Brazil: Insurance Another Hurdle to Car Ownership

Brazil has some of the highest car prices in the world. Taxes, protectionism and high margins, coupled with the fact that Brazilians are gobbling up each and every car built in Brazil guarantees that this fact of life will not change any time soon. On top of that, Brazilians must pay 4 percent of the car's price each year as tax. Another hurdle to overcome in order to stick that shiny metal blob of your dreams in your garage is insurance. Relatively low coverage, relatively high theft rates and lots and lots of accidents are the excuses insurance companies use to get quite a chunk of change out of their customers' pockets and into their own. As you can see from the video, even those who should protect you, can be out to get you. Webmotors, a well-know Brazilian enthusiast site, recently did a run down of just how much it costs to insure the top ten most sold vehicles this year. They used the profile of a 40 year old male living in the South Zone of São Paulo. The beloved VW Gol, the most sold car in Brazil for over 25 years and going, will force its owner to fork over almost 10 percent of the car's price in order to get it insured. Just one of a myriad of reasons I have for never, ever, contributing my hard-earned money to keep this legend alive. Below is a table showing the lowest annual insurance premium Webmotors was able to find for popular Brazilian entry models. The premiums were converted to US dollars at today's rate of $.48 to the Brazilian real. Annual cost to insure an entry level car in Brazil Car Annual Insurance Percentage of Car's Price VW Gol $985 9.43% Fiat Uno $801 7.48% Fiat Palio $764 7.52% VW Fox $1,093 5.46% Chevy Celta $671 6.75% Ford Fiesta $687 5.91% Renault Sandero $514 4.50% Chevy Classic $621 4.75% Fiat Siena $669 5.38% VW Voyage $493 3.80% Don't know about you, but I hate paying for insurance. My cars have never been robbed, I almost never get into an accident, in short, sometimes I feel like it's wasted money. I for one am keenly aware of these numbers and they carry a lot of weight when I'm deciding which car to buy. So, I want to know: Do you factor in the cost of insuring a car when you buy one? Or do you consider the cost of such so marginal that it simply isn't a factor? What do I hear? You pay much more for your BMW 550i? Ah, the land 0f plenty.   #WE from The Truth About Cars http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com

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