Insurance quotes for the Tesla MS in the UK.

Rluner · Aug 10, 2015

Next month I'm due to insure my MS again after adding it onto an existing policy that had less than a year to run.

I was wondering which insurance companies MS users are currently using ATM?

My wife informs me that at least one large insurance company (Confused.com) still says my car does not exist, while another is asking over £1,600 for my wife and I.

Update:-
After inputting my reg plate, and correctly identifying the car, Comparethemarket.com just says

Oops! We have a problem

There was an unexpected error. In the mean time, please try again

Then will not let you proceed any further.

ElectricSingh · Aug 10, 2015

I got quotes directly from LV, Direct Line and Home & Legacy. They wanted £2500, £1900 and £1300 respectively. H&L are the recommended UK insurer as they don't require you to install a separate tracker, for example.

arg · Aug 10, 2015

I was with H&L last year, as at the time they were one of the few to properly understand the car and offer a reasonable policy.

On renewal, I've gone with NFU as they came out at half the price for very similar cover (NFU's mandatory _theft_ excess is much higher than H&L, but damage excess is actually lower).

Others on the TM forum report similar experience.

smac · Aug 10, 2015

Rluner have you tried Hiscox HNW policies?

I got one of their all singing all dancing policies on my Exige which is also a group 50. (The Tesla is on the company fleet policy). I went through AIB who broker a lot of high performance policies.

No requirement for tracker, any driver over 30 insured fully comp (provide they don't live with me), fully comp on ANY car (again owned by someone not in my household), full business usage, new for old for 2 years, nominated repairer, plus a load of other bundled stuff (legal, breakdown, blah, blah). It was a lot less than the quotes mentioned here.

They individually underwrite these, so my past history of high performance cars plus I also have access to the S did effect things.

pbceng · Aug 11, 2015

Hi, newbie on forums but considering a Model S purchase. When trying to get insurance quotes I've had mixed results - having read this thread I've tried NFU (who wouldn't quote me because I don't know when I'll have a vehicle), LV (who were very helpful but wanted to know if a tracker was fitted) and Hiscox (waiting for a call back from the A-Plan broker). I also tried Drect Line who I'm insured with at the moment but I had to call and they seemed confused by me answering none to "what is the engine capacity" - they eventually quoted me a high figure for any Model S from the basic 70 through to a fully spammed P90D, needless to say I won't be using them! The one question LV asked which I wasn't sure on is whether the car is fitted with a tracker. I answered yes since the movements are tracked by Tesla and accessible by the owner, but I think they mean Thatcham approved and I couldn't find Tesla on their listings.

Anyone know whether the Model S Tracking system is Thatcham approved or recognised by UK insurance companies?

martinwinlow · Aug 11, 2015

Admiral were very reasonable for me - 55 YOM, 9 yrs no claims, living in E Herts, garage-parked - £220 to add the MS to a multi (2) car policy for the 10 months remaining till the policy expires. I expect it'll be £300 next year.

smac · Aug 12, 2015

pbceng said:
Anyone know whether the Model S Tracking system is Thatcham approved or recognised by UK insurance companies?

I'm 99% certain it's not Thatcham approved. For the top level trackers there is also a stipulation to have a transponder that isn't the key (or even attached to the key ring). (It was a right faff last time I had one as I forgot it on numerous occasions, and had the tracking company phone me up asking if the car was being stolen.)

I guess it's possible for the S to be a lower rated unit without this requirement, but it's also the tracking centre not just the hardware that needs approval, and having visited one they are "secure call rooms" with UK background checks for all staff and air lock style entry systems. I can't imagine they have this setup in the Dutch support centre (though I could be wrong)

mgboyes · Aug 12, 2015

smac said:
I'm 99% certain it's not Thatcham approved. For the top level trackers there is also a stipulation to have a transponder that isn't the key (or even attached to the key ring). (It was a right faff last time I had one as I forgot it on numerous occasions, and had the tracking company phone me up asking if the car was being stolen.)

I guess it's possible for the S to be a lower rated unit without this requirement, but it's also the tracking centre not just the hardware that needs approval, and having visited one they are "secure call rooms" with UK background checks for all staff and air lock style entry systems. I can't imagine they have this setup in the Dutch support centre (though I could be wrong)

I'd go as far as to add the last 1% and say it is definitely not a Thatcham approved tracker. As to whether insurers will accept it as a valid tracking system for underwriting purposes, that will vary from insurer to insurer.

