It’s not your imagination: Tesla drivers as a group are the worst on the road, according to a recent study.

Online lending marketplace LendingTree analyzed 2024 insurance quote data to arrive at its ranking of bad drivers by brand based on incident rates. Tesla topped all with about 37 incidents per 1,000 drivers.

Incidents for the purposes of the analysis include crashes, driving under the influence charges, speeding and citations.

Tesla’s incident rate jumped last year from 31 incidents per 1,000 drivers in 2023, LendingTree found, bumping Ram from the top spot, which the Stellantis brand occupied in 2023.

Ram is second this year with 34 incidents per 1,000 drivers and was the worst in 16 states. It’s followed nationally by Subaru, which racked up 33 incidents per 1,000.

Those three worst driver brands also had the highest crash rates, according to the research. Tesla drivers had a rate of 27 crashes per 1,000 drivers, Ram and Subaru 23 crashes, all the same as in 2023. Pontiac, Mercury and Chrysler had the lowest crash rates at 10, 12 and 13 crashes per 1,000, respectively.

Speed may factor into Tesla’s high rates in the various categories, LendingTree surmised. Electric models are known for their instant torque for rapid acceleration, and today’s drivers are familiar with the Tesla that appears seemingly out of nowhere.

On the safer end of the scale in the wider incident-rate category, LendingTree found that Mercury had the lowest rate at about 19 incidents per 1,000 drivers, which LendingTree points out is about half of Tesla’s rate. It’s followed by Pontiac at 20 per, and Cadillac at 21 per. 

Strangely, the low-incident and low-accident Pontiac drivers had the highest DUI rate, according to the study, at three DUIs per 1,000 drivers, overtaking BMW and up from just one DUI per 1,000. BMW and Tesla ranked second and third in that category with three and two DUIs per 1,000, respectively, while Volvo, Hyundai and Kia had the lowest rate of one per 1,000.

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