Even though Americans are driving less and having fewer accidents than at any point in the past decades, auto insurance rates continue to rise -- up 37 percent since 2002, and faster than overall inflation. One reason: the expense of fixing crashed cars continues to rise -- and when you see the list of the cars that generate the most expensive insurance claims, you'll see why.

The Highway Loss Data Institute collects the numbers from 80 percent of the accident claims filed nationwide, and provides them to the government as a public service. It's designed to help consumers understand why any particular model may be more or less expensive to insure -- giving them another piece of information when they go car shopping.

It's no surprise that it costs more to fix a wrecked luxury car than it does to smooth out a fender-bender in your typical commuter hatchback. But the insurance data doesn't just reflect the cars, but the drivers as well; a cheap model that lures wannabe racers will have more insurance losses -- and be more expensive to get coverage for -- than a luxury car that only attracts grandparents. Even among less costly models, there's a seven-fold difference between the average claim on the most damaged model and the least.

The average car has a wreck once every 6.9 years of insurance coverage, with an average collision cost of $4,120; that means that if you're buying a year's worth of insurance on that typical set of wheels, you're paying $285 in collision costs whether you get into a crash or not.

Top 10 Cars With Greatest Crash Costs

Based on data from 2009 to 2011, the HLDI found that it only takes a few wrecked Ferrari Californias to spoil it for everybody. Even though California crashes are rare (only the Chevy Corvette Z06 has fewer wrecks) the average crash cost an insurance company $82,000 -- five times more any other model in HLDI's study. The rest of the list has similar high-dollar sports cars, although why drivers of Mercedes-Benz S-Class Hybrids seem to be lead foots with concrete hands escapes me.