If you own or lease a vehicle, the related insurance expenses can take a huge chomp out of your finances. However, there are decisions you can make that could ease your burden. In many cases, the factors that impact your insurance rate — which have to do with where you live, your accident history, your yearly mileage and so on — are difficult to control.

If you haven't yet decided on that new car, though, know that there's one crucial factor affecting your insurance expenses that you can control: the kind of car you drive. Your insurance rate will be heavily impacted by the make and model of your vehicle. Without a doubt, then, you're going to want to go into your next purchase armed with all the relevant facts.

Here are the 10 cars most likely to command the lowest insurance premiums based on five-year projections of the Edmunds.com True Cost to Own^SM (TCO) pricing system. Each model's ranking reflects that of the trim level with the lowest projected insurance expense.

1. 2007 Pontiac Vibe



2. 2007 Chrysler PT Cruiser



3. 2007 Saturn Aura



4. 2007 Subaru Outback



5. 2007 Chrysler Pacifica



6. 2007 Subaru Legacy



7. 2007 Toyota Matrix



8. 2007 Buick Lucerne (tie)
   
   2007 Ford Focus (tie)



9. 2007 Saturn Ion