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At least one national insurer, AAA, is raising rates on Tesla vehicles based on data showing that the Model S and Model X had abnormally high claim frequencies and high costs of insurance claims compared with other cars in the same classes.
AAA said premiums for Tesla vehicles could go up 30 percent based on data from the Highway Loss Data Institute and other sources.
Tesla is disputing the analysis.
"This analysis is severely flawed and is not reflective of reality," the electric-vehicle maker said in a statement emailed to Automotive News. "Among other things, it compares Model S and X to cars that are not remotely peers, including even a Volvo station wagon."
Anthony Ptasznik, chief actuary of AAA, said the group noticed the anomaly in company data and then investigated other data sources, primarily relying on the Highway Loss Data Institute because of its scope, to confirm its analysis. "Looking at a much broader set of countrywide data, we saw the same patterns observed in our own data, and that gave us the confidence to change rates," he said.
Other large insurance companies, including State Farm and Geico, said that claims data is a major factor in calculating premiums, but would not disclose if their Tesla-owning customers would also see rates rise.
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(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 07 2017, @02:06PM (1 child)
It may have the side effect of a tax on hipsters, but I strongly suspect the real reason is that Model S and X are aluminum intensive. Aluminum bodied cars are *much* more expensive to repair than the steel equivalent. Ask any premium car owner -- Jag, Audi have been early with aluminum, but it's everywhere now.
Possible reasons that AAA is seeing extra repair costs in their data could be:
+ Expensive replacement body panels (probably only sourced from Tesla, no aftermarket).
+ Can't get the Tesla parts at regional or local parts warehouses, requiring extra delays in shipping out the parts.
+ Very few Tesla approved repair shops, so longer flat-bed runs if you aren't near the right shop.
+ After a distant repair, the car may have to be flat-bedded back to the owner, because lack of range.
Some of these will go away if Tesla continues to grow and invests in their complete "ecosystem" beyond just Superchargers. Cars get bent and it costs to fix them.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Grishnakh on Wednesday June 07 2017, @04:31PM
I strongly suspect the real reason is that Model S and X are aluminum intensive. Aluminum bodied cars are *much* more expensive to repair than the steel equivalent. Ask any premium car owner -- Jag, Audi have been early with aluminum, but it's everywhere now.
Oh please, these sounds pretty overblown. Premium cars like Jags are much more expensive to repair because the parts are priced outrageously (partially due to far lower volumes). Bolting on an aluminum fender isn't any more expensive in labor costs than for a steel fender. Now if you're talking about major body work, like welding on whole new sections of the car, that's not something that insurance work generally covers; at that point, the car is just totaled.
Your other reasons are the real reasons Teslas are so much more expensive to repair: overpriced parts with no aftermarket alternatives, shipping delays, no approved repair shops, and long-distance transport to/from the distant repair shop are all significant factors that would certainly drive up repair costs.
I say AAA is correct to jack up the rates on these cars. Much of this is Tesla's own doing, because they're so opposed to independent mechanics working on their cars or anyone being able to get parts for them. You don't have any of these problems with a Honda or Mazda; parts for them are pretty cheap and can be found all over the place, whether it's your local Autozone or on Ebay or Amazon or at one of the numerous discount OEM parts sellers online.