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A friend recently asked me how I’d determined, when needing to get a new car, what was the best and safest car for me. So I thought I’d share what I did to determine the best car for me, in case it’s helpful for some other people.

In 2016 I was in a horrible accident – I was stopped, waiting behind a bus, when this women slammed into the back of me at full speed. My car was pushed into the back of the bus, with her smashed into the back of me. So my car experienced two impacts in rapid succession, first from the back when she ran into me, and then from the front when I was rammed into the bus. I actually experienced a total of three impacts: when she rammed into me, when I was rammed into the bus, and then when the air bag deployed (thank god), throwing me back again (so I was thrown back, forward, and back again.

My beloved Town & Country van saved my life. Despite the violence of the double crash, and the front of my car being rammed with great force into the back of a stopped bus (talk about meeting an immovable object!), the front crumple zone did exactly that, it crumpled, and the driver/passenger compartment was completely unscathed in that it didn’t crumple even a tiny bit. However my beloved Town & Country van had given its life in order to save mine. :~( (I say beloved because I really did love that car.)

My beloved Town & Country (sniffle)

My car was totaled. So once I’d recovered (thankfully I wasn’t horribly hurt) I had to buy a car. I searched and searched for another Town & Country, the same model and no newer than the same year (2004), as that is the last year that they made the Town & Country with all-wheel drive (AWD), on which I absolutely insist living as I do in the foothills of Colorado. Once it became clear that a) I wasn’t going to find anyone selling a pre-2005 T&C, and b) the interest rates were much higher on used cars, while there were lots of great deals on interest rates for new cars, I determined that I was going to buy a new car. But which one?

So I contacted my insurance company and asked them “What cars make you the happiest when you see that is what your insured is driving?” Meaning, which ones do you consider the safest? They sent me a list of about 20 cars. Then I took that list to my trusted (and very popular, so they had lots of experience) mechanic and asked them “Which of these cars do you see the *least* for issues?”

They gave me a list of three: The Toyota Rav4, the Honda CRX, and the Subaru Forester. I test drove each – both the Toyota and the Honda were very uncomfortable to sit in (I’m short, just 5’3). In one of them I couldn’t even see over the hood, and in the other the rear side windows were so weirdly placed and so small that they didn’t provide good visibility out. (I forget which was which but I *think* it was the CRV that had the poor visibility out of the side rear windows).

The Subaru Forester was the third of the three cars that I test drove, and thank goodness that when I test drove the Subaru it felt *very* comfortable, and I could see with good visibility out all of the windows.

So, that’s why I have a 2017 Subaru Forester in my garage. :~)

The moral of this story is: If you find yourself needing to buy a car, ask your insurance company which ones they consider the safest and which have the least number of claims. Then take that list to your mechanic and ask them which ones they see the *least* for issues and repairs. Then go test drive those cars.

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