Insurance prices

[Sherlock]

Has anyone renewed their insurance on their ID3 recently?

Quite a scare story in the Guardian the other day about massive increases on EV insurance and some insurers (e.g. John Lewis) not insuring EVs at all.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2023/ ... ance-costs

Would be interested to know what people are finding as mine is due for renewal in a couple of months.

[sidehaas]

Yes. We have the ID3 Pro Performance and an Octavia VRS estate (2015). Last year they were each £250-300 to insure. We got our renewal quotes (with Churchill) last month and both had more than doubled to over £550. I went online and was able to find an alternative quote of about £410 for the Octavia, which Churchill then matched. But I couldn't find any cheaper quotes for the ID3, so they wouldn't reduce it. We ended up accepting the renewal quote.
There was no shortage of people happy to quote, it was just all quite expensive.

[danielt]

When I insured my ID.3 in June it was pretty reasonable, only slightly more expensive than it's predecessor (which was a 2009 diesel). I suspect the headline was rather overblown. When you look at the average costs further down the page you find that the averages have electric cars about 13% more expensive than combustion!

[TimF]

I've just been jumping through hoops to renew my insurance, for an increase of more than 50%. It would have been even more (over 100%), but by rejoining an organisation I left a year ago, that was avoided.

It's perhaps worth pointing out that some of the vast premiums in the article related to Teslas. I understand the way Teslas are built means accident repairs can be extremely complex. Also, EVs are significantly heavier than ICEVs, so in a collision they have more energy to dissipate and some of that excess will go into whatever it is the car hits. Crumple zones are great for safety, but replacing them, and anything they've damaged as they crumple, is expensive!

Add in the VW servicing costs (even though only paid every other year) and the costs of owning an ID3, even if it doesn't turn a wheel, become quite something?

[mediaguy]

My best quote was with https://www.insurewithvolkswagen.co.uk/car-insurance, which is obviously quite specific to me and my car.

I haven't ever seen it on a comparison site, so probably worth trying.

[Bromsgroveuser]

I had my renewal in July and it had gone up 90% since last year with no changes on my part , managed to get it a bit cheaper , my local broker said average increase was 35 - 40 % and they wouldn't insurers teslas , incidentally when i changed from an id3 15 months ago the insurance actually went down .

[Boattrainman]

Insurance went down around 15%, paying premium next week, but expecting a lot of mucking about next year as the lag reaches Ireland.

As ever with insurance its all a bit of a scam, for example, premiums were allegedly tied to higher claim payouts, however these have been significantly lower in the past three years, any sign of premiums going down (mine anyway), answer is NO,except for above.

Rob

[G43FAN]

Last renewal was about £30 more than previous premium, not due until March so no idea what will be offered, but as I live in Wales and we're all doing 20mh I expect it will go down.. !!

[the.kes]

Admiral cost last October was £330, identical quote with Admiral this year is/was £550 and that was with them claiming to offer the same price as a new customer, they did reduce it to £440 but by then I had gone to Tesco for £410.

[Boattrainman]

Anyone know what the rationale behind this is (apart from a scam), and I get the whole Tesla inflated repair cost issue, but whats the beef with VW, Hyundai EVs etc.

Rob

[Scratch]

Anyone know what the rationale behind this is (apart from a scam), and I get the whole Tesla inflated repair cost issue, but whats the beef with VW, Hyundai EVs etc.

Rob

It’s simply legalised robbery. An industry propped up by the UK legal system, where you cannot drive on our “pristine” roads unless you have insurance for your vehicle.

[Splash-Man]

Admiral cost last October was £330, identical quote with Admiral this year is/was £550 and that was with them claiming to offer the same price as a new customer, they did reduce it to £440 but by then I had gone to Tesco for £410.

I just stuck my details into Tesco website and they quoted me 3 times as much as Admiral
Unfortunately my policy is due at the end of this month on the current car but my ID3 isn't due until Dec / Jan.

[Repfigit]

I got my renewal quote for Direct Line. It's going up from £341 to £582. The policy started on a car with insurance group 1E, so an increase isn't that unexpected for me. Unfortunately though it seems that this renewal quote is actually the best I'm going to get, having checked with Compare the Market and also VW Insurance as suggested above.

Anyone know what the rationale behind this is (apart from a scam), and I get the whole Tesla inflated repair cost issue, but whats the beef with VW, Hyundai EVs etc.

Rob

It’s simply legalised robbery. An industry propped up by the UK legal system, where you cannot drive on our “pristine” roads unless you have insurance for your vehicle.

In case anyone doesn't quite grasp why drivers are forced to have car insurance.

https://www.standard.co.uk/hp/front/mil ... 35090.html

Someone driving a Land Rover pulling a trailer with another car on it managed to cause £50 million worth of damage, after falling asleep at the wheel, driving off the motorway and onto a railway line, then being hit by one train and then a second one. 10 people died and two trains had to be written off.

If you don't have insurance, then there is no possible way for the cost of events like this, or the millions of much less costly but much more likely events that happen every day, to be covered by society. A write-off isn't that expensive in the grand scheme of things, as cars depreciate quickly. The financial cost of hurting a human being is quite a lot more. This is fundamentally why cars are designed to crumple and be written off in a crash. Building another one doesn't really take much given the sophistication of our manufacturing processes and supply chains.

[eyedeethree]

When I insured my ID.3 in June it was pretty reasonable, only slightly more expensive than it's predecessor (which was a 2009 diesel). I suspect the headline was rather overblown. When you look at the average costs further down the page you find that the averages have electric cars about 13% more expensive than combustion!

UHOH - My premium last year was £302 with the Co-Op Eco - Who was best priced last year. This years renewal £942. Direct line £1008 (plus £87 if I want to protect no claims - oh, and £550 for excess!. Money Supermarket comparisons come out best prices at £530 - Clearly a lot better but still a massive increase on my policy ending during November 2023. Nope, the hype is real ok - its a bloody cartel

[danielt]

Nope, the hype is real ok - its a bloody cartel

Nicely put!

However... are they turning the screws on ICE drivers too? To be clear all my insurances (car, home, breakdown, ...) have jacked up quite a lot this year but comparing the various numbers it didn't feel like owning an EV* made anything much worse.


[*] ... that is not a Tesla

[mediaguy]

My motorcycle insurance renewal was a very positive experience this year, but more than a scratch and the 125 Honda would just be written off.