Some surveys and data analyses that attempt to explain the driving habits of Americans will have you scratching your head and asking, “Where did this come from?” Other will having you nodding in agreement with the results, because they seem to be spot on.
This one adds up: The most recent study from Insurify lists the car models with drivers who have received the most speeding tickets so far in 2024. Certainly, there are a few surprises: the underpowered Chevy Cruze Limited, for instance, and the practical and economical Scion tC (both no longer sold).
But to cut to the chase, so to speak, the drivers of the Subaru BRZ, a spiffy, two-plus-two sports car, are the worst offenders when it comes to speeding. The BRZ has a 113 percent higher speeding ticket rate (17.7 percent of registered BRZ owners) than the average across all models (8.3 percent).
Nearly one-quarter of BRZ owners with speeding tickets have more than one of them on record, and their owners pay $3,540 annually for insurance, compared to $3,180 for drivers with no tickets.
It’s a serious matter. The data organization notes that 33 people died per day in speeding-related car accidents in 2022, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
Sports or sporty cars tend to attract drivers who like power and acceleration, which makes perfect sense. But Insurify explains that higher insurance premiums for those vehicles occur because they may attract car thieves, and they often have specialty parts that make repairs more expensive.
So sports cars comprise six of the 10 most-ticketed cars. Besides the BRZ, there’s the similar (but no longer available) Scion FR-S at number 8 on the list; the VW GTI, an enthusiast’s favorite, at number 3, and at fifth, the Nissan 350Z. That particular version of the Z ended a six-year production hiatus in the United States with the 2003 Nissan 350Z; it was discontinued after five model years, but it’s a magnet for speed enthusiasts, with 17.6 percent of its drivers reporting speeding tickets, the data says.
The Subaru WRX comes in number 6 on the list, and the 2016 Hyundai Genesis Coupe, with 348 horsepower (and now discontinued), is number 2. Insurify reports that “nearly 22 percent of Genesis Coupe drivers used that power irresponsibly and got one or more speeding tickets.”
Batting clean-up in the survey is the Toyota Yaris iA, tied for 10th with the Chevy Malibu. With only 106 horsepower, the Yaris seems to inspire speed, if you can call it that. About 14.5 percent of its drivers were caught breaking the limit.
The insurance study says that people with one or more speeding tickets on record pay an average of 16 percent more for full coverage than drivers with a clean driving record. If you get a speeding ticket, you can expect it to reflect in higher insurance costs for three to five years.
Cars that get the most speeding tickets in 2024:
- Subaru BRZ (percentage of drivers with at least one speeding ticket: 23.9)
- Hyundai Genesis Coupe (21.9)
- Volkswagen GTI (18.8)
- Chevrolet Cruze (17.9)
- Nissan 350Z (17.6)
- Subaru WRX (16.9)
- Scion tC (15.8)
- Scion FR-S (15.2)
- Chevrolet Malibu (14..5)
- Toyota Yaris iA (14.5, tied with Malibu)
A more detailed look at the results can be found here.