Considering the unique appearance of their products, the Smart brand has enjoyed huge success since it was founded in 1994. The brand has a range of cars which have opened up a new section in the market with a focus on economy and inner-city practicality, with few strong competitors.

The range does not suit everyone’s tastes stylistically, but they continue to grow in popularity as tighter economies and greener thinking highlights the other, very real benefits of these cars:

Small body sizes and engines are two factors that contribute in a big way to your ABI insurance grouping, which can directly affect insurance premiums, and the smart car range is designed to be economical in this area
These cars generally have small, simple engines, not only cheap to run and insure, but also cheap to repair – another factor that can help cut insurance costs
Coupled with the low tax bands that their small engines fall into, cars in the smart range can be among the cheapest to run on a yearly basis

Falling into insurance groups between 2 and 28 (not including electric models), the smart range has variety, though most are built with economy in mind. In the table below you can browse the typical insurance groups and tax bands for models in the smart range, which may help you get an idea of their potential running costs.

Smart Car Model	Insurance Group*	Tax Bracket Range
City Cabriolet (01 - 04)	9 - 17	C - D
City Coupe (01 - 04)	7 - 17	C - D
Crossblade (02 - 03)	16	E
Forfour (04 - 06)	7 - 32	C- G
Fortwo Cabriolet (04 - 07)	7 - 16	C - D
Fortwo Cabriolet (07 on)	2 - 15	A - D
Fortwo Coupe (04 - 07)	7 - 16	C - D
Fortwo Coupe (07 on)	2 - 13	A - D
Roadster (03 - 07)	20 - 28	D
Roadster Coupe (03 - 07)	20 - 26	D

You can find more information on how these factors may impact your yearly running costs in our collection of articles, which includes an explanation of how car insurance is calculated, and the ABI group rating system.

Smart cars: did you know?

Owner - Daimler AG
Headquarters - Böblingen, Germany
Founded - 1994
Products - Microcars

Smart automobile, usually referred to as smart Car, is a branch of Daimler AG that specialise in the production of microcars – the smallest car configuration bracket. The term usually refers to very small cars, powered by no more than a 700cc petrol engine or battery. They are designed to be compact, cheap to run and easy to park – ideal for inner city driving.

The brand ‘smart’ is written all in lower case, with a brand logo incorporating a letter “C” for “compact”, and an arrow, representing forward thinking. They are marketed globally, including in Asia, Australia, Europe and South America, and have been the basis for a range of conversions and modifications by third party companies, including electric conversions and performance upgrades.