...Hmm. Actually this caused me to go and read my LV.com documentation in detail again. Interesting.

My insurance schedule says that I will not be covered for theft or attempted theft "unless your car is fitted with a tracking device and that device is activated when it's parked".

However the full policy wording just say "we won't pay for... loss or damage to your car by theft or attempted theft, if we have advised you that you must have a working security or a tracking device when your car is unattended". So this second wording effectively says "people with trackers aren't covered for theft"!! I assume that's just bad drafting and that the phrasing in my individual schedule would apply, but nevertheless it's a bit concerning/intriguing.

In any case there's no definition anywhere of what a "tracker" is (or indeed what an "alarm" is) - the word Thatcham for example does not appear anywhere in any of the documentation.

Mark77a · Aug 12, 2015

Another plug for Admiral .. on multicar c£600 for BOTH Tesla and Audi.

dpeilow · Aug 12, 2015

I'm on Admiral multicar. £400 for the Roadster and £400 for the Ampera.

Re tracker: I've wondered if the OVMS counts as one.

pbceng · Aug 14, 2015

Thanks for the advice - I'll probably go with LV because they seem a) reasonably priced and b) will allow use of Tesla's recommended repair facilities although not with a courtesy car. I've put in a request to Tracker to see if they have any experience of fitting one of their systems to a Tesla and I'll make sure to ask whether there's any effect on the warranty when I finally get to the sales centre.

RoyRichardson · Aug 15, 2015

I agree re Thatcham
I asked the sale rep when I was buying my Tesla in July & he said that it was 100% not Thatcham - but that Admiral and Home & Legacy were aware of the Tesla tracking capability & therefore treated it as such.
There is a video on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3o1Pfa9BWg
of an American who had his Tesla stolen & he directed the police to it's location using the App.

grahamsimmonds · Aug 19, 2015

I have just insured my P85D with LV. £641 inc courtesy car and full European cover options . I too asked about the tracking device and was told the car's inbuilt tracker would be sufficient. The words in my schedule back up what MGBoyes was saying about being active when parked:

A tracking device is fitted to your car and activated when it's parked. If not we won't pay for any loss or damage caused bytheft or attempted theft.

However, it does not stipulate that it needs to be Thatcham approved.

Rluner · Aug 19, 2015

Just an update.

First Point, (Dan), Hiscox Northampton broker, they can`t quote as it doesn't have a Cat 5 tracker on it.

Saga (Holly Wilson) after doing a full 15 minute quote told me they don`t cover Electric cars at all, btw the very first quest was my reg plate and I confirmed it was an electric car right at the start.

Zurich (Emma 01242 217 099) they don't insure any fully electric vehicle.

Admiral online. After inputting my details three times, the website just kept reporting an error in the web page and stopped.

So I spent 15 minutes on the Phone to a guy called Chris there, who new nothing about the Model S.

I got asked if I opened the doors with a key, I said no, then he asked me if I press a key fob to enter the car, I said no, he then asked how I got into it, I explained it auto opens on my approach, he seemed confused with this and just said "I will put down you have a tracker on it " ! I was really confused at this.

He then explained all the great advantages of taking the policy he was going to recommend, but said I had to have a "little black box" fitted to monitor my driving, and my policy maybe cheaper next year. Then continued to try to impress me buy telling me the vehicle would then have a tracker on it.

He then gave me the price of...... £2,669 ! Yes Two thousand six hundred and sixty nine pound !

When he asked me how did it all sound, I had to reply honestly to him that I thought it sounded stupid, as I wasn't a 17 yo with zero NCD or offences.

For the record I'm over 50 with Full 9 Years NCD, and zero convictions and zero accidents, but estimated 20k miles p.a. to be fair.

How the hell can they quote me that much?

Do they just use a random number generator as a premium calculator?

