Effect of Acceleration Boost on insurance rates

[srs5694]

Believe me, I agree insurance companies are vultures. But I've bought way to many cars lately and swapped between trims etc. and was surprised how little difference there was.

What far too many people in this thread are ignoring is the fact that there's far more at risk here than insurance premiums or even the value of your car. If you get into an accident that in turn cripples somebody or causes tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage to somebody else's property, then you may be liable for the damages. Insurance exists, in part, to cover the financial consequences of such an incident, not just to cover your own losses. If you don't communicate clearly with your insurance company about your car's capabilities, then they may use that as an excuse to rescind your coverage and deny a claim.

I just don't understand the reluctance of many people in this thread to pick up the phone and call their insurance companies on this point. It should take just a few minutes, and if the insurance company says you're good to go, great; you've merely wasted a few minutes. If they say they require more money, then you'll spend more money; but you'll know that your insurance is valid. If you're afraid of paying a little more money for insurance, then you should be really afraid of having your insurance policy rescinded over a failure to disclose a performance-enhancing upgrade, should you get into an accident.

 

[Knightshade]

What far too many people in this thread are ignoring is the fact that there's far more at risk here than insurance premiums or even the value of your car. If you get into an accident that in turn cripples somebody or causes tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage to somebody else's property, then you may be liable for the damages. Insurance exists, in part, to cover the financial consequences of such an incident, not just to cover your own losses. If you don't communicate clearly with your insurance company about your car's capabilities, then they may use that as an excuse to rescind your coverage and deny a claim.

I just don't understand the reluctance of many people in this thread to pick up the phone and call their insurance companies on this point. It should take just a few minutes, and if the insurance company says you're good to go, great; you've merely wasted a few minutes. If they say they require more money, then you'll spend more money; but you'll know that your insurance is valid. If you're afraid of paying a little more money for insurance, then you should be really afraid of having your insurance policy rescinded over a failure to disclose a performance-enhancing upgrade, should you get into an accident.

Again-

Did literally every model 3 owner ever call their insurance company after the first free 5% power update?

How bout the second one?

How many who didn't were denied coverage?

Did you call and talk to them after either? What'd they say?

 

[Celeritas]

Curious what the difference was.

1251 vs 991 - six months

 

[mswlogo]

What far too many people in this thread are ignoring is the fact that there's far more at risk here than insurance premiums or even the value of your car. If you get into an accident that in turn cripples somebody or causes tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage to somebody else's property, then you may be liable for the damages. Insurance exists, in part, to cover the financial consequences of such an incident, not just to cover your own losses. If you don't communicate clearly with your insurance company about your car's capabilities, then they may use that as an excuse to rescind your coverage and deny a claim.

I just don't understand the reluctance of many people in this thread to pick up the phone and call their insurance companies on this point. It should take just a few minutes, and if the insurance company says you're good to go, great; you've merely wasted a few minutes. If they say they require more money, then you'll spend more money; but you'll know that your insurance is valid. If you're afraid of paying a little more money for insurance, then you should be really afraid of having your insurance policy rescinded over a failure to disclose a performance-enhancing upgrade, should you get into an accident.

If you called TODAY one of 4 things will happen. And it will likely vary with whom you talk to and vary with insurance company.

1) Most likely, they won’t have a clue what the hell your talking about and do nothing.
2) They have no clue, but to make you feel better they raise your rate even though it won’t make a bit of difference.
3) They confuse it with Performance and either cancel your policy (because some insurance companies won’t insure Performance) or they charge the Performance rate.
4) We’ll add a note to your policy but it won’t change the rate. Least likely outcome.

How many folks called their insurance company when they put after market wheels o. or put lowering springs. Or bought FSD (which is way more expensive and probably more likely to affect accident rates).

