A new analysis of auto accidents and incidents used insurance data to determine which car brands have the worst drivers and found that Tesla drivers have the highest accident rates.
The analysis used QuoteWizard by LendingTree insurance quote data and broke down which auto brands have drivers who were responsible for more accidents, DUIs and other vehicular incidents.
It found that Tesla drivers had the highest accident rate with 23.54 accidents per 1,000 drivers from Nov. 14, 2022, through Nov. 14, 2023.
The only other auto brands whose drivers had more than 20 accidents per 1,000 drivers in the analysis were Ram (22.76) and Subaru (20.9). Just three brands had fewer than 10 accidents per 1,000 drivers in that period: Pontiac (8.41), Mercury (8.96) and Saturn (9.13).
Tesla drivers were involved in the most accidents of any auto brand, according to the study. (Yichuan Cao/NurPhoto via Getty Images / Getty Images)
In terms of overall driving incidents — including accidents, DUIs, speeding and citations — Ram drivers had the most and were involved in 32.90 incidents per 1,000 drivers, followed by Tesla (31.13) and Subaru (30.09) as the only brands above 30.
Ram drivers were the worst in 23 states per the report and recorded 64.44 incidents per 1,000 drivers in Massachusetts. Tesla drivers were the worst in 11 states, which made the Elon Musk-led company the only other auto brand in the double digits.
Ram drivers were involved in the most auto incidents according to the LendingTree study. (Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images / Getty Images)
The best drivers according to the report were those driving Mercury vehicles, as they had just 15.82 incidents per 1,000 drivers nationally — less than half of the Ram drivers’ total. Rounding out the top three brands for best drivers were Pontiac (16.24) and Saturn (16.84).
By a significant margin, BMW drivers were found to have the highest DUI rate with 3.13 per 1,000 drivers. The next closest was Ram drivers, with nearly half that amount (1.72).
On the other end of the spectrum, nine car brands had drivers with DUI rates below 1.00 and the lowest were Mitsubishi (0.89), Volvo (0.92), Mercury (0.93) and Kia (0.93) in the period analyzed.