Much like gas prices, auto insurance is another aspect of owning a car that every driver must deal with, only there isn’t a regional flat rate. Auto insurance costs depend on many factors, including the type of car that’s being insured and the insured driver’s history. Ideally, a driver should be well behaved for several years to get the cheapest insurance.

New drivers, drivers with speeding tickets, and other blemishes on their record pay higher premiums. Muscle cars, unfortunately, also fit within the higher premiums category. MotorTrend released its findings of how much it would cost to insure a 40-year-old male with a clean record and good credit, with a Ford Mustang, Chevrolet Camaro, and Dodge Challenger.

Base models are cheap, but also base models

The Mustang Ecoboost, powered by its turbocharged inline-four clocks in at $1,850 per year, according to MotorTrend. The Challenger goes for a cool $2,000 with its V6, while the Camaro, also powered by a turbocharged inline-four, gets the lowest horsepower but also the cheapest to insure at $1,732. This comes out to $144 per month, which sounds high because it is, especially for a driver of this experience. Buying used could save some money, and lowering the policy limits would bring the price down as well.

Which performance variant is cheapest to insure?

Surprisingly, the rates don’t change very dramatically, despite the big horsepower increase. The Mustang GT, with its 460 horsepower V8, is the cheapest to insure at only $1,951 per year, which is only $100 more than its base. The Camaro LT1 gets 455 horsepower and costs $2,012 on average, but despite its incredible value isn’t the cheapest to insure. The Challenger is the least powerful with 375 horsepower and costs the most to insure, but not by much at $2,091. If insurance is the most important factor in choosing which one of these to buy, the Mustang GT seems to offer the best bang for the buck.

Camaro SS vs. Challenger R/T Scat Pack

The Scat Pack is the best valued Challenger of the lineup, in terms of MSRP. It has 485 horsepower and still comes with a manual transmission, starting at just $41,000. However, true to form the Challenger is still the most expensive of the three, at $2,329 per year. The Camaro SS has 455 horsepower, and costs just $2,016, making it the cheapest to insure and only a few dollars on average per year more than the LT1. If not for the Mustang GT’s higher horsepower, the Camaro SS would offer the best value for insurance.

Top of the line models and their insurance rates

Considering the Mustang GT500, the Camaro ZL1, and the Challenger Hellcat Redeye, the Mustang comes out on top once again. The Challenger boasts as near as makes no difference 800 horsepower, but costs $3,282 per year on average to insure. Meanwhile, the Camaro ZL1 has just 650 horsepower but only costs $2,539. The Mustang has them both beat, with 760 horsepower at only $2,488 per year. Costing just $500 more per year than the GT, it makes just about zero sense as the cheapest to insure of the three.

Which car is the cheapest to insure for performance?

Hands down, of all these choices, and considering the insurance premiums, the Mustang GT is the car to get, followed closely by the Camaro. The Mustang has the most horsepower among its competitors and costs less than $2,000 on average to insure. Unfortunately, the Challenger doesn’t step up with horsepower until the Challenger R/T Scat Pack, but even then it’s still the most expensive to insure at every performance point. Otherwise, it’s almost a dead heat between the Mustang GT and the Camaro LT1 for which is the cheapest to insure, for the performance they offer.