I realize there are not too many younger folks on this forum but has your insurance costs prohibited you from buying a newer model Challenger? I imagine anything older than say, 5 - 7 years, might be affordable. I'm just curious how you guys are doing. It used to be near impossible to own a muscle car when in your teens or 20's unless your folks helped you out. I know I sure could not swing both. I could not buy my first new car until I was 28 years old (an '82 Mustang GT for $9.600) with a perfect driving record. One of the few benefits of getting older is the low insurance rates for higher dollar cars. I didn't even check when I bought my 2020 Challenger last year and sure enough the insurance was a non factor, maybe $200 higher each year than my 14 year old Mustang.
Back in the day, insurance companies were surcharging cars with big cubic inch motors and big horsepower. But there ways around it. I was able to get my dream car- a 1971 Plymouth 'Cuda- by opting for a smaller cubic inch motor with underated horsepower- a 340 with 275 hp- and putting it under my Dad's name.
^^^ Yes, there were always ways of circumventing the system if you had assistance. I've also read of instances like yours of fooling the insurance companies with different models and engine choices. It's a little more sophisticated these days with probably very few loopholes.
My dad sold cars for 40 years. The dealership where he worked got in a souped up Trans Am once in the 80’s. They sold it 4 times and every time the person brought it back and said they could afford the car payment or the insurance but not both. I think they auctioned it off to get rid of it.
And there is a tipping point as we age when the insurance companies raise rates because eyesight and reflexes diminish with time. Here in Florida rates are higher if you live in an area with a high concentration of senior citizens ... and they're higher in college towns where there's a high concentration of young people ... and they're higher in areas with a lot of tourists visiting because they increase traffic and they don't know where they're going. See a trend?? I bought my first car ('68 Charger R/T, 440ci, 727, Dana 60) in 1975 when my mom and grandmother said they'd match what I had for a car up to $400. So, that gave me $800 to go shopping with. The deal from day one was that I was totally responsible for gas, insurance, and repairs. Though my mom was willing to carry me on her insurance if I'd pay her each month to save me a little money. I still remember the day when I walked in the house and the insurance man was sitting in the living room talking to my mom. He said, "just the young man we were talking about. Son, we have to get you off of your mom's insurance." It seems that the insurance company decided that a pair of speeding tickets combined with a racing ticket was a little too much. So ... I ended up getting a "Joint Underwriters" policy that was a little over $2,000 per year. And that was a lot of money in the late '70s.
