'Quotes were £5,000 or more': EV owners face soaring insurance costs

Driving an electric car should be a win-win, saving money and saving the planet. So David* was shocked when his Tesla Model Y's insurance had to be renewed, and Aviva refused to cover him again, while several other brands refused.

When David agreed to a new deal, the annual cost increased from £1,200 to over £5,000.

“My insurer was Aviva from July 2022 to July 2023, but when it came up for renewal, I received a letter saying they would no longer cover the Tesla Model Y,” David explains. "I'm a member of a Tesla owners forum in the UK, and many other people seem to have the same problem."

In the Facebook group, members share horror stories. renewal quotes, with increases ranging from 60% (up to £1,100) to a staggering 940% (a jump from £447 to £4,661, according to a screenshot shared by a driver).< /p>

“I spent weeks on all the comparison sites as well as trying individual insurers and specialist brokers but either they didn't cover the car or quotes were for £5,000 or more,” says David, whose only change in circumstances was three points on a license.

Privilege, Vitality, Axa and the Specialist broker Adrian Flux were among the brands he deemed "unable to insure at this time" before nailing down a policy with Direct Line, but at a price.

“The best quote I could get was from Direct Line , at £4,500,” he said, adding that the total cost exceeded £5,000 once the interest on the monthly payment was included, “because who has that kind of money? once ? »

But it's not just Model Y owners – which, with a starting price of around £45,000, was the best-selling electric car in the Kingdom -United last year – who noted that, like the government, insurers are hesitant about the cost of carbon neutrality.

Alex Gerlis, who bought a Smart EQ Forfour l last year, was insured by John Lewis Finance. but, before the mid-August renewal date, it let him know that it would not be able to offer a renewal because it did not insure electric cars (see below).

It comes as all motorists face skyrocketing insurance costs, with prices reportedly at an all-time high. A recent cost of living bulletin from the Office for National Statistics revealed that the price of car insurance...