Highs and lows

Just when you think you have the world all figured out, another curve ball slaps into the catcher's mitt. Those pitchers keep on finding ways of surprising you. Take the business of being rich. There you are with money in your hand and only expensive stuff to spend it on. Except, just so you can live up to the reputation of a celebrity, your coffee beans have that extra zing of taste by first being eaten by civet cats, you use nightingale droppings to keep your skin clean, and eat cheese full of maggots. At least the wacky ones claim to eat the cheese. What they do in private when the paparazzi long-lenses cannot see is anyone's guess. Life can really be tough when you're rich! Although one of the perks is to drive around in some seriously cool vehicles. The range is surprisingly large if you have the money to spend. Some are dangerously low slung and capable of unbelievable acceleration, while others come with drivers wearing uniforms while you wallow in luxury drinking champagne and playing with your bling.

So then comes the curve ball. People who study the rich and their habits are forever coming up with news about the lifestyle and its cost. This time, a firm specializing in insurance data has collected information on how much it costs to insure the top-of-the-range cars. There are two lists. One for the most expensive premium rates. The other for the lowest premium rates. To put these two lists together, the company took an average 40-year-old man, assumed he has calmed down as a driver and so has no speeding tickets and no claims in the last six years. This driver was then matched to more than 2,000 makes and models of vehicle available from showrooms - this excluded all the custom-built supercars that take forever to arrive and come swathed in bubblewrap direct from the factory. The insurance coverage was the basic liability, collision and comprehensive, plus uninsured cover and a deductible of $500.

The lowest insurance rates are for the small family saloons and minivans. For the record, the cheapest to insure was the Chrysler Town & Country LX. These are mainly used for routine domestic journeys by careful soccer mums with low mileages at off-peak times. Our average male driver was asked a little more than $1,000 for these vehicles. But when it came to the Mercedes SL65 AMG, the rate was just over $3,500. This is actually surprising. If you scratch the Chrysler, the body shop will only charge you a few bucks to repair. You have to pay to breathe the oxygen in the dealerships that repair top-of-the-range Mercedes roadsters. So for the premium to be only $3,500 is stunningly low. When you consider the cost of replacement parts and the labor to fit them, the only explanation is that the drivers of the cheap cars are subsidizing the rich in their luxury rides. So when you get your car insurance quotes, remember who pays the most as a percentage of their incomes to put their car on the road. Car insurance quotes should be more fair when dealing with the rich.