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Insurance premiums for a Rivian ... or any EV for that matter

Discussion in 'Rivian' started by EyeOnEVs, Aug 29, 2019.

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  1. Aug 29, 2019 #1
    EyeOnEVs

    EyeOnEVs New Member

    With the plethora of articles covering the announcement today of Tesla "promising owners of its electric vehicles to deliver rates 20% and even as high as 30% lower than other insurance providers," I thought it would be helpful to have a thread dedicated to this topic, that is, how the insurance industry is handling (or not) the increasing number of EVs on the road. Perhaps current owners of EVs could share any insights on with regard to insurance, say, coverage or premiums, that may be noteworthy.

    With insurance companies trying to figure out how to "fairly" calculate premiums for owners of EVs (other than err on the high side from what I've read and heard from friends), can't help but wonder if 1) what kind of premiums insurance companies will offer for owning a Rivian, and 2) if Rivian will make a similar move, perhaps down the road, and also offer car insurance.
     
    Last edited: Aug 29, 2019
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  2. Aug 30, 2019 #2
    DucRider

    DucRider Well-Known Member

    1) While the actual vehicle being insured does have a factor in determining rates, it is only one piece of the puzzle (geographic location, driving record, credit score, multiple policies, age, miles/use, etc). If you are looking for rate quote for a vehicle not yet in production, you won't likely find an agent willing to even speculate (most systems generate a rate quote based on a VIN# in combination with your personal information)
    2) Extremely unlikely (I think it likely that Tesla's program never expands beyond CA and will likely fade away at some point)

    As to how insurance companies "handle EV's", they don't. They don't treat them any differently than an ICE vehicle. There is (with a few exceptions from a few companies) no premium or discount associated with a car being powered by electric motors. High repair costs -yes. High performance - yes. High (or low) vehicle MSRP - yes.
    I would be very surprised if anyone can show a rate with with a surcharge for being an EV. There used to be one or two companies that offered a discount (10%?), but that was likely at least partly due to the gentle way early EV's tended to be driven by early adopters needing to squeeze every mile of range they could (a generalization, I know. But that is what insurance companies do)
     
  3. Sep 5, 2019 #3
    interestedinEV

    interestedinEV Well-Known Member

    Insurance rate setting is based on past history with the vehicle (on average how much does it cost to repair, how do the users actually use it etc.) in addition to all the other facts quoted by @DucRider. So a 2019 model may not have much history but if they have history from 2013 onward, they have a big database to do actuarial calculations. Rivian has no history at all, so expect rates will be higher to begin with and will come down with competition and history. Also, remember most buyers initially are not going to be using insurance costs in making the buying decision and hence companies are not going to be aggressive in the pricing. Insurance companies are going to be cautious, so do not expect low insurance rates at least to begin with. Again it is too premature to even speculate on how much it will be.
     

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