Kribensa · Aug 20, 2015

I know you are not going to go with that quote, Rluner, but regarding those "little black boxes" - some of them have been demonstrably hacked, and as they connect to your CAN bus, can take control over braking and steering. As they also include a modem for reporting the data they capture, they can also be controlled remotely (in this case the hack was via SMS messages to it!)

http://www.wired.com/2015/08/hackers-cut-corvettes-brakes-via-common-car-gadget/

The specific devices that were hacked in that article have now been updated OTA (in fact some people with them probably didn't realise that happened), but the very fact they talk to your car via a channel that can also allow them to take control is concerning.

Of course, if the box is just a USB device or similar you will be safe, but it's worth asking exactly how the box will be installed, etc if you plan to use an insurance company that requires or suggests them

Stuart McCaul · Aug 20, 2015

The only decent quote we got was with Admiral through compare the meerkat. The others were terrible. I got one that was over £32k and several around £6/7k. Admiral was £1400. This is our first car in 5 years, so no NCD.

Rluner · Aug 20, 2015

Summery Update of my findings so far. (For the record I'm over 50 with Full 9 Years NCD, and zero convictions and zero accidents, but estimated 20k miles p.a. to be fair.)

For the Quotes [Fully Comp, Social Only] I managed to get the excess ranges from £500 to £1850

First Point, (Dan), Hiscox Northampton broker, they can`t quote as it doesn't have a Cat 5 tracker on it.

Saga (Holly Wilson) after doing a full 15 minute quote told me they don`t cover Electric cars at all, btw the very first quest was my reg plate and I confirmed it was an electric car right at the start.

Zurich (Emma 01242 217 099) they don't insure any fully electric vehicle.

Confused.com and MoneySupermarket - Couldn`t find the vehicle from my reg plate.

Age UK (Joe) - They don`t cover Tesla MS as the batteries are not owned by me apparently. I informed them they were, to no avail.

Now lets list some that will actually quote me.......

Admiral online £2,669 with a "Black Box fitted" or via Google £1571 [£700 excess]

GoCompare.com Cheapest - Bell £1474

LV online - £1500 or £1451 [£650 excess] if I just pay my renewal they have sent me.

Home & Legacy £1220 with £950 excess.

Google - Cheapest - Bell £1180 [£700 excess]

Direct Line - (Darren) £1011 [£850 excess] (The car is in Group 93 from 1 to 100 btw)

Privilege - £915 [£500 excess] Emailed me direct, after they failed to offer me on Gocompare.com

Churchill - £895 - [£500 excess]

Aviva - (Premy) [The guy actually knew about the car. He said its group 70 in their scale] £608 [Total excess £1,850]

NFU - (Rebecca) (Needs to go to the underwriter, they will get back to me in 48 hours) [I will update this]

For the record the most expensive has been Swinton [£1300 excess] at £3,771

[I`ve re-arrange the quotes in some kind of logical order [to me], but it wasn`t the order I had contacted each of them.]

Maybe others can post which company they use on their renewal?

arg · Aug 20, 2015

As above, I was with H&L last year, switched to NFU for substantial saving.

If you want your listing to be comprehensive, you should probably include H&L since quite a few people went with them last year on account of them knowing about the car: Home & Legacy

Rluner · Aug 21, 2015

arg said:
As above, I was with H&L last year, switched to NFU for substantial saving.

If you want your listing to be comprehensive, you should probably include H&L since quite a few people went with them last year on account of them knowing about the car: Home & Legacy

Thanks Arg for confirming with a link, I had read earlier h and l but when I googled it I only found handr broker in Scotland. I'm now waiting for a call back from Home & Legacy . They have informed me they currently insure over 130 Tesla MS. I will update when I get a price from them.

I hope that I have covered every suggested insurance company and a few more in this post too.

[Update 5.16pm]

Home & Legacy £1220 with £950 excess.

smac · Aug 22, 2015

Rluner said:
Aviva - (Premy) [The guy actually knew about the car. He said its group 70 in their scale] £608 [Total excess £1,850]

Getting close to a reasonable premium. But that's fair old excess! I wonder if this is indicative of the repair costs?

What did you put down as occupation "Rockstar" ? (Of course this could be down to postcode, another reason a Model S makes more sense down south

)

Insurance quotes for the Tesla MS in the UK.

Member

Oops! We have a problem

Member

Active Member

Active Member

Member

Member

Active Member

Member

Member

Well-Known Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Active Member

Member

Active Member

Similar threads