What kind of car should you buy?

Posted by & filed under Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, All Articles, Auditing, Cost Accounting, Financial Accounting, Financial Reporting and Analysis, Financial Statement Analysis, Fraud Accounting, IFRS, Intermediate Accounting, International Accounting, Managerial Accounting, Uncategorized.

Do you ever consider the price of insurance before you buy a car?  Well, maybe you should. According to the insurance data company Quadrant Information Services, a new ranking of average premiums for 2011 models is out, based on averaging late December 2010 car insurance rates from six large carriers across 10 ZIP codes in each state.

Questions:

1. The article says that the rankings are based on the premium that a 40-year-old man with a good driving record (no speeding tickets or accident claims), a good credit record and a 12-mile commute would pay annually.  How do these factors impact insurance rates? In your discussion, compare this to risk assessment when performing an audit.   

2.  How do ZIP codes factor into these rates?  Why?

3.  Why do you think that the national average annual premium for the Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG is 17 percent higher than the cost to insure the most expensive vehicle in last year’s results, which is the Porsche 911 Carrera GT2?

Schultz, J.S. (2011). The Most (and Least) Expensive Vehicles to Insure, The New York Times, February 1 (Retrievable online at http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/01/the-most-and-least-expensive-vehicles-to-insure-2/?ex=1312347600&en=68b2d4fc6acd5689&ei=5087&WT.mc_id=AU-D-I-NYT-MOD-MOD-M187-ROS-0211-L2&WT.mc_ev=click).