 

[tvad]

What far too many people in this thread are ignoring is the fact that there's far more at risk here than insurance premiums or even the value of your car. If you get into an accident that in turn cripples somebody or causes tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage to somebody else's property, then you may be liable for the damages. Insurance exists, in part, to cover the financial consequences of such an incident, not just to cover your own losses. If you don't communicate clearly with your insurance company about your car's capabilities, then they may use that as an excuse to rescind your coverage and deny a claim.

I just don't understand the reluctance of many people in this thread to pick up the phone and call their insurance companies on this point. It should take just a few minutes, and if the insurance company says you're good to go, great; you've merely wasted a few minutes. If they say they require more money, then you'll spend more money; but you'll know that your insurance is valid. If you're afraid of paying a little more money for insurance, then you should be really afraid of having your insurance policy rescinded over a failure to disclose a performance-enhancing upgrade, should you get into an accident.

Read one's policy to learn if there is a clause regarding modifications to the insured vehicle voiding the policy, or triggering premium changes. If there is no such clause, then do nothing further.

 

[jebinc]

From my Allstate Agent, "Allstate’s position on vehicles is that if the options are factory installed then they are part of the coverage. If it is an aftermarket upgrade that was installed somewhere else then you would be limited to $1,000 of coverage."

So, I would consider the Boost a "Factory installed option," and thereby covered - as long as I can prove it via documentation. For the boost, Tesla provides us a receipt.

 

[tvad]

From my Allstate Agent, "Allstate’s position on vehicles is that if the options are factory installed then they are part of the coverage. If it is an aftermarket upgrade that was installed somewhere else then you would be limited to $1,000 of coverage."

So, I would consider the Boost a "Factory installed option," and thereby covered - as long as I can prove it via documentation. For the boost, Tesla provides us a receipt.

Agree.

 

[JBT66]

With this Imagine they’d care as they would potentially be looking for being compensated for this $2K. So you may want to adjust the value if they ask for it.

I don’t think this pushes you to be more likely to get in an accident as fast as the AWD already was.

 

[focher]

Originally, the VIN descriptor had no distinction between an AWD and a Performance. You could not use the VIN to identify a difference. Sometime in 2019, Tesla apparently changed that and the Performance now has a unique digit. Anyone who has a Performance from that time period would need to show documentary evidence or Track Mode to show someone the difference.

 

[Nelson]

I saw another thread about reporting the FSD purchase post purchase and it made me nervous about having it covered if my car were to be totaled. Went onto the Geico app and under the "other" heading put in that I had added FSD software for $3,000. Couple hours later I got a quote from Geico adding about $16 to my policy to include the FSD software. I would think if you did the same thing and noted that you bought acceleration boost software for 2k they'd update your policy for a few $ and you would have coverage for the software in case of a total loss. Can't see them raising your rates though because the car is faster.

 

[ModelNforNerd]

USAA didn't even ask if my Model 3 was a performance.

They just ran the VIN and charged me by that.

So, I guess it's their fault. Not mine.

 

[AdamVIP]

Mercury sat on my Perfomance a day or two. They asked a few additional questions after as well which I assume was to try and figure it out but I never said mine was a Performance, only the cost I paid and the bill of sale didn't say performance. I don't know if they know I drive a performance or not. Back then they didn't even list the Model 3 online. Now they do list it so I assume they know whats up on the new ones.

 

[Common_Loon]

Ok here's a thought experiment. Logic would seem to indicate that upgrading the acceleration on the LR AWD should mean insurance rates for the car go up. It's now a higher performance car. But unless you tell your insurance company, there's no way for them to know. It's the same physical car, just different driving characteristics.

Could they at some point in the future deny a claim because you didn't tell them you bought the boost?

I'd be surprised if they've even thought through the intricacies of this yet since it's such a different paradigm from anything else that's ever been out there.

Curious for thoughts of others here.

By your logic would the rates go up for all the other updates they've made available for free which increased the acceleration speeds of various trims of the Model 3? This won't happen and that's not how they do their rates.

