Mercury Insurance has released its annual rankings of the 10 most affordable new 2026 model year trucks and SUVs to insure, giving buyers another data point to weigh alongside price, fuel economy and safety ratings before a purchase.
The Chevrolet Colorado LT topped Mercury's truck ranking, followed by the Chevrolet Silverado C3500 in second place. The remaining eight spots went to the Ford Maverick and Ranger, Hyundai Santa Cruz SE, Toyota Tundra CrewMax, Ford F-150, Toyota Tacoma, Ford F-350 Super Duty, Dodge/Ram 1500 and GMC Canyon Denali, a spread that included both compact and full-size trucks rather than favoring one segment.
Chong Gao, director of R&D at Mercury Insurance, said insurance costs deserve the same consideration truck buyers give to towing capacity, payload and performance, since insurance is part of the total cost of ownership.
Mercury said the rankings reflect its internal analysis of insurance costs for 2025-2027 model year trucks, with the company noting that repair complexity, replacement part availability, theft frequency and safety systems all factor into the underlying premiums, alongside a vehicle's purchase price.
The Hyundai Santa Fe topped Mercury's SUV ranking, ahead of the Chevrolet Blazer and Honda Pilot.
The remaining list included the Kia Sportage, Honda Passport, Ford Escape, Kia Soul, Honda HR-V, Honda CR-V and Kia Sorento. Honda accounted for four of the 10 spots, and Hyundai and Kia, both part of Hyundai Motor Group, accounted for four more, meaning two manufacturer groups accounted for eight of the 10 cheapest SUVs to insure on Mercury's list. Mercury said the SUV rankings draw on its analysis of 2024-2026 model year vehicles.
Gao said requesting an insurance quote before signing paperwork is one of the simplest ways shoppers can avoid unexpected costs, since insurance is one of the few ownership expenses that continues long after a vehicle leaves the dealership.
Industry loss data helps explain why certain vehicles insure more cheaply than others. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's Highway Loss Data Institute has found that comprehensive coverage losses, which include theft, tend to rise with vehicle size and are highest for large, expensive-to-repair vehicles, while theft losses specifically are typically lowest for cheaper, less sought-after models.
That dynamic cuts in an unexpected direction for some models on Mercury's SUV list: HLDI data has shown theft losses climbed sharply for certain Hyundai and Kia models beginning in 2020, after a security flaw exposed through social media led to a wave of thefts, a trend that has since prompted software fixes and, in some cases, discounted insurance for equipped vehicles.
For pickups, HLDI has found the class carries the highest average claim severity of any vehicle type for whole-vehicle theft, reflecting the value of stolen trucks and their parts, even though claim frequency for the segment tends to run lower than for passenger cars.
Mercury cautioned that its rankings are based on internal analysis and that individual premiums vary depending on driver profile, location, coverage selections and other underwriting factors, meaning the lists should be read as directional comparisons between models rather than guaranteed pricing for any individual buyer.
