Tesla's Cars Have the Worst Drivers in America, New Study Finds

Yahoo

19-02-2025

There are plenty of stereotypes in the automotive world about which kinds of cars are chosen most by those with poor driving etiquette. (Priuses and Nissans often receive a strong degree of scorn.) To settle the score scientifically, the folks over at LendingTree have analyzed and categorized real-life driving data to give us a definitive answer: Tesla is ranked at the top of the "car brands with the worst drivers" list, under the quantitative model used by LendingTree.
Comparing incidents by brand for every 1000 drivers in 2024, Tesla has the highest rate of crashes, speeding citations, and DUIs, with 36.94 incidents for every 1000 drivers. (This is a sharp increase from the 31.13 incidents per every 1000 Tesla drivers in the 2023 version of the study.) Notably, Tesla drivers also rank as the worst drivers in nine different states. Instantaneous torque paired with relatively affordable pricing and widespread youth appeal makes this incident rate rather unsurprising,
The second and third-place finishers aren't all that startling, either. Ram takes the second slot in the list of brands with the worst drivers, with 33.92 incidents per every 1000 operators. Subaru follows, with 32.85 incidents per every 1000 drivers. These manufacturers saw a climb in their incident rates compared to 2023, though both automakers were previously podium finishers in the worst drivers list.
However, Ram drivers should be congratulated for their widespread lack of driving courtesy, as the American pickup brand managed to amass the worst driver title in 16 states. (That's down from 2023, when Ram was the worst-behaving brand in 23 states). New Jersey seems to remains a particularly challenging place for the brands' customers, based on Ram's 74.20 incidents per 1000 drivers in the Garden State.
The list goes on to rank Audi, Mazda, Volkswagen, and BMW in the following slots, with the incident rate slowly but surely going down as the list continues. Subaru managed to snag the worst driver credit in six different states. while Volkswagen claimed the crown in five; ptherwise, most remaining brands appear to be grabbing that title in only one or two states.
To temper out the shaming, LendingTree also categorized the car brands with the best drivers in the U.S. Surprisingly, many of these brands have ceased to exist at this point, potentially indicating a statistical variance in how many units are on the road — but the parallels between old age and the brands with fewest incidents is a bit shocking.
At the top of the list is Mercury, with only 18.63 incidents per 1000 drivers, followed by Pontiac's 19.72 incidents per 1000 drivers. (Interestingly, Pontiac accounts for the highest rate of DUIs across the board.) Cadillac, Chrysler, Lincoln, and Buick continue the list; Mitsubishi makes a surprising experience at number nine, and Ford and Chevrolet tie for tenth place. All told, these brands are often driven by those who take a slower approach to driving. Save for models like the CT5-V Blackwing, wheeling your grandpa's Cadillac around a corner can be a slow-moving procedure.
While it's fun to crack jokes about these incident rates, they do have a real effect on all of our insurance costs: the higher the incident rate is for the brand of car you drive, the more you're likely to pay more in month-to-month insurance costs. And the impacts on your premiums can be immediate, LendingTree auto insurance expert Rob Bhatt said in a statement.
"Most of these incidents are going to make your rates go up. The insurance rates for specific models are more impacted by accidents than some of these other incidents," Bhatt said. "If Tesla drivers get into accidents at a higher rate than other drivers, insurance companies will probably spend more to insure them than other vehicles. This, in turn, may prompt insurance companies to charge higher rates to insure a Tesla."
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