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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: 3, Interesting) by Whoever on Wednesday June 07 2017, @03:21PM (2 children)
Indeed. Even if your electricity is 100% generated by coal, an electric vehicle is likely to result in less CO2 emissions than any car that does (in real life, not the EPA tests) less than about 40mpg overall.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday June 07 2017, @03:52PM (1 child)
Exactly, and when you follow their logic and say that a person driving a Tesla in the Pacific Northwest where hydroelectric is a much bigger share of the total is shifting less carbon accordingly, or in Iowa where wind is a bigger share of the total and shifting less carbon accordingly, isn't their counter inevitably, "But, but, but, dams harm spawning salmon and wind turbines kill thousands upon thousands upon thousands of migratory birds so SEE electric cars are sooo much more horrible for the environment that gas-burning cars..."
That's a bit hyperbolic, but the talking points in the fossil fuel playbook are quite limited and repetitive.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Wednesday June 07 2017, @08:02PM
Drive it in France. Then you've got a nuclear-powered car. :-)
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.