Posted on by Californiacontrarian

EVs … Other Costs To Consider

A question recently came up as to whether the savings on gas for an electric car paid for the increased cost of insurance for that EV. Obviously the saving on not having to purchase gas would depend on the number of miles driven. The more miles driven, the more savings on gas. However, does the cost of insurance on an EV also depend on the number of miles driven?

The average cost to insure a Tesla Model 3 is almost 30 percent higher than the national average for car insurance, Nerdwallet said.

It’s not like people aren’t paying to protect their Teslas. In late 2022, Nerdwallet reported that the average Tesla owner with a good driving history and good credit could expect to pay about $2040 a year for a Model Y and as much as $3044 for a Model X. 

Owners of certain automotive brands know that expensive repair bills come with the territory. But that doesn’t mean insurance companies want to play that game, and some of them are increasingly deciding to write off low-mileage Tesla electric vehicles because they are too expensive to fix, according to a new report from Reuters.

A recent article from 1/23/23 Car and Driver titled, “Tesla EVs, Even Mildly Damaged, Are Being Written Off by Insurance Companies” pointed out that:

  • There were 120 Tesla Model Y electric vehicles listed in two large salvage auction houses recently, and the “vast majority” had under 10,000 miles on them, according to a report from the Reuters news service.
  • The insurance companies that covered these vehicles decided that even with so few miles on them, these Teslas aren’t worth the $50,000 or so they sometimes cost to repair.
  • Reuters was not able to determine the types of incidents that caused the damage in these cases but did note that multiple well-known insurance brands, including State Farm, Geico, and Progressive, all decided the fix wasn’t in.

If the insurance company deems that the EV is not fixable, how much do they reimburse the owner? Enough to buy a new EV? … I doubt it.

Hmmm! … Just another few things to think about before buying an EV.

3/28/23

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