This article is one of our multi-part series Behind The Wheel – The Complete Guide To Teen Driving. Other articles include (those not linked are in production and coming soon):

• 9 Important To Do’s Before Your Teen’s First Time Driving
• How To Teach Your Teen To Learn To Drive
• THIS ARTICLE: The Best Cars For New Drivers | 2015-2021 Models
• The 17 Positively Essential Gifts For New Drivers
• Help your teen avoid staged driver schemes and accident fraud
• Monitoring your new teen driver
• What to do if involved in an accident including a printable to keep in the glove compartment
• Tips for finding the best rates on teen car insurance
• What every teen should keep in their car

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If you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed by the options, decisions and costs involved in shopping for a car for your teenager, you’ve come to the right place. Being armed with the knowledge of the safest and best cars for new drivers is an important place to start.

We’ve done the in-depth research on vehicle safety for you. We’ll show you how to pick your favorites and then check their reliability ratings. And once you have your shortlist of safe and reliable cars, we’ll help you shop for and negotiate the best deal.

Even if you are looking for a car for yourself, I would imagine safety and reliability would be your leading priorities especially if you are transporting your family on a regular basis, so this article is really for anyone shopping for a car.

There aren’t many parents out there who feel ready to let their kids loose on the roads, but if you can wrap them in safe vehicle with lots of features to protect and assist them while driving, you’ll not only sleep better, but your insurance bill may just thank you too.

If you want to jump right to the list of the safest rated cars every year since 2015, I understand, but make sure to read the rest of this article before you start shopping for cars. Don’t miss the tip about never giving a car salesperson or online car search form your actual email address or phone number. Learn what you should do instead.

table of contents | the best cars for new drivers

1. Determine your budget range
2. Review the list of the safest cars below and make a note of your favorites
3. Determine the car reliability ratings for your favorite safe cars
4. Familiarize yourself with the trim options and pricing for the models that you like
5. Setup a new email address and Google Voice number just for car shopping (trust me!)
6. Create your car comparison spreadsheet (template below)
7. Research car pricing online before shopping in person
8. Check insurance rates for the leading contenders
9. Start negotiating – follow our suggested approach
10. How can parents add to car safety and protect their new driver?

Step 1: Determine the VEHICLE Budget and method of PURCHASE

What is the budget for the car? Who will be buying the car? Your teen? You? A combination? Of course, saving for a car can be an invaluable life lesson, but at a minimum, your teen should be responsible for some of the ongoing expenses such as gas, contributing to insurance, maintenance, repairs, etc. Be sure to discuss in advance who will be responsible for which ongoing expenses.

Also note, teens under 18 cannot take out a loan, register a vehicle, or purchase car insurance, so you will have to be involved unless your new driver is of legal adult age.

For the initial purchase, you have the following options:

• Cash
• Finance via car dealership
• Finance via 3rd party such as your bank or credit union
• Utilize a Home Equity Line of Credit
• Take a ‘loan’ from a family member or friend

I’m not listing leasing as an option because it is a terrible financial decision in almost every situation. Being constantly upside down in amount owed to value, high upfront and termination fees, worrying about staying under mileage limits and not building any equity in an asset just don’t make sense. If you’re looking at leasing because the payment is lower, please consider a less expensive car that you can one day own outright and then potentially be payment-free for years. Especially for a teenager.

Teaching your teen to invest in a vehicle, maintain and take care of that vehicle and work to get the maximum use out of it is a terrific life lesson.

Decided on your budget? You are ready to move on.

STEP 2: Review The highest safety rated cars

In my opinion, the best car for a new driver is the safest car you can afford. The safest cars are the heaviest cars with the most safety features, especially active safety features like automatic braking and driver-assist features. The safest cars are also highly rated in front, side and rear crash tests as well as rollover likelihood. Why is this so important?

According to the CDC, teen drivers 16 to 19 are three times more likely to be in a fatal crash than drivers 20 and older.

Your teen may have their heart set on a particular car, SUV or truck, but please be sure to make safety the top priority.

Reliability is also important as you want to select a safe car that will cost less to maintain and is less likely to break down and leave your teen stranded. The next section, Step 3, covers how to determine a car’s reliability ratings.

In my research, I used 3 sources to narrow down a list of the safest, most reliable cars for our kids.

To save you the time I spent researching and help get you started, the tables below show the IIHS Top Safety Pick and Top Safety Pick+ for each year from 2015-2021. The IIHS website has Top Safety Picks for every year back to 2006 if you want to explore model years prior to 2015.

How To Read The Tables Below

The tables are organized by category (Small Cars, Midsize Cars, Midsize Luxury Cars, Large Cars, Small SUVs, Midsize SUVs, Luxury Midsize SUVs, Large SUVs, Minivans and Pickup Trucks).

As you look through each category, please note that the model years 2015-2021 are across the top. Just because a car/model appears on the list, you should only consider those years that have a or a to indicate that the model year tested as a Top Safety Pick or Top Safety Pick+ (the highest rating).

Additionally, you should read more about the vehicles of interest on the IIHS website as their ratings may only be valid for specific options (such as adaptive headlights) or specific trims (such as only the XLE, not the XSE or SE).

Let’s get started looking at the safest and best cars for new drivers in the past 6 years.

IIHS SAFEST RATED Vehicles
2015-2021

The link for each model will take you to that model’s Consumer Reports page which shows an average retail price by model year as well as their opinions on handling, comfort and gas mileage estimates. This is provided to help you get an idea of which cars are in your budget range.

The Safest Small Cars

The Safest Midsize Cars

The Safest Luxury Midsize Cars

The Safest Large Cars

The Safest Small SUVs

The Safest Midsize SUVs