 

[Common_Loon]

Perhaps I'm just more cynical than you, but I believe insurance companies are, by and large, quite willing to take any excuse to not pay up. If you change the performance characteristics of your car, whether it's through an aftermarket add-on or a software update provided by the manufacturer, and if you're involved in any incident that might even remotely be affected by this update, there's a risk (not a certainty) that an insurance company will use that as an excuse to refuse to pay a claim. If that happens to you, then you'll be in for a nightmarish scenario. Chances are you'll have to go to court to get the insurance company to pay up, and of course they'll be much better able to pay lawyers to fight the claim. Even if you win, it'll be a hellish experience; and if you lose, you could be out tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. The odds of this happening are low, but given the potentially very high costs, it seems foolish to not give your insurance company a call to see if they want to be aware of the modification. That takes just a few minutes. If you're right, and the insurance company says they don't need to know about it, then you should make a note of who told you this and when, and rest easy. If the insurance company wants to raise your rates a bit, then you can pay that extra and rest easy.

More broadly, people arguing in this thread that there's no need to contact the insurance company with information about a performance-enhancing update, it seems to me, are arguing from ignorance; unless you discuss the matter with your insurance company, you can't know how they'll react, if and when you have a claim to file after paying for a performance upgrade. Sticking your fingers in your ears and saying "la la la la la" very loudly isn't a good way to approach an issue with the potential to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Note also that different insurance companies might give different answers to the question, so you shouldn't take one person's experience as a guide to what you might face. A $2,000 software package that changes the performance of a car is something that's fundamentally new in the automotive world, so this is, legally and bureaucratically, unexplored territory. It's situations like this where case law gets made, and that means some schmuck who didn't bother to communicate with his or her insurance company about the upgrade gets pushed through the legal meat grinder.

I swear, so many of you people on this forum have either never owned a car or are coming from a Prius or Corolla. Insurance companies don't care if you mod your car or flash it. It's just a model number to them. Do you think they want 1992 Honda Civic owners who put a fart can on their car to let them know? What about a VW GTI with an APR tune? What about an Audi with a DSG remap? Or what about when a manufacturer reflash fixes performance bugs in a transmission which increases the performance of the car? This thread is rank ignorance and almost hilarious in its level of neuroses and misunderstanding.

 

[mmiketa]

Progressive didn't even have me differentiate between AWD and my P3D. They won't care.

 

[notrhj]

Bottom line

Don’t lie to your insurance company.

You only have the coverage you pay for.

 

[Huskyfan]

Not sure what your insurance company will do, but my experience with USAA is that my Tesla M3P Is about 10% less to insure than my BMW i3. The Tesla runs 0-60 in half the time as my i3. The i3 cost 15k less than the M3P.

 

[Huskyfan]

I swear, so many of you people on this forum have either never owned a car or are coming from a Prius or Corolla. Insurance companies don't care if you mod your car or flash it. It's just a model number to them. Do you think they want 1992 Honda Civic owners who put a fart can on their car to let them know? What about a VW GTI with an APR tune? What about an Audi with a DSG remap? Or what about when a manufacturer reflash fixes performance bugs in a transmission which increases the performance of the car? This thread is rank ignorance and almost hilarious in its level of neuroses and misunderstanding.

Amen. First fast vehicle, nerding out on insurance. They don’t care. They have ur VIN, they know the specs on each model. If they charge you too much than change providers.

 

[Uncle Paul]

Insurance is high on the BMW i3 because it is specialized carbon fiber construction. Few places will even work on them, and the costs can be very high to repair.

 

[Resist]

I think the difference is that the free 5% performance increases Tesla gave the Model 3 months ago, are something we really had no choice receiving and thus insurance rates would not increase. But I think this paid Performance Boost changes things and give insurance a reason to raise the rate, first off because you'll want that value back should your car get totaled and second because you might be more prone to be needing repairs from an accident when being throttle heavy. Does anyone know if the rates are more expensive for a Model S/X with Ludicrous compared to ones without it? It's not like those have added hardware like with the Model 3 Performance, and a reason the Performance rates are higher.