A TESLA owner has claimed that he can’t afford to insure his car, while some firms won’t even cover him at all.
Philip Small says that premiums on his £73,000 Model X EV have shot up, even though he only drives 12,000 miles a year and has never had an accident.
GettyA Tesla driver has claimed that he was quoted up to £9,000 for car insurance[/caption]
Philip, who runs a catering firm in London, told This Is Money that he had never paid more than £1,000 for insurance before, but is now being quoted just under £9,000.
He said: “I can’t see how these increases are justified.
“With an electric car, you have a battery and some electrical components.
“There is very little that can go wrong, unlike petrol or diesel cars where you’ve got the engine and exhausts. And it’s under warranty anyway.”
He also claimed that when he asked LV why they had doubled the cost of his existing policy he was told that it was down to the scarcity of parts and the fact that only Tesla-approved workshops can perform maintenance work.
There are only six such workshops across the capital.
Andy Moody, founder of temporary car insurance website GoShorty, said: “Crucially, not all repair centres are able to deal with these vehicles.
“They often have to be repaired using specialist kit and away from traditional vehicles, due to the fire risk presented by vehicle batteries.
“Spare parts supply can be limited and costly compared with traditional cars due to the smaller market size – which can prolong repair times and associated costs.”
And this appears to be a wider trend as it was revealed this week that EV drivers actually pay more on average to insure than petrol or diesel owners.
Indeed, some major companies have pulled their insurance offers for electric models off the market.
John Lewis stopped offering EV policies amid surging costs.
It comes after a high-ranking official revealed that two million drivers could be wrongly fined every day under the ULEZ expansion.
Meanwhile, a duo who took on a 1,000-mile road trip in a Ford Mustang EV found that it added hours to their journey.