Car insurance costs are up 30% since the pandemic but some drivers are getting hit with even higher premiums because of bad, or reckless, driving.
But who are America’s worst drivers? And what do they drive?
LendingTree analyzed “tens of millions” of insurance quotes between November 14, 2022 and 2023 in a bid to answer these polarizing questions.
As Visual Capitalist's Marcus Lu shows below, the researchers calculated the number of driving incidents (accidents, speeding tickets, DUIs, citations) per 1,000 drivers sorted by vehicle brand in every state.
The Top Car Brands With America’s Worst Drivers
LendingTree’s logic is simple: The higher the incident count per brand, the more bad drivers behind the wheel of said brand.
At the top of the list, drivers of Rams (formerly Dodge Ram, spun off on its own since 2009) had 33 driving incidents per 1,000 drivers, making them the worst drivers in America.
A quick google search reveals the internet feels the same way, and LendingTree’s category analysis reveals that Ram drivers had the most speeding tickets, and second-most accidents and DUIs of all 30 brands in the dataset.
Here’s the full list of analyzed U.S. car brands, ranked from worst to best drivers.
| Rank | Car Brand | Driving Incidents/ 1,000 Drivers |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ram | 33 |
| 2 | Tesla | 31 |
| 3 | Subaru | 30 |
| 4 | Volkswagen | 28 |
| 5 | Mazda | 28 |
| 6 | BMW | 27 |
| 7 | Lexus | 27 |
| 8 | Infiniti | 27 |
| 9 | Hyundai | 25 |
| 10 | Toyota | 25 |
| 11 | Jeep | 25 |
| 12 | Kia | 25 |
| 13 | Honda | 25 |
| 14 | Audi | 24 |
| 15 | Nissan | 24 |
| 16 | Mercedes-Benz | 24 |
| 17 | Chevrolet | 23 |
| 18 | Ford | 22 |
| 19 | Mitsubishi | 22 |
| 20 | Volvo | 22 |
| 21 | GMC | 22 |
| 22 | Dodge | 21 |
| 23 | Acura | 20 |
| 24 | Chrysler | 19 |
| 25 | Lincoln | 19 |
| 26 | Buick | 19 |
| 27 | Cadillac | 18 |
| 28 | Saturn | 17 |
| 29 | Pontiac | 16 |
| 30 | Mercury | 16 |
But what makes Ram drivers so bad? There’s a mix of factors here, which may not necessarily be the drivers themselves. Rams are the cheapest entry for pickup truck enthusiasts, and modern pickup trucks are one of the most dangerous vehicles to drive because of their design. They’re taller than most other vehicles on the road, creating blindspots for the driver, heavier, making them more likely to injure and kill, and generally bigger, making them harder to handle.
It is interesting to note however that drivers of other famous pickup truck brands, Chevrolet, Ford and GMC—which together with Rams, account for the best-selling vehicle in nearly every U.S. state—rank somewhere at the bottom of the top 20, far below Ram drivers.
Tesla and Subaru Also Have Some of America’s Worst Drivers
Only two other car brands, Tesla, and Subaru joined Ram in having 30 or more incidents per 1,000 drivers in the year.
Incidentally, Tesla drivers also had the highest accident rate (23.5/1000) in the analysis period. Last month the company announced a massive recall in the U.S. following a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration report that said the use of Autosteer, a driving assistance software, may lead to “increased risk of collision.”
Meanwhile, BMW drivers (6th in worst drivers overall) had the highest DUI count (3.13/1,000) amongst the lot.
On the other hand, Pontiac and Mercury drivers were some of the best on the road registering only 16 incidents per 1,000 drivers, about half of their Ram counterparts.
