The Subaru WRX bags the medal for being the most ticketed car in the United States, with one out of three owners reporting they received a ticket in the last three years.
A study conducted by Insurance.com found that 33.60 percent of Subaru owners were pulled over for a violation within the last three years. Runner-ups include the Pontiac GTO (32.7 percent), Scion FR-S (32.6 percent), Toyota Supra (30.8 percent) and Subaru Tribeca (29.7 percent).
It's no surprise that the Subaru WRX, an all-wheel-drive compact sports car made it to the top of the list, given its reputation as the ultimate sports car for the boy racer. What is surprising, though, is the inclusion of less powerful cars, such as the Toyota Prius C (27 percent) and cars that have not been manufactured in the United States for years, such as the Suzuki Reno (28.1 percent), Mercury Topaz (28.8 percent) and Saturn Aura (27 percent).
Noticeably off the list are the speedy supercars from the likes of Ferrari and Lamborghini because the study only included vehicles that were most frequently involved in a violation in the last three years. At the bottom of the list are the 8-cylinder Alpha Romeo 8c Competizone (9.3 percent) and the Dodge Viper (5.3 percent), which can go from 0 to 60 mph in 4.5 seconds.
"It's not about horsepower," says Des Toups, managing editor at Insurance.com. "The Chevrolet Corvette, Dodge Viper and Nissan GT-R rank well below average for tickets even though they can easily double the highest speed limits. But those cars are also costly, so their buyers tend to be older and take fewer risks."
Karl Brauer, senior analyst at Kelley Blue Book, agrees. Brauer says the violations may have less to do with the car's capabilities and have more with the age of the drivers.
"These cars all appeal to a younger demographic and many of them skew heavily male," Brauer says. "Of course, young male drivers typically take the most risks and garner the most tickets, or are involved in the most accidents."
This is reflected in their insurance costs. InsuranceQuotes.com, a BankRate website that provides free online insurance quotes, says a male teen driver hikes insurance premiums up by 97 percent, while female teen drivers jack up the premiums by 67 percent. On average, 16-year-old drivers have increased premiums by 96 percent, but this falls to 58 percent for 19-year-olds.
Overall, around 20 percent of all drivers surveyed said they received a ticket in the last three years for a variety of infractions, the most common of which is speeding but also including more serious violations such as drunk driving. The survey included nearly 558,000 car owners in the market for auto insurance in January 2013 until July 2014.
Below are the top 20 most ticketed cars in America.
1. Subaru WRX - 33.6 percent
2. Pontiac GTO - 32.7 percent
3. Scion FR-S - 32.6 percent
4. Toyota Supra - 30.8 percent
5. Subaru Tribeca - 29.7 percent
6. Volkswagen Rabbit - 29.6 percent
7. Mercury Topaz - 28.8 percent
8. Scion tC - 28.8 percent
9. Toyota FJ Cruiser - 28.4 percent
10. Mazda2 - 28.1 percent
11. Hyundai Veloster - 28.1 percent
12. Volkswagen GTI - 28.1 percent
13. Suzuki Reno - 28.1 percent
14. Scion xA - 27.8 percent
15. Pontiac G8 - 27.7 percent
16. MINI Cooper S Countryman - 27.5 percent
17. Mitsubishi 3000 GT - 27.4 percent
18. Saturn Aura - 27.1 percent
19. Infiniti QX56/QX80 - 27.1 percent
20. Toyota Prius C - 27.0 percent
