Electric car insurance costs soar 72% due to repair struggles

What do the experts say?

This is turning the insurance model on its head, according to Thatcham engineering manager Mark Fry. 

“Where in the past the balance of risk has been on the driver, as this new EV technology comes in, we’re starting to see the risk shift towards the car,” he said.

“To address it, we’re working with car makers to ensure they’re designing their EVs with ease of repairability in mind and that they have repair methods and good parts availability in place so that the vehicles can be sustainably repaired and returned to the road quickly.” 

Tim Kelly, founder of Motor Claim Guru, agreed that high repair and parts replacement costs are a contributor to EVs’ higher insurance costs but argued that ultimately most of the blame should go on the high prices of the EVs themselves.

“The highest risk to an insurer is the market value of a car, while only around 6% of an insurance premium is the cost of repairing it,” he said. 

“As the transition to electric gathers pace and the volume of third-party claims involving EVs increases, so will insurers’ exposure to this risk.”

How are insurers reacting to the market value of electric cars?

For some insurers, rather than increasing their premiums to protect themselves, they have simply abandoned the market.

Among them is John Lewis, which says its underwriter is analysing the risks and costs associated with EVs. And earlier this year, Aviva temporarily ceased issuing new policies for the Tesla Model Y, which is currently the best-selling EV in the UK. 

In recent weeks, the national press has run horror stories on the high cost of EV insurance, with some drivers claiming they had been quoted premiums as high as £4500 and others that their renewals had doubled or even tripled. However, study the reports closely and often these drivers admit to accident claims and speeding penalties and that by shopping around they found far cheaper cover, albeit still more expensive than they had paid the year before. 

Will the premium increases continue?

Despite insurers’ fears about the increasing numbers of EVs on our roads, Kelly predicts this will actually help drive down the cost of insuring such cars. 

“As more second-hand EVs enter the market at lower prices, so their insurance premiums will fall,” he said. Fry claimed that increased EV numbers will also give repairers the confidence to invest in EV repairs. 

“As we see more EVs in the market, so I expect to see more repairers invest in the equipment and skilled staff required to repair them,” he said, “meaning the present challenges will start to be ironed out.

What happened when we dug deeper

Keen to establish a clearer image of EV insurance costs, we sought quotes on four used EVs for a 63-year-old living in Surrey, with eight years’ no-claims bonus and a clean licence. 

About 50 insurers gave comprehensive quotes via comparison provider Go Compare, ranging from £454 on a Smart EQ Forfour to £4887 on a Tesla Model Y. Within this range, each EV attracted a wide span of quotes, as can be seen on the right. 

While not ignoring the fact that EV insurance is more expensive than cover for an equivalent petrol or diesel car (recently, using Go Compare and the same proposer profile, a 2019 Volkswagen Golf 1.5 TSI DSG Match Edition cost £350 including extras to insure), the exercise did at least demonstrate the value of shopping around. It also revealed that insurers claiming to be EV-friendly can be among the priciest, while the insurer most often among the cheapest was Admiral.