Toyota Highlander insurance is one of the better deals in the mid-size SUV class, but only if you have the right configuration. Among 2022-25 Highlanders on the road today, the front-wheel-drive version costs less to insure than most of its mid-size SUV peers. The all-wheel-drive version costs noticeably more, and the gap is wider than most insurance shopping tools show.

The reason isn’t engine size or crash ratings. It’s theft. (For new 2026 buyers, the FWD option is gone on gas Highlanders; see the trim section below.)

This guide walks through the primary data that actually drives Toyota Highlander insurance pricing in 2026: IIHS crash ratings, Highway Loss Data Institute theft figures, the gas-vs-hybrid math, and how carriers price the AWD trim differently in cold-weather states.

Where the Highlander Lands on IIHS Crash Testing

The 2025 Toyota Highlander earned a Top Safety Pick award and posted Good ratings on the IIHS small overlap front test (driver and passenger) and the side (updated) crash test. It also rates Good for pedestrian front crash prevention, with standard Toyota Safety Sense 2.0/2.5+ Pre-Collision System with Pedestrian Detection across the lineup.

One soft spot in the data sheet is worth flagging. The Highlander rates Marginal on the IIHS moderate overlap front (updated) test. The structure and driver protection rated Good, but the rear-passenger restraint and dummy kinematics rated Marginal. A key factor was the rear shoulder belt tension of 5.7 kN. That’s why the Highlander earned a 2024 Top Safety Pick but missed the higher Top Safety Pick+ standard.

Standard safety features matter for insurance pricing because most carriers feed IIHS results and standard-equipment lists into their loss models. The Highlander’s standard blind spot detection, lane departure warning with prevention, and front-auto-braking-with-pedestrian-detection all push the loss-prevention component of the rate model down. That’s part of why FWD Highlander premiums often quote lower than peer SUVs from brands without standard active safety.

The Theft Story Is the Big Twist

Here’s the part most online insurance content papers over. Per the HLDI 2022-24 whole vehicle theft report (WT-24, May 2025), the front-wheel-drive Toyota Highlander posted a relative whole-vehicle theft claim frequency of 41 and relative overall theft losses of 30. The 100 index value represents the average across all 2022–24 passenger vehicles, so the FWD Highlander runs at about 30% of the all-vehicle average for theft losses. That’s exceptional.

The AWD Highlander tells a different story. From that same HLDI report and those model years: relative claim frequency 195, relative overall theft losses 159. About 1.6x the all-vehicle average.

HIGHLANDER CONFIGURATION	RELATIVE THEFT CLAIM FREQUENCY	RELATIVE THEFT OVERALL LOSSES	NOTES
Highlander 4dr (FWD)	41	30	Well below the all-passenger-vehicle average.
Highlander 4dr 4WD	195	159	About 1.6x the average. Same model, very different theft profile.
Highlander Hybrid 4dr (FWD)	24	18	The lowest theft losses in the lineup.
Highlander Hybrid 4dr 4WD	143	126	Above average, but lower than gas AWD.

Source: HLDI Insurance Report WT-24, May 2025. Index value of 100 = the average across all 2022–24 passenger vehicles.

The FWD-vs-AWD gap isn’t because thieves target the four-wheel-drive system. It’s geographic concentration. AWD Highlanders sell heavily in the Northeast snowbelt, the Pacific Northwest, and the mountain West, where vehicle theft rates run higher than the national average. The HLDI standardization controls for driver age and gender, but it can’t fully control for the ZIP-code-level theft variance that AWD ownership patterns expose.

For the insurance shopper, the takeaway is simple. The configuration you pick matters more than the trim you pick.

Hybrid vs Gas: The Math Has Flipped

For years, hybrid versions of mainstream SUVs quoted higher than gas versions because hybrid battery and powertrain repair costs ran high. That gap has narrowed and in some cases reversed.

The HLDI data shows the FWD Highlander Hybrid running 18 on the overall theft losses scale vs 30 for the FWD gas Highlander. The hybrid AWD posts 126 vs 159 for gas AWD. Across both drivetrains, the hybrid version posts lower theft losses than the gas equivalent, which feeds directly into the comprehensive coverage component of your premium.

Collision repair on hybrids has also normalized. Toyota’s hybrid system is now a mature platform with 25 years of production behind it, and insurers no longer carry the steep “new technology” surcharge they once applied to hybrid powertrains. Add the lower theft losses, and the hybrid Highlander often quotes within $50 to $150 a year of the gas equivalent for the same driver profile, sometimes less.

The hybrid trade-off is gas savings vs slightly higher MSRP, not insurance penalty. That changes how the buy-vs-lease and trim-up math should run for shoppers cross-shopping the Hybrid XLE against the gas Limited.

Trims Don’t Move the Needle As Much As You’d Expect

The 2026 Highlander runs from XLE (the new base trim, with standard AWD) through Platinum on the gas side, plus Hybrid XLE, Hybrid Limited, and Hybrid Platinum on the hybrid side. Toyota dropped the L and LE trims for 2026 and made AWD standard across all gas models. Per Toyota’s vehicle page, the standard safety equipment runs across all trims, which is unusual in the segment and helpful for insurance pricing because the safety feature list rolls into carrier rate models the same way regardless of trim.

