What is a performance car?
Roughly speaking, performance cars are designed and built with speed, handling, and braking in mind. They differ from traditional cars in that they’ve been designed to perform better in these areas.
Manufacturers are able to increase performance lots of different ways including:
- Reducing weight by selecting lighter materials such as carbon fibre
- Using specifically designed components
- Engine tuning
Whilst manufacturers like Porsche, Ferrari, Jaguar and Aston Martin are well known for producing performance cars; even manufacturers of standard cars sometimes produce performance models of their cars such as the Ford Focus RS, Volkswagen GTI and Mini John Cooper Works.
Performance cars differ from modified cars, but if you're after more information on modified cars, take a look at our guide to modified cars or head to our modified cars page.
What sort of insurance should I get for a performance car?
Typically, due to the performance nature of the cars, insurance costs can be higher than those of a standard car.
When calculating the price of insurance, insurers use lots of different factors to calculate the price of insurance, including the car, its insurance group, your driving history, where you live and whether you’ve previously made a claim.
For more information on how car insurance groups are calculated, take a look at our car insurance groups page.
Comprehensive policies usually provide the highest level of protection, but as some policies can cover more than others, it’s worth checking the small print to see exactly what is and what isn’t covered.
With the high level of investment you’re making by buying a performance car, insurance shouldn't be overlooked. This not only means picking an insurance policy that fully covers your pride and joy, but you may want to consider installing extra security features such as a tracker, which will not only make it more secure, but may help to reduce the price you pay for your insurance.
