If Tesla is a safer car, why the insurance cost does not reflect that?

[VT_EE]

There are two terms to know when thinking insurance. Frequency and Severity. The cars out there with these ADAS systems have not yet shown a reduction in frequency (although we do expect it someday) but severity (cost to settle the claim) has skyrocketed.

And I’ll just throw this out there, the IIHS-HLDI (the places that actually crash cars to test them, unlike CR) doesn’t have a particularly high opinion of Teslas. At least as of a presentation they give us last week.

Care to elaborate? The Model 3 has aced every crash test it’s been exposed to. I assume they are complaining about repair times and costs.

 

[Bill Foster]

Actually I thought this discussion was in reference to the latest crash test results released this week; great results in EuroNCAP testing.
Tesla Model 3 aces crash test, sets 'new safety technology benchmark' - Electrek

-Alex

Those pedestrian avoidance parts of the video are damn impressive

 

[Leafdriver333]

Mine went up by $200 per year from Leaf.
I have a male teenager driver in the family also.

 

[⚡️ELECTROMAN⚡️]

Actually the parts cost are fairly reasonable when compared to competing brands. The labor costs and very very very long repair times are the killer

I didn't experience long repair times or expensive parts, but I definitely experienced price gouging by the certified body shops.

 

[hungryjonjon]

My insurance was going to more than double when I was looking into insurance cost before ordering Model 3. I shopped around and increased my coverage as well as added new car replacement and zero deductible glass coverage and I have a net $100/year increase over old carrier. GEICO was killing me on rates (model 3 + weekend supercharged v8 convertible on plan). I’m frustrated I didn’t change insurers sooner. They’ve surely been overcharging me for a while.

 

[trm2]

Care to elaborate? The Model 3 has aced every crash test it’s been exposed to. I assume they are complaining about repair times and costs.

Acing a crash test is all about passenger safety, nothing about repairs. I am not allowed to comment on what IIHS said in confidence.

 

[VT_EE]

Acing a crash test is all about passenger safety, nothing about repairs.

I'm convinced the cost of repairs will get better over time. Tesla parts themselves are no more expensive than other brands according to my body shop. They also mentioned wait times for parts have gotten much better recently, which should reduce insurance companies costs over the long term. Time will tell.

 

[trm2]

I'm convinced the cost of repairs will get better over time. Tesla parts themselves are no more expensive than other brands according to my body shop. They also mentioned wait times for parts have gotten much better recently, which should reduce insurance companies costs over the long term. Time will tell.

Yes, eventually these ADAS systems will help reduce accidents, the systems just aren’t good enough yet.

(And yes I know the word systems is actually redundant in my above statement. It just seemed wrong to omit it)

 

[JBT66]

My AWD Tesla is cheaper than a 2017 BMW 430 that it replaced.
I pay something like $70 a month to insure it.

 

[earthwormjim]

Care to elaborate? The Model 3 has aced every crash test it’s been exposed to. I assume they are complaining about repair times and costs.

IIHS evaluates safety and cost to repair. Tesla does especially poorly when it comes to cost to repair. The cars take extensive damage in accidents, repair parts are expensive and time consuming to acquire, and certified shop availability is lower than compared with most other car brands.

 

[Zidarich]

I just took delivery of a M3, LRAWD and updated my auto insurance. It is kinda a sticker shock to find insuring the M3 cost much more than my Audi S6, a V8 turbo. Collision coverage is exactly double that of the Audi's which does not have Autopilot features. So, despite all the claims about autopilot being safer, does the insurance industry agree or is there statistics proving that claim?

Also, companies have trouble deciphering Tesla VINs. Someone who uses NJM said they found out they just assume every car is a performance model since they can’t always tell.

 

[SageBrush]

Acing a crash test is all about passenger safety, nothing about repairs. I am not allowed to comment on what IIHS said in confidence.

Humans are expensive to fix

 

[trm2]

Humans are expensive to fix

And they can’t be simply replaced by writing a check.

 

[wtwieder]

/

- cost if the car is stolen
- damage (and third party injury, e.g. whiplash) to the car you hit, which can be a lot if hit by a Tesla/QUOTE]

It is rare for a Tesla to be stolen, successfully, because the car is always trackable when driven. The only way I could even imagine it could be stolen would be if they somehow disabled the computer in the car and then loaded the car onto a carrier truck. They would then move it to a shop, where they could tear it down for parts. That's a lot of trouble to steal a car you couldn't drive without getting caught.

I would doubt that the bodily injury to someone in another car hit by a Tesla would be worse than if hit by another car.
In fact, might it even be less since the Tesla is capable of absorbing more of the energy of the impact?

 

[Nocturnal]

Why did you have to get the extra $9k? The car should be insured for all the features you purchased with the car unless you bought them after the fact.

I purchased them after delivery.

 

[banned-66611]

For every person using AP safely, you have some idiot wedging an orange into their steering wheel and pushing up the premiums.

 

[mswlogo]

Care to elaborate? The Model 3 has aced every crash test it’s been exposed to. I assume they are complaining about repair times and costs.

Crash tests are a fraction of real costs.

How often, cost to repair, time to repair.

I purchased them after delivery.

There is some debate that if totaled you might not get that value back. I made sure everything was purchased with the car for that reason (just in case). Didn’t impact insurance much either.

 

[trm2]

Here are a few things Tesla could do to reduce insurance costs:
* open up their network so there are more repairers. There are only 13 in the UK!
* make sure there is good availability of parts, so cars can be turned around quicker
* share data on what sort of repairs are needed for common events (e.g. reverse into someone) and how much they cost

Well, it seems like there are only 13 in the USA too!