Where trim does matter for insurance is repair cost. Platinum and Hybrid Platinum trims come with curve-adaptive LED projector headlights (rated Good by IIHS) and additional driver assistance hardware that raises replacement costs after a front-end hit. Expect 5–15% higher collision premium between an XLE and a Platinum on a per-driver basis, holding everything else equal.

How Carriers Price Toyota Highlander Insurance

The Highlander is a mainstream Toyota with very high resale value, broad parts availability, and a long crash-test history. Almost every major carrier prices it competitively for clean-record drivers. Where carriers split is on the AWD trims and on the new 2024-25 model years.

In our quote pulls, State Farm and American Family tend to come in lowest on the FWD Highlander for bundled home-and-auto quotes. GEICO and Progressive often compete hardest on AWD Highlander quotes in higher-theft states, where their underwriting models price the geographic risk more tightly. USAA stays the cheapest option for eligible military families.

Source: InsuranceRateGuard.com quote data, Q1 2026. Averages across multiple carriers and standard driver profiles. Highlander quotes vary by ZIP code, theft rate, and drivetrain. Treat carrier ranking as a starting point, not a final answer.

Worth noting: Highlander Hybrid quotes sometimes route through a different underwriting class at smaller regional carriers, and the difference between the lowest and highest hybrid quotes for the same driver can run 25-35%. The variance is wider than on the gas Highlander, which makes shopping more valuable.

Coverage Strategy for a Highlander Owner

The Highlander’s data tells you where to push and where to ease off.

Push on liability limits. The Highlander seats 7 or 8 people. If it’s the family hauler, raising bodily injury liability from a state-minimum 25/50 to 100/300 (or 250/500 if you have any meaningful assets) usually costs $80 to $200 a year and protects against the bigger settlements that come from injuring multiple passengers in one event.

Push on uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage at matched limits. The Highlander is most often a third-row family vehicle. UM/UIM is what pays your own family when the at-fault driver doesn’t have enough coverage.

Match it to your liability limits. Anything less is a gap.

Ease off on comprehensive deductible for the FWD Highlander. The vehicle’s theft losses are low. Carrying a $1,000 comprehensive deductible (vs $500) typically saves $40 to $80 a year and is a defensible bet on a low-theft vehicle.

Hold the line on collision deductible. The Highlander’s standard active safety means collision claims are rare, but when they happen, the modern Highlander’s sensor-laden front end runs $4,000-$8,000 to repair after a moderate front hit. A $500 collision deductible is usually worth the small premium difference.

State Matters for the AWD Trim

The Highlander’s AWD theft signature is concentrated in a handful of states. If you live in a high-theft metro (Seattle, Portland, Denver, Albuquerque, Boston, Detroit) and you’re buying AWD, expect comprehensive coverage to run 20–40% higher than the FWD equivalent for the same driver. If you live in the Sunbelt (Florida, Texas, Arizona, Georgia), the FWD vs AWD comprehensive gap shrinks to about 5–10%.

State-mandated coverages also stack on top. Michigan’s no-fault medical coverage adds significantly to any Highlander policy. New York’s high required liability minimums lift the floor. For state-by-state requirements and average premium ranges, see our car insurance by state hub.

How to Save on Insurance

Highlander owners have a clear set of moves that beat generic shopping advice. Use them in this order.

1. Shop your rate before your renewal arrives. Get quotes from at least three carriers: one big national (GEICO or Progressive), one bundler (State Farm or American Family), and one regional or hybrid-friendly carrier (Liberty Mutual, Erie if you’re in their footprint, or Travelers).
2. Specify the exact configuration. AWD vs FWD makes a real difference per HLDI theft data, and hybrid vs gas can swing the quote by $100+ a year on the same driver. Default settings on quote tools often pick the wrong combo.
3. Ask about safety-feature discounts. The Highlander’s standard Toyota Safety Sense suite qualifies for active safety discounts on most major carriers, but you have to confirm it’s applied. Most quote tools recognize the discount automatically, but verify on your declarations page.
4. Bundle home or renters. Highlander owners skew toward homeowners with stable insurance histories, which is exactly the customer profile carriers reward most. Multi-policy discounts typically run 10 to 18 percent across the major carriers.
5. Raise your comprehensive deductible to $1,000 if you own a FWD Highlander (2022-25 model years) or a FWD Hybrid. The theft loss data backs this play. AWD Highlander owners should hold the lower deductible.

For the Highlander, the moves that matter most are pinning down the exact AWD-versus-FWD and hybrid-versus-gas configuration and confirming the Toyota Safety Sense discount actually lands on your declarations page, since both can swing the annual premium by $100 or more. A higher comprehensive deductible only makes sense on the lower-theft FWD models, so match the deductible to your drivetrain rather than copying a blanket tip. Re-quote at every renewal, because a Highlander priced well this year can drift higher once theft and loss data refresh.

Sources Used

• IIHS: 2025 Toyota Highlander 4-door SUV ratings
• HLDI: Insurance Report WT-24: Whole Vehicle Theft Losses, 2022–24 Models (May 2025)
• IIHS: Insurance Losses by Make and Model (research page)
• IIHS: 2024 Top Safety Picks
• Toyota: 2026 Highlander
• Toyota: 2026 Toyota Highlander Gets Standard All Wheel Drive Across the Lineup (press release)

Fact-checked: 2026-05-20.