is built from, the engine size, fuel and model details on record, plus the history that matters when any insurer prices the car. Our guide to how insurance groups work covers the system end to end.