What Is The Best Insurance For A Tesla?
"I’m canceling my Tesla Insurance because it’s just not worth it anymore.”
A Tesla Insurance customer said his coverage is no longer worth the cost after the brand’s recent Safety Score V2.2 Update. TikTok user Eli Talks Tesla (@elitalkstesla) particularly expressed his ire towards the insurance company’s Excessive Speeding metrics and delineated his concerns about the new driver rating gauges in a viral clip that’s garnered over 349,000 views.
“Tesla insurance is officially un-drivable,” he says at the onset of the video while looking directly into the camera. He then cuts to footage of a laptop screen with a web browser window showing off an email from Tesla regarding its “Safety Score Beta V2.2," which the automaker says provides “a more accurate assessment of [drivers’] future collision risk, based on 23 billion miles of driving data.”
The V2.2 Beta comes with revised distinctions with regards to “excessive speeding," wherein commuters who push their vehicles “in excess of 85 mph or speeding in relation to vehicles in front of [them]” will have that incorporated into their Tesla insurance safety score. Tesla’s website says excessive speeding distinctions can only account for up to 10% of its Safety Score Beta formula and that speeding on Autopilot isn’t a variable considered when Tesla derives a commuter’s safety score.
“Tesla Insurance Just Got Worse”
As Eli continues with his video, he discusses the changes the update brings to his coverage plan. “So last week, my Tesla insurance updated to 2.2, and one of the new rules added was that if you pass a car going faster than 20% of their current speed, no matter what the speed limit is, you’re marked for excessive speeding, which is a safety risk, and you’ll pay a higher monthly premium,” he says.
Following this, he shows off an assessment of his safety score, which lists a series of contingencies that play into his safety score rating, culminating in a 98 out of a possible 100, a “safe” distinction when it comes to his road habits. Each metric comes with its own color-coded ruling regarding his driving:
- Hard Braking
- Aggressive Turning
- Unsafe Following
- Excessive Speeding
- Late Night Driving
- Forced Autopilot Disengagements
- Unbuckled Driving
For all but two of the aforementioned variables, Eli’s Tesla app shows that he’s in the green. However, he does have 2.6% Excessive Speeding and .07% Late Night driving dings on his record, bringing these aspects of his record into the yellow.
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Not A Fan of Tesla’s Safety Score Beta
Eli vented his frustrations with the relative speed judgments. Because the assessment is based solely on relative speed, “If the car’s going under the speed limit and you want to pass them without going above the speed limit, you’ll get marked for excessive speeding no matter what,” he says.
He went on to say that although he only drove his vehicle twice after the update, it’s already affected his driver score, while showing off a new assessment of 92 out of 100.
At the end of his video, Eli says the latest update influenced his decision to ditch Tesla coverage entirely. “I think whoever made this should be fired immediately, and also I’m canceling my Tesla insurance because it’s just not worth it anymore.”
Tesla Insurance Criticisms
Eli isn’t the only person to voice displeasure with how Tesla insurance arrives at individual driver safety scores. Insurance Business Magazine wrote in April that a potential class-action lawsuit was being filed against Tesla for utilizing collision alerts in crafting scores for its drivers.
Live Insurance News wrote in the same month that forward collision warnings were removed as part of Tesla Insurance’s Safety Score Beta rulings. This, the outlet states, was likely due to “legal pressures” along with “the risk of overcharging” concerns from consumers.
That’s because many drivers claimed Tesla’s on-board software would sometimes erroneously engage forward-collision alerts, despite there being no actual road risk to prompt such a warning.
Auto Evolution corroborated that forward-collision alerts were removed as part of the V2.2 Safety Score Beta update but wrote that the feature has been replaced by the same Excessive Speed rulings that Eli decried in his TikTok.
Redditors in this r/TeslaLounge thread also voiced their displeasure with Tesla Insurance. One person said the brand’s decision to pair with a particular insurance provider, Crawford, is the reason why getting coverage for vehicles through Tesla Insurance is so problematic. They shared their own personal experience with getting their Model Y repaired via the provider, claiming it took 15 months to get the matter ultimately resolved.
What’s The Best Insurance Company For Teslas?
While geography, age, vehicle type and driver safety records largely dictate car insurance rates, some businesses offer more affordable rates than others for Teslas. According to Insurance.com, State Farm has, on average, the lowest rates for Tesla drivers. Furthermore, the website says Tesla drivers tend to pay more for car insurance every year: $3,466 on average versus the general average of $2,305.
InsideEVs has reached out to Eli via email for further comment.
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