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You Won’t Believe Which Automaker Tops The List For Dui Drivers
Now that the New Year festivities are winding down, this calls for a sober reminder that roughly 32 percent of all fatal collisions involve drunk driving. In 2022, 13,524 people were killed in what the NHTSA calls preventable crashes.
And now, a new report from Insurify reveals what cars tend to attract the most drivers who received a DUI citation in 2024. This stems from information collected from its proper database, which accounts for more than 97 million car insurance quotes.
To get a quote, you must state the make and model of your vehicle. You must also state whether you have a DUI attached to your name, which drives the risk factor up in premium. From this, Insurify has named the top ten cars with the highest share of drivers with a DUI.
Three Buick models made the list
Survey: DUIs by ModelOne carmaker jumps out, with three models breaking into the top ten, and two of them occupying the first two spots.
The Buick Envista is the chief culprit, involved in 72.1 DUIs per 1,000 drivers. That’s followed by the closely-related Buick Encore GX, which clocks 58.7 DUIs per 1,000 drivers. From the third spot down, DUIs drop considerably, with the Chevrolet Bolt EV coming in at 40.6 DUIs before the rest of list drops into the twenties and tens.
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The Enclave is the other Buick to make the list, coming in at seventh with 22.8 DUIs. That’s nearly four times the national average of 6.4 DUIs accounted per a thousand drivers.
Family-friendly vehicles are popular for DUIs
Chrysler Pacifica Plug-in HybridChrysler
The report also notes just two passenger cars made the list, the Volkswagen New Beetle and Jaguar XF. The rest are crossovers and minivans with no apparent connection beyond the fact that they’re American and practical.
Somehow, the Chevrolet Astro gets a mention here at 29.9 DUIs, despite being out of production since 2005. On the flip side, the Buick Envista is a brand new model that arrived in 2023, taking only a year or so to occupy the top spot in a study that spells bad news for certain manufacturers.
Insurance premiums are higher if you’re caught drunk
Depiction of drunk drivingGetty
In addition to what vehicles are popular, Insurify also collated on what the annual premium looks like for impaired drivers versus those without a DUI.
People with a clean record paid an average of $2,532 for full-coverage car insurance. Perhaps not surprisingly, drivers with a DUI on record will pay considerably more, with an average of $4,176 per year for full-coverage car insurance. That is, if you can get coverage at all, as a DUI ups the risk factor to the point that insurers may deny your claim.
On top of that, drivers caught and arrested for DUIs can rack up costs in the five- to six-figure range to deal with court fines, attorney fees, and other headaches. Suffice to say, driving while impaired has consequences that don’t stop after a night in the drunk tank.
Final thoughts
Buick Enclave Sport TouringBuick
DUIs are dangerous. While several campaigns attempt to tackle and lower fatalities that come of it, this report gives some insight as to what makes and models are popular to affected drivers. The bigger question is why? Maybe Insurify can figure that out.
In the meantime with this information in hand, when you see one of these models on the road, make sure to give them some breathing room. And of course, always practice safe driving yourself.
Related: Tesla leads the 2024 recall list, followed by these automakers
