What full coverage costs, how Chevy Safety Assist moves your rate, and which trim delivers the best insurance value in the midsize SUV segment.
The 2026 Chevrolet Blazer is a two-row, five-seat midsize SUV offered in three trims: 2LT, 3LT and RS. A 2.0L turbocharged four-cylinder producing 228 horsepower and 258 lb-ft of torque is standard on every trim, and a 3.6L V6 producing 308 horsepower and 270 lb-ft is available on the RS. All three pair with a 9-speed automatic, and every trim can be ordered with front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive. Chevrolet lists the 2LT starting at $34,300, the 3LT at $39,700 and the RS at $43,600. Chevrolet does not state whether those figures include a destination charge, so treat them as a starting point rather than a drive-away number.
One thing to settle before reading on: Chevrolet sells two different vehicles called Blazer. This guide covers the gasoline Blazer only. The Blazer EV is a separate battery-electric vehicle that NHTSA files under its own name and that has its own guide. No figure on this page describes the electric car, and none should be read across to it.
The Blazer's core strengths are the RS with its sport tuning and available V6, and the Chevy Safety Assist suite of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) standard on every trim alongside a standard Driver Confidence Package. ADAS refers to active-intervention technologies that physically respond to imminent collision threats before they occur, distinct from passive safety features like airbags and crumple zones that activate only at the moment of impact. Major insurers factor ADAS-linked reductions in crash frequency and severity when calculating what drivers pay. For the Blazer, having automatic emergency braking, blind spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert standard across all three trims means every buyer receives the claim-frequency-reducing features most directly linked to lower collision and liability costs. Adaptive cruise control is the notable exception: Chevrolet lists it as available equipment, not standard.
The sections below cover what the Blazer actually costs to insure, how each standard ADAS feature affects claim frequency, how the three trims compare, and how the Blazer stacks up against the Santa Fe, Sorento and Passport. For background on why car insurance costs what it does, the linked Polly guide covers the major rate drivers that apply across all vehicle types.
CarEdge prices the Chevrolet Blazer itself and publishes about $2,570 per year for full coverage. That is a single model-level figure: CarEdge does not break it down by trim, and it is not a range. For a reference point, ValuePenguin puts the national average across all vehicles at $2,495 a year for full coverage and $908 a year for minimum liability. Those are two different measures from two different publishers and they are reported separately here rather than blended into one span, because no study measured a range running from one publisher's number to the other's. Individual rates vary by driver age, driving record, credit score, location and deductible selection, and by considerably more than the gap between these two figures.
What changed, and why. Earlier versions of this page stated full coverage of $1,800 to $2,500 a year and credited it to a ValuePenguin midsize SUV segment benchmark. That benchmark does not exist at that source. The ValuePenguin page in question publishes national all-vehicle averages, mentions the Blazer nowhere, and carries no midsize SUV segment band of any kind. A companion figure putting liability-only coverage at $750 to $1,100 was likewise unsupported. Both have been removed rather than adjusted, and the two figures above are what the two publishers actually print.
What drives the Blazer's cost is mostly what drives any midsize SUV's: replacement cost, which tracks the $34,300 to $43,600 MSRP spread and the FWD or AWD choice, and the standard safety equipment, which works in the buyer's favour on every trim. This page previously attributed part of the cost to a turbocharged-engine repair premium of "roughly 5-8%" over naturally aspirated rivals, and an RS premium of "8-12%" over the base trim. Neither figure had a study, a publisher or a source behind it anywhere, and both have been removed. Turbocharged hardware plausibly does cost more to repair; nobody here has measured by how much, and a precise-looking percentage with nothing behind it is worse than saying so.
The sections below cover how each ADAS feature specifically reduces claim frequency, how costs compare across the three trims, and how the Blazer stacks up against the Santa Fe, Sorento, and Passport on insurance value. For guidance on how to compare car insurance when buying a car, the linked Polly guide walks through the rate-shopping process specific to vehicle purchase timing.
NHTSA publishes full 2026-specific results for the Blazer, which it files as BLAZER ICE to distinguish it from the electric car. Front-wheel-drive and all-wheel-drive versions score identically: 5 stars overall, 5 stars frontal overall, 5 stars side and 4 stars rollover. Worth knowing behind that frontal figure: the driver side scores 5 stars and the front passenger side scores 4.
IIHS rates the Blazer but has awarded it no Top Safety Pick or Top Safety Pick+, of 2026 or of any earlier year. It is also worth being clear about how little IIHS publishes here. The Institute prints exactly two evaluations for this vehicle: small overlap front, rated Good on both the driver and passenger sides, and front crash prevention for daytime pedestrians, rated Advanced. There is no published moderate overlap, side, roof strength, head restraint, headlight or seat belt reminder rating for the Blazer, so any comparison against a rival's full IIHS card is a comparison against missing data rather than against poor data. The ratings that do exist were assigned from a 2020 Blazer and apply to the 2019 to 2026 generation. For context on how safety equipment translates to insurance discount opportunities, see Car Safety Features and Insurance Discounts.
Here is how each standard ADAS feature on the Blazer connects to insurance claim outcomes. Two different kinds of number appear below and they are not interchangeable. A claim frequency is how often insurers actually pay out; a police-reported crash rate is how often crashes get reported to police, which is not an insurance measure at all. Each figure below names which one it is, and which vehicles it was measured on.
AEB monitors the road ahead with radar and camera sensors and applies the brakes automatically when it detects an imminent forward collision the driver has not responded to. Front Pedestrian Braking, also standard, extends that to people in the vehicle's path. Together they target the rear-end collision, the most common and costly category of claim. HLDI's cross-manufacturer compendium, which pools results across ten automakers including GM, found front AEB reduced property damage liability claim frequency by 14.4%, collision claim frequency by 3.0% and bodily injury liability claim frequency by 23.6%. Those are claim frequencies, measured on insurance data. Because AEB is standard on the 2LT, 3LT and RS alike, every Blazer buyer gets it without a trim upgrade.
Earlier versions of this page credited AEB with cutting property damage liability claim frequency "by approximately 13% across all vehicle types" and cited an IIHS article about front crash prevention and rear-end crashes. That was wrong twice over. The 13% result was measured on one automaker's fleet, not across all vehicle types, and the article it was hung on reports police-reported crash rates and publishes no claim-frequency figure at all. The compendium figures above are the cross-manufacturer claim-frequency results, and GM is one of the ten manufacturers in them.
Every 2026 Blazer includes the Driver Confidence Package as standard equipment, which brings Lane Change Alert with Side Blind Zone Alert, Rear Cross Traffic Alert and Rear Park Assist. Blind spot monitoring watches the zones alongside and behind the vehicle and lights a warning in the corresponding mirror; rear cross-traffic alert warns of a vehicle approaching from either side as you back out of a space. Together they target lane-change sideswipes and low-speed backing crashes.
On the insurance measure, HLDI's ten-manufacturer compendium found blind spot warning reduced property damage liability claim frequency by 7.1%, collision claim frequency by 2.1% and bodily injury liability claim frequency by 8.2%. Parking sensors of the kind in the Blazer's standard Rear Park Assist reduced property damage liability claim frequency by 5.4% and collision claim frequency by 0.8% in the same research. Separately, and on a different measure entirely, IIHS found blind spot detection associated with a 14% reduction in the police-reported rate of all lane-change crashes and a 23% reduction for lane-change crashes involving injuries, measured across six manufacturers including General Motors. That second pair counts crashes reported to police, not insurance claims, and the two sets of numbers should not be added together or swapped for one another.
Lane departure warning alerts the driver when the vehicle begins to drift across lane markings without a turn signal active. Lane keep assist applies a mild steering correction to guide it back toward center. IIHS found lane departure warning associated with an 11% reduction in the police-reported rate of the single-vehicle, sideswipe and head-on crashes it is designed to prevent, and a 21% reduction for injury crashes of those same types, measured across six manufacturers including General Motors. Those are crash rates, not claim frequencies, and the distinction matters here more than anywhere else on this page: HLDI's compendium names lane departure warning as the one exception among collision avoidance technologies, finding property damage liability claim frequency down just 0.2% and collision down 0.3%, neither statistically significant, with bodily injury liability claim frequency actually 6.2% higher. The road-safety benefit appears real. Buyers should not expect this feature on its own to move a premium.
Rear automatic emergency braking is one of the most claim-effective features HLDI has measured, cutting property damage liability claim frequency by 28.8% and collision claim frequency by 8.7% in HLDI's rear AEB research. The 2026 Blazer does not offer it, on any trim, at any price. Chevrolet's standard Rear Park Assist is a proximity warning system: it tells the driver an obstacle is there, and it does not brake. Earlier versions of this page described a top trim as adding "Park Assist with rear automatic braking" and credited it with the full rear-AEB claim reduction. That was wrong, and it was attached to a trim that does not exist. If rear automatic braking matters to you, this is a genuine gap in the Blazer's equipment and it is worth checking against whatever else you are cross-shopping.
Earlier versions of this page said the 28.8% and 8.7% rear-AEB figures applied "across the ten manufacturers" in HLDI's compendium. That ten-manufacturer scope belongs to the front-AEB and blind-spot-warning figures cited elsewhere on this page, not to rear AEB. HLDI's own text for rear AEB, Figure 21 in Bulletin Vol. 40, No. 4, names a narrower fleet: GM vehicles, the Nissan Murano, the Nissan Rogue, and Subaru vehicles, three manufacturers rather than ten. The 28.8% and 8.7% figures themselves are correct; only the fleet scope was overstated.
Chevrolet lists adaptive cruise control under available equipment on the 2026 Blazer rather than under standard. That is a correction to earlier versions of this page, which named it as part of the standard suite in roughly a dozen places. It is worth confirming on the specific vehicle you are quoting, because an insurer's discount questionnaire may ask about it and the answer is not the same for every Blazer on the lot.
The 2LT with front-wheel drive is the cheapest Blazer to insure, and the reason is simply that it is the cheapest Blazer. At $34,300 it carries the lowest replacement-cost exposure in the lineup while carrying exactly the same standard safety equipment as the trims above it. That is the useful thing to know here: stepping down to the base trim costs you nothing in claim-reducing hardware. Chevy Safety Assist and the Driver Confidence Package are standard on the 2LT, the 3LT and the RS alike.
Beyond that, cost tracks price and drivetrain. The 3LT adds $5,400 over the 2LT and the RS adds another $3,900, and all-wheel drive adds roughly $2,700 to $2,900 depending on trim. The RS is also the only trim that can be ordered with the 3.6L V6, which is a larger and more expensive engine to repair than the standard 2.0L turbo, so an RS V6 AWD is the most expensive configuration to insure and a 2LT FWD is the least.
No publisher breaks the Blazer's insurance cost down by trim, so this page no longer pretends one does. CarEdge publishes a single model-level figure of about $2,570 a year and nothing finer. Earlier versions of this page carried a five-row table assigning each trim its own dollar range, footnoted to "ValuePenguin and The Zebra midsize SUV benchmarks". Neither publisher publishes any such thing; the ranges were authored. The table below gives what is actually verifiable, which is the price ladder and the equipment that goes with it.
| Trim | Starting MSRP (FWD) | MSRP with AWD | Engine | Insurance-relevant notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2LT | $34,300 | $37,000 | 2.0L turbo, 228 hp | Lowest replacement cost; identical standard safety equipment to the trims above |
| 3LT | $39,700 | $42,400 | 2.0L turbo, 228 hp | Same powertrain and same standard safety equipment as the 2LT, at a higher replacement cost |
| RS | $43,600 | $46,500 | 2.0L turbo standard; 3.6L V6, 308 hp available | Highest replacement cost, and the only trim where the larger V6 is an option |
FWD prices as printed by Chevrolet, which does not state its destination treatment; AWD prices from cars.com, whose FWD figures match Chevrolet's exactly. The two sets are recorded separately rather than merged because the publishers may not share a basis. No trim-level insurance figure is published by any source for this vehicle.
Putting all four vehicles on one publisher's figures changes the picture this page used to paint. The table below uses CarEdge for annual full coverage and iSeeCars for five-year depreciation, each measuring all four vehicles the same way, because a comparison assembled from different publishers can reverse itself the moment you put it on one basis. Two of the claims this page previously made did exactly that. For help comparing quotes across these vehicles, see How to Compare Car Insurance When Buying a Car.
| Vehicle | Base trim | Starting MSRP | Annual full coverage (CarEdge) | 5-year depreciation (iSeeCars) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 Chevrolet Blazer | 2LT FWD | $34,300 | $2,570 | 48.8% |
| 2026 Hyundai Santa Fe | SE FWD | $35,050 | $2,430 | 46.5% |
| 2026 Kia Sorento | LX FWD | $32,390 | $2,005 | 48.0% |
| 2026 Honda Passport | RTL AWD | $44,950 | $2,489 | 42.1% |
Insurance and depreciation are each same-publisher across all four vehicles. The MSRP column is not on a single basis and should not be read as a precise ranking: Chevrolet does not state its destination treatment, cars.com supplies the Santa Fe and Sorento figures without stating theirs, and Honda's Passport figure explicitly excludes a $1,595 destination charge. Each annual full coverage figure is also that publisher's single nameplate average; CarEdge publishes no per-trim rate table for any of these four vehicles, so the trim column names a comparable trim rather than the basis of the figure.
These two are the closest match in the set on price, $34,300 against $35,050 at the base trim, and they are close on the two measures that matter here as well. The Santa Fe insures for $140 a year less on CarEdge's figures and depreciates 2.3 points slower on iSeeCars', so the Hyundai has a small, consistent edge on running costs rather than a decisive one. The Blazer's counter is the available V6 on the RS, which the Santa Fe's four-cylinder lineup does not offer, and a slightly lower entry price. Earlier versions of this page also credited the Santa Fe with a "stronger IIHS safety record" and with rear automatic braking at a mid trim. Neither claim was ever sourced, and both have been withdrawn rather than restated.
The Sorento is the clear insurance winner in this set, and by a wider margin than this page used to suggest. CarEdge puts it at $2,005 a year against the Blazer's $2,570, a gap of $565 annually, and it also starts nearly $2,000 lower. Earlier versions of this page attributed a "slightly lower" Sorento premium to the Blazer's turbo engine, on an invented percentage. The gap is real and it is large; the explanation offered for it was not.
Resale between these two has flipped twice on this page and it is close both times. On today's iSeeCars figures the Sorento depreciates 48.0% over five years against the Blazer's 48.8%, so the Sorento is again the marginally better holder of the two, back to what this page said before an earlier correction pointed the other way. Both figures moved by roughly a point in the weeks between those two checks, so this is a close, moving comparison rather than a settled one. The Sorento also offers hybrid and plug-in hybrid variants the Blazer has no answer to.
The 2026 Passport was completely redesigned and it is no longer priced against the Blazer. Honda's own pricing release puts the base RTL at $44,950 excluding a $1,595 destination charge, roughly $10,650 above a 2LT, and every trim is all-wheel drive. Where it wins decisively is value retention: 42.1% five-year depreciation against the Blazer's 48.8%, comfortably the strongest in this set, which meaningfully reduces gap exposure on a long loan. On insurance the two are close, $2,489 against $2,570.
Two corrections here. This page previously called the Passport "the lowest typical rate in this set". On one publisher's figures it is not; the Sorento is, and the Passport sits just $81 under the Blazer. And it compared against a Passport "EX-L", a trim that does not exist for 2026. Honda's release lists seven trims, from RTL to TrailSport Elite Blackout, and none of them is an EX-L.
Insurance cost for any Blazer buyer reflects a combination of vehicle-level factors (trim, powertrain, MSRP) and driver-level factors. Understanding both helps buyers anticipate their actual rate rather than relying solely on published averages. For a full explanation of car insurance coverage types, the linked Polly guide covers what each coverage protects and how to choose the right level.
Any lender financing a new or used Blazer requires comprehensive and collision coverage for the life of the loan. This is a loan condition, not an option, and it applies regardless of the Blazer's trim, age, or your personal risk tolerance. Lenders typically require a deductible of $500-$1,000 or lower. Dropping collision or comprehensive while a loan is outstanding violates the financing agreement and can result in forced-place insurance at rates far above what you would pay on your own. For complete details on car loan insurance requirements, the linked Polly guide explains exactly what lenders require and why.
iSeeCars puts the Blazer's five-year depreciation at 48.8% and CarEdge puts it at 52%. Either way, a buyer who finances a new RS AWD at $46,500 over 72 months is likely to be underwater on the loan in the first 24 to 36 months. If the vehicle is totaled during that period, the insurance payout reflects current market value, which may fall short of the loan balance. Gap insurance covers that difference. The exposure is largest on longer loan terms, smaller down payments and the higher trims. For an educational overview of how gap insurance works, the linked Polly guide explains when it matters most. Polly does not sell gap insurance; this is educational context.
Driver age, driving record, credit score (in most states), annual mileage, garaging location and deductible selection drive far more variation than the difference between one Blazer trim and another. ValuePenguin's own national figures make the point: it reports that rates rise by an average of 49% after an at-fault accident and 88% after a DUI, and that 18-year-olds pay more than twice what 30-year-olds do. Multi-vehicle and loyalty discounts move the number too. A published model-level average is a starting point for comparison shopping, not a quote.
The 2.0L turbocharged engine is standard on every Blazer trim, and the 3.6L V6 is available on the RS. Turbocharged hardware, the turbocharger itself, the charge-air cooler and the associated plumbing, is more involved to repair after a collision than the equivalent parts on a naturally aspirated engine, and a larger V6 is more expensive to replace than a four-cylinder. Both are reasonable things for a buyer to factor in.
What this page will no longer do is put a number on it. Earlier versions stated that the turbo adds "roughly 5-8%" to collision and comprehensive premiums and that the sport trim adds "8-12%" over the base. Neither figure came from a study, a publisher or any source recorded anywhere on this page, and both have been removed rather than revised. A precise-looking percentage with nothing behind it is more misleading than an honest qualitative statement, because it invites a buyer to do arithmetic with it.
GM's warranty covers mechanical failure during the coverage period: 3 years/36,000 miles for bumper-to-bumper and 5 years/60,000 miles for powertrain. Insurance covers accident damage: collision with another vehicle or object, and comprehensive losses from theft, weather, and other non-collision events. These are separate protections. A turbocharger that fails due to a manufacturing defect within the warranty period is a warranty claim. A turbocharger damaged in a collision is an insurance collision claim. Buyers sometimes assume warranty coverage reduces the need for collision protection; it does not.
Used Blazers insure for less than new ones, because comprehensive and collision premiums track current market value. iSeeCars puts three-year depreciation at 29.6%, with a resale value of $24,130, so a three-year-old Blazer carries meaningfully lower full-coverage premiums than a new 2LT at $34,300. Full coverage stays cost-effective well into the ownership period.
The 2026 Blazer lineup is three trims: 2LT, 3LT and RS. All three can be ordered with front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive, and all three come standard with the 2.0L turbocharged four. The RS is the only one that can be ordered with the 3.6L V6. For insurance purposes that makes the ladder unusually simple: the 2LT FWD sits at the low end on replacement cost and an RS V6 AWD sits at the high end, with everything in between tracking price.
Standard safety equipment does not vary across the three trims at all. Chevy Safety Assist, which Chevrolet describes as a suite of six features, and the Driver Confidence Package are both standard on the 2LT. That means automatic emergency braking, forward collision alert, front pedestrian braking, lane keep assist with lane departure warning, following distance indicator, high beam assist, blind spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert and rear park assist all come with the cheapest Blazer. There is no safety reason to move up a trim on this vehicle. Adaptive cruise control is the one driver-assistance feature that is available rather than standard, and it is available rather than trim-gated.
This section previously described a three-trim ladder of LT, RS and Premier, with the Premier as an AWD-only V6 flagship at about $48,500 that added rear automatic braking as its distinguishing feature. There is no Premier trim on the 2026 Blazer. Chevrolet's own 2026 Blazer page lists 2LT, 3LT and RS and does not use the name Premier anywhere. The V6 is an RS option rather than a separate trim's standard engine, the real top of the priced ladder is $43,600 rather than $48,500, and no Blazer of any trim has rear automatic braking.
| Trim | Starting MSRP (FWD) | Drivetrain | Engine | Standard driver assistance | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2LT | $34,300 | FWD / AWD | 2.0L turbo, 228 hp | Chevy Safety Assist plus Driver Confidence Package | 10.2-inch HD touchscreen; programmable power liftgate available; Midnight and Sport Edition appearance packages available |
| 3LT | $39,700 | FWD / AWD | 2.0L turbo, 228 hp | Identical to 2LT | Programmable power liftgate; adds comfort and convenience content over the 2LT |
| RS | $43,600 | FWD / AWD | 2.0L turbo standard; 3.6L V6, 308 hp, available | Identical to 2LT; Driver Confidence II Package available | Sport appearance and tuning; sunroof available; the only trim that can be had with the V6 |
Trims and FWD starting prices as published by Chevrolet on its 2026 Blazer page. Chevrolet does not state whether these figures include a destination charge, so these are starting prices on an unstated basis. Chevrolet does publish the charge separately, listing the 2026 Blazer at $1,995 on its destination freight charges page, but because it does not say whether the prices above already include it, the two are not added together here.
iSeeCars puts the Blazer at 48.8% depreciation over five years, a resale value of $17,563 and 51.2% of value retained. CarEdge, measuring differently, puts the loss at 52% with a five-year resale value of $21,419. The two are reported separately because they are two publishers on two bases, and a span running from one to the other would be a range nobody measured.
Useful context from the same iSeeCars page: the midsize SUV category as a whole loses 46.4% of its value over five years. The Blazer is about 2.4 points worse than its own segment, not dramatically worse. Earlier versions of this page said Honda and Toyota midsize SUVs typically retain 60 to 65% of value at five years, which would have made the Blazer look far off the pace. No source was ever cited for it, and the page's own publisher contradicts it: iSeeCars puts the whole segment at 53.6% retained, and the strongest retainer in this page's comparison set, the Honda Passport, at 57.9%. Nothing in the set reaches 60%.
From an insurance perspective, faster depreciation cuts both ways. It reduces the dollar amount of comprehensive and collision premiums as the vehicle ages, because those premiums reflect current market value. It also lengthens the window of negative equity for buyers who financed with a small down payment or a long term, which is what makes gap insurance worth evaluating in the first two to three years.
Maintenance on the 2.0L turbocharged four follows GM's oil life monitoring, with oil changes recommended approximately every 7,500 miles on full synthetic. The available 3.6L V6 follows a similar interval. Neither engine is a hybrid, so there is no regenerative braking to extend brake pad life and standard brake maintenance intervals apply. On warranty, Chevrolet's standard new-vehicle terms run 3 years or 36,000 miles bumper-to-bumper and 5 years or 60,000 miles powertrain. Roadside assistance is included, but Chevrolet publishes no duration for it and directs owners to their own plan, so no term is stated here. Corrosion protection and rust-through protection are two separate coverages, typically 3 years or 36,000 miles and 6 years or 100,000 miles respectively; Chevrolet hedges both with the word "typically", so treat them as standard terms rather than a Blazer-specific guarantee.
Use Chevrolet's configurator to build and price a 2026 Blazer, compare trims side by side, and locate dealer inventory near you.
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