Drivers report being shocked at the extraordinary cost of insuring electric vehicles – over £5,000 in many cases, if insurance is available at all, as insurers balk at the risks of EVs. The Guardian has more.
Driving an electric car should be a win-win, saving money and the planet. So David was shocked when the insurance on his Tesla Model Y came up for renewal, and Aviva refused to cover him again, while several other brands turned him away.
When David did secure a new deal, the annual cost rocketed from £1,200 to more than £5,000.
“My insurer was Aviva from July 2022 to July 2023, but when it was coming up for renewal, I received a letter stating that they would not be covering the Tesla Model Y any more,” David says. “I am a member of a Tesla U.K. owners forum, and lots of other people seem to be having the same issue.”
In the Facebook group, members share stories of horror renewal quotes, with increases ranging from 60% (up to £1,100) to a staggering 940% (a jump from £447 to £4,661, according to a screengrab shared by one driver).
“I spent weeks on every comparison site as well as trying individual insurers and specialist brokers, but either they wouldn’t cover the car or the quotes were £5,000 or more,” says David, whose only change in circumstance was three points on a licence.
Privilege, Vitality, Axa and the specialist broker Adrian Flux were among the brands he found were “unable to insure him at this time” before he nailed down a policy with Direct Line, albeit at a price.
“The best quote I could get was from Direct Line at £4,500,” he says, adding that the total cost exceeded £5,000 once the interest for paying monthly was included, “because who has got that kind of money in one go?”
But it is not only owners of Model Ys – which with a starting price of about £45,000 was the bestselling electric car in the U.K. last year – who are finding that, like the Government, insurers are wobbling about the cost of Net Zero.
Worth reading in full.
Stop Press: Britain’s biggest motorway service station provider has brought in marshals to police “charge rage” among electric vehicle drivers battling for access to plug-in points, according to the Telegraph.
Stop Press 2: The Telegraph reports that John Lewis has stopped offering insurance to electric car drivers amid fears over the cost of repairs.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.