Electric cars risk becoming uninsurable

[fourbanks]

Electric cars risk becoming uninsurable (msn.com)

well, it was fun while it lasted, but the reason I opted out was because of the much higher insurance and that and other concerns like the massive loss in trading in after 3 years of 50% didn't really justify me purchasing it, so on that basis it's not for me and i'm out 

 

Some customers are now being quoted over £100 a week to insure their electric vehicles, with others reporting premiums doubling or tripling compared to a year before.

[wivenhoe]

My RZ renewal quote was about £ 300 more, which is in line with what I’ve seen as general increase for insurance. However, I am thinking that I am lucky, as when I went to other market leading insurers for an online quote I couldn’t get past the page with the model details - presumably because they were refusing to insure. I just hope the insurers get more data in the next 12 months that means they are not so nervous covering EV’s. 

[HPS13]

1 hour ago, fourbanks said:

so on that basis it's not for me and i'm out 

Duncan Bannatyne? 😀

I agree though. the associated costs are more than I'm willing to pay. I'll stick with hybrid technology for as long as it's possible. 

 

[F.A.]

The insurance for both our GSF and Genesis Electrified GV 70 increased by £500 this year, with Directline. 
 

I was able to get them back down to within £50 of last year’s premium with Tesco. 
 

When searching, no one refused to quote for our EV.

[wivenhoe]

Direct line was one of the insurers declined to cover - I suspect they quoted you as an existing client. I just tried Tesco and wouldn’t insure the RZ so tried to get one for a Genesis and that was declined !  North Essex, nowhere near London, max no claims, no claims or convictions, car on drive etc etc  - 68 years old !

[Spock66]

Presumably the result of such high premiums is we will see more cars on the road without insurance which in turn pushes up the costs for everyone else.

[wivenhoe]

Just revisited Tesco and put retired in and got a quote - 

 

[Boomer54]

Obviously general inflation is having an effect on premiums this year, but outside of that there is without doubt a separate story unfolding on EV insurance. No crystal ball as to the future, but if the trend were to continue i could see govt having to get involved again IF they are seriously trying to ensure the transition from fossil fuel continues.

I think it is easy to overlook just what a major transition this is, and frankly I think it naive to expect that it will be smooth sailing.

[F.A.]

I think it’s hit and miss with insurance.  There is probably something that you trigger ( for some strange reason) in their algorithm, which causes these frankly still outcomes. 
 

I’m 42 and we live in Bristol, not far from the centre, with a clean licence, max  No claims, and insured for business also. 

[NemesisUK]

16 minutes ago, Boomer54 said:

Obviously general inflation is having an effect on premiums this year, but outside of that there is without doubt a separate story unfolding on EV insurance. No crystal ball as to the future, but if the trend were to continue i could see govt having to get involved again IF they are seriously trying to ensure the transition from fossil fuel continues.

I think it is easy to overlook just what a major transition this is, and frankly I think it naive to expect that it will be smooth sailing.

This is an interesting article regarding the insurance risk surrounding electric cars. There being no way currently to reliably diagnose if a Battery has been compromised after even the smallest bump. Plus the requirement to quarantine EVs bringing extra storage costs

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/net-zero/electric-cars-risk-becoming-uninsurable/

[Bluemarlin]

There was a petition a few years ago that said as car insurance is compulsory, it should be nationalised and run as not for profit.

I'm not sure how viable, or even desirable that would be, but I agree that if goverrnents want people to transition to EVs, they need to step in to remove some of the obstacles.

Perhaps instead of using the stick approach of penalising people who drive undesirable cars, they might try a carrot, such as green credits, or vouchers, that could be used to offset things like insurance costs.

[PaulWhitt20]

In July when I bought my UX300e Takumi my insurance actually came down from the 7 year old IS300h I had. 
 

Septembers price in the UX300e is £550. 
The wife’s electric Corsa is normal premium cost as well

Both insured with LV  

The benefits of living in Cheshire. 
 

[Boomer54]

2 hours ago, Bluemarlin said:

There was a petition a few years ago that said as car insurance is compulsory, it should be nationalised and run as not for profit.

I'm not sure how viable, or even desirable that would be, but I agree that if goverrnents want people to transition to EVs, they need to step in to remove some of the obstacles.

Perhaps instead of using the stick approach of penalising people who drive undesirable cars, they might try a carrot, such as green credits, or vouchers, that could be used to offset things like insurance costs.

Yes, might not be logistically possible , but I was thinking if you could link Dvla records to HMRC you encourage uptake via tax allowances. Problem is after the mega size cockup they made of computerised NHS systems I doubt they could do this.

[DAN@ADRIAN FLUX]

Hi.

If anyone ever needs any help with insurance then please feel free to drop me a line.

Regards,

Dan.

[Bluemarlin]

20 hours ago, Boomer54 said:

Yes, might not be logistically possible , but I was thinking if you could link Dvla records to HMRC you encourage uptake via tax allowances. Problem is after the mega size cockup they made of computerised NHS systems I doubt they could do this.

Ultimately AI will provide a solution for such things,  as it more and more removes the human element, so that kind of thing could  possibly work.

What I don't understand though is how insurance costs manage to spiral so much. Either it's reflective of a genuine increase in costs, or the market is somehow inefficient. Regarding the latter, actuaries aren't much different to bookmakers, as both calculate odds/probabilities, and yet betting markets are incredibly efficient.

Perhaps there's some price gouging as the product is compulsory. With EVs it's also possible that, with them being relatively new, there's insuffucient volume and data to provide accurate calculations Currently a single EV claim today represents a higher percentage of the volume than it will in 5 years, making them seem a bigger risk, and so a small number of claims might skew the numbers.

One can only hope it balances out over time. It's also possible that all the additional safety features might reduce the number of accident claims sufficiently to offset the potentially higher claim costs.

[Spock66]

23 hours ago, Bluemarlin said:

There was a petition a few years ago that said as car insurance is compulsory, it should be nationalised and run as not for profit.

But only 3rd party cover is a legal requirement, most people want greater cover which would still allow the insurance companies to make their money.

[Boomer54]

11 minutes ago, Spock66 said:

But only 3rd party cover is a legal requirement, most people want greater cover which would still allow the insurance companies to make their money.

Actually , I was surprised to learn when I looked into it that 3rd party cover is often little different in terms of cost to Comprehensive. There was a reasoning behind this ,but I cannot recall it at this moment.

I hope something can be done for EV drivers afterall most of this transitional stuff is happening because govts want it to so drivers who are actually getting behind that should not expect to find themselves isolated and bearing the unforseen costs of that transition.

[First_Lexus]

This isn’t just affecting EVs as many of us with the 4th Gen RX are painfully aware…😬

[John Adams]

21 minutes ago, Boomer54 said:

Actually , I was surprised to learn when I looked into it that 3rd party cover is often little different in terms of cost to Comprehensive. There was a reasoning behind this ,but I cannot recall it at this moment.

I hope something can be done for EV drivers afterall most of this transitional stuff is happening because govts want it to so drivers who are actually getting behind that should not expect to find themselves isolated and bearing the unforseen costs of that transition.

To be fair, when I moved from the NX 450+ to  the RZ in June, my insurer -Saga- only charged me something like £100 extra from what I was paying albeit with a bigger excess. I accept this may be because I'm an old git and it might change at renewal but I do think there is a lot of scaremongering out there. The Telegraph in particular run scare stories every day the latest being that EV's are bursting into flames every day and not forgetting the multi story car parks collapsing.  A relative of mine living in Ascot just changed his Range Rover for a Merc EQ something and he is paying an extra £300. 

[Bluemarlin]

47 minutes ago, Spock66 said:

But only 3rd party cover is a legal requirement, most people want greater cover which would still allow the insurance companies to make their money.

Unfortunately, at least in my experience, third party insurance is no cheaper than fully comp.

I'll take a stab at guessing some of the reasons.  The demand for third party insurance is probably greater amongs those who carry a greater risk, and stuggle to get affordable fully comp insurance. As such, the risk element might outweigh the lesser amount of things covered.

Additionally, it's possible that those seeking third party cover have lower value cars,  and so are less concerned about their own repair costs than they are for the unknown costs of third party damage. Given lower value cars, and therefore lower write off costs, the benefit to insurance companies might be marginal.

Those would seem plausible reasons to me,  although I'm sure there are others.

[wivenhoe]

The government stupidly banned car insurers from offering cheaper introductory rates, just when more competition is required due to the changed risks of EV’s e.g Battery replacement costs but with far more safety systems as they are newer cars and have to comply with the new regs.
Why they thought that banning cheaper ‘teaser rates’ would reduce the cost to everyone was naive and just shows that they are not living in the real world. It was the ‘teaser rates’ that were used to drive down the policies - how many people got a cheaper ‘teaser rate’ from one of the comparison sites and then have their current insurer meet it. 
I suspect we’ll see a load of MP’s and civil servants walk into well paid jobs in the insurance industry next year !