Sunday, June 14, 2009

Fender-Benders Cost Big Bucks


The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) recently tested seven mini- and micro-cars for low-speed crash repairs and rated only one acceptable and one marginal. The other five cars were rated as poor. The cars in question (from first to last in rankings) are: Smart ForTwo, Chevrolet Aveo, Mini Cooper, Toyota Yaris, Honda Fit, Hyundai Accent, and Kia Rio.

The test involved four "parking-lot speed" crunches (front, front-corner, rear, and rear-corner). The total cost of repairing the cars after the four "events" was used to rate the cars.

The Smart ForTwo performed the best with a total repair bill of around $3300 with an average repair cost of $899. The big watch-out seemed to be the Kia Rio. This $12,000 car ended up with a repair bill of $9,400 after being banged around by the IIHS.

Should this news turn us away from our little cars? We think not...

The IIHS tested another 54 cars, using the same parameters. Thirty-eight of them were rated as poor.

No comments: