Electric Car Chat

Shocking EV Insurance Costs: What Dealers Don't Tell You

• Graham Hill • Season 2 • Episode 4

Share episode

Send us a text

Are you considering buying an electric car? Before signing that purchase agreement, there's a critical factor you need to understand that most dealers won't tell you about – insurance costs that could potentially be thousands of pounds higher than you're expecting.

I'm pulling back the curtain on a major financial trap awaiting unprepared EV buyers. When ordering an electric vehicle, most customers assume insurance premiums will be comparable to their previous petrol or diesel cars, especially if the EV falls into a similar insurance group. This dangerous assumption can lead to shocking discoveries just before taking delivery, when you're already legally committed to the purchase.

The Electric Vehicle Approved (EVA) accreditation scheme that's meant to ensure dealers provide proper guidance to EV customers completely fails to address insurance considerations. Meanwhile, insurance companies like AXA have conducted extensive testing revealing that electric cars are 50% more likely to have accidents than traditional vehicles, primarily due to what they call "overtapping" – when drivers panic and tap the accelerator, triggering the EV's immediate acceleration. High-performance electric cars with rapid acceleration are particularly problematic, with some insurers refusing to cover certain models altogether.

Real-world examples highlight the severity of this issue. One Tesla Y owner found himself facing a £5,000 premium when his previous insurer declined renewal – a staggering increase from the few hundred pounds he paid originally. Points on your license, particularly for speeding, can compound this problem dramatically when combined with an EV's risk profile.

The solution is simple but vital: check your insurance options and costs before ordering an electric vehicle, not days before delivery. The traditional insurance group system becomes largely irrelevant when comparing EVs to combustion engine vehicles, and assumptions based on previous experience will likely lead to unwelcome surprises.

Want to learn more about navigating the complexities of electric vehicle ownership? Subscribe to this podcast for upcoming episodes on critical EV insurance considerations, and visit grahamhilltraining.com to purchase my book "Electric Cars: The Truth Revealed" along with our upcoming comprehensive training course.

To buy a copy of Electric Cars - The Truth Revealed visit grahamhilltraining.com. If you are interested in sponsoring this podcast or would be interested in working together please visit grahamhilltraining.com/contact


Hi I’m Graham Hill and I’m making even more of a ruckus. I’m the author of Electric Cars – The Truth Revealed and, as I’ve mentioned before please go to grahamhilltraining.com where you can buy a copy of the book and you can also sign up for the training which should come out later in 2025. You’ll get the course at a ridiculously low price compared to the hundreds when it’s finally launched. In the meantime, the book and course sales help to fund this podcast. 

Now I’m not here to cause a problem, I’m here to help. Something I’ve done all my life. And I’ll continue to do it throughout my podcasts. Now if you’re about to get yourself an electric car or you’re thinking about doing it in the near future this podcast is essential. The same applies if you’re the other side of the fence and you’re selling electric cars and want to provide the best service ever to your customers. 

The world’s greatest salesman according to the Guiness Book Of World Records was called Joe Girard. His secret to success was relationship building, he wasn’t selling the customer her current car but the car she would buy in a few years’ time to replace it. Joe created a great relationship with every customer that paid off year after year. 

And this podcast, my book and training will help all car sales staff to sell more cars by providing customers with a reason to come back when they next change their car for the best help and advice. And if you’re a customer thinking of going the electric car route you’ll recall that in the 1st podcast on Insurance I spoke about the necessity to check the cost of insurance before you even think about buying an electric car and certainly before you place your order. 

Make sure that you can afford the insurance because we’ve seen premiums up to and beyond £5,000 a year. And I’m not talking about under 25’s, I’m talking all ages. So, you need to make sure that the insurance premium on your electric car of choice is not way beyond your budget. 

Too many people look at the insurance group of their car of choice and see that it’s not far away from their current petrol car which has an annual premium of £700. Then assume that the cost will be similar, only to find that it’s well over £2,000 a year for the electric car. You see the premium is not just based on the insurance group. I’ll maybe talk a little more about this in another Insurance podcast. 

OK, so this next podcast is about what you need to look out for in the policy to make sure that you have the correct cover that you need for your new electric car, whether it’s brand new or used. Many people just assume that things are included in the policy that covers the car for every eventuality. But as I keep saying electric cars are not ICE cars, they’re completely different with vastly different insurance needs. For example, let’s take the home charger that you wouldn’t have if you just had an ICE car. Again, make no assumptions. 80% of those driving an electric car have access to a home charger, installed either inside a garage or outside the building either on a drive or maybe in front of the property. Wherever it’s cited it needs to be covered by insurance. Some cars come with a free and installed charger that they arrange to have installed at your home.

As it comes as a package it doesn’t necessarily mean that when you take out the car insurance it automatically includes the home charger so you want to make sure that you’ve got it covered. You never know if the kids are going to kick a ball against the charger or you’re going to drop a ladder against it. There are all sorts of things that can happen causing damage to the charger.

You may have actually taken a car a couple of years ago and the government provided you with a grant, so you ended up paying about £350 for the charger which was just a standard charger. If you replace it now, you must replace it with a smart charger as a minimum. I would suggest that if you can afford it go one step further and buy a bidirectional charger, even if your current car is not capable of bi-directional charging. 

I’m planning to have a complete podcast on Bi-Directional charging and the huge benefits it offers. From an industry perspective a car manufacturer has launched a new package that includes a bi-directional charger which is great news but has to be some of the worst promotion of a product I’ve ever seen. I’ll explain more in my podcast, BYD take note! In the meantime, for the purposes of this podcast, they make it possible to charge your car over-night at cheap rate then use the cheap rate electricity stored in your car’s battery to power your home during peak times or when there’s a power outage or power cut. In some cases, you can even sell the electricity back to the grid at a profit, keeping down your energy costs. 

Most manufacturers are looking to launch new models with bi-directional charging capability which means you have this added protection. I’ll talk about that in this bi-directional podcast but for the moment if you have the opportunity to get a bi-directional charger, I would recommend it but check out the price as they are still expensive compared to standard chargers. 

You must make sure that whatever charger you have installed, it is covered by insurance. It may be that you’re your car insurance automatically covers the charger. If it does, it will say so in the policy or it may be a tick box and you simply tick to have the charger covered adding a sum to the premium. You need to check the cover. Make sure that the insurance covers it against any damage and, if possible, breakdown. The last thing you want is the charger breaking down when you need a full charge overnight. 

If you don’t have the option to cover the charger on your car insurance you need to check your home insurance. Don’t assume that it’s already covered because it’s become part of your home. The chances are that if you drop something against it and it breaks and you have to replace it, you may well find that when you phone up your home insurance company they tell you that it’s not covered by your home insurance because you didn’t tell them about it. It’s possible that the insurer will cover it for free provided you tell them about it.

Or the insurer may have covered the charger for a nominal increase to the premium but if you didn't tell them about the charger, it won’t be covered leaving you to pay for the replacement or repair if damaged. 

Finally, there are insurance companies that can provide a specific home charger policy for just a few pounds per month. That cover may be a little more inclusive than an add-on to your home insurance. Covering things like accidental damage, vandalism, theft, full system cover, 24/7 callout and a replacement charger if not repairable. Some people prefer this cover rather than an add-on to their home or car insurance. Also, make sure you check for any excess. 

I guess I should also mention the charger manufacturer’s warranty which tends to range from 3 years to 7 years with an option to buy an extended warranty. Look for a charger with plenty of positive reviews and 24/7 callout if the unit stops working. Don’t forget that you will have to show that the charger was installed by a qualified technician to qualify for the warranty cover and any insurance cover. The installation engineer should provide you with all the paperwork you need to show that the installation is professional and fully tested. Check also to see if the warranty and or insurance covers you for an annual inspection especially if the cable is not tethered causing you to plug and unplug your lead daily. There are also safety systems built into the charger that help to protect your battery by not overcharging as well as pre-heating and pre-cooling just before you start driving the car etc. These circuits need to be checked every so often, a bit like having your water boiler checked each year.

One last thing I’ll mention because it’s important is a loop connection. You will need to check with your electric supplier if your property has a unique power supply or you are connected to a loop supply with your neighbours. If you’re in a loop you can’t connect a home charger but this isn’t a problem as the distribution network supplier, or DNS, should be able to decouple you, completely free of charge, from the loop but it can take several months to organise and you may need a friendly chat with your neighbours, as the old loop cables or new direct cables may be routed through their garden. I would advise that you find a suitable charger and installer for your home charger and get them to advise. They will check to see if you are on a loop supply, which isn’t always obvious, and help with making arrangements with the DNS to carry out the necessary work. This shouldn’t affect your insurance as long as you have the work done professionally. 

Timing is obviously important as you really need this work done before your new car arrives. You can connect to a normal 3 pin socket if the car arrives before the charger can be installed but the charge speed is painfully slow. You may have to factor in the cost of public charging for a period whilst the work is being carried out. Now, one further word of warning, there are a number of cheap chargers finding their way into the UK that don’t meet EU or UK standards so make sure that you buy a charger that comes from a reputable supplier. Also make sure that you have the charger installed by a qualified electrician as they will know if you are on a loop and will advise accordingly. However, if you have your car charger attached to a looped electrical feed you could experience the charger catching fire and as a result no insurance payout.  

OK, back to your Insurance, next thing to check is the charge cable that all electric and plug-in hybrid cars come with. Typically, it’s a type 2 cable which you need to make sure is covered for accidental damage. If you have a cable with a connector on each end it’s easy to steal and could easily find its way onto a famous auction website for more than its scrap value. There are a number of ways to secure your cable from a simple padlock attaching it to the car whilst charging to sophisticated apps that allow you to electronically lock the charge cable to your car. I will probably produce a complete podcast on this as cable theft is a big problem for both charge station operators and EV drivers. So you need to make sure that you’re covered for damage and for theft of the cable. This may come under the heading of accessories within your insurance policy but don’t assume this, make sure that you check this out.  

You should also be covered for 3rd party injury because if you’ve got your cable connected to an outside or roadside charger and someone trips over it causing damage or injury it could lead to a claim against you, so make sure that your policy covers you for 3rd party claims because these things are happening. Some roadside chargers need you to use your own cable so you need to make sure that you’re covered when using a public charger. Probably within your car insurance policy rather than your home policy. 

I should also mention that, in order to avoid theft, some charge stations only have tethered cables attached to the DC chargers, known as Ultra Rapid chargers. Now, this opens up a different problem because if you use your own cable to attach to a fast or rapid AC charger it’s likely to be your responsibility if someone trips over the cable so again make sure that your car insurance covers your charge cable for damage, theft and personal as well as 3rd party injury. Also, check for any excess. Finally, be aware that some policies may exclude liability for accidents caused by charging cables if you haven't taken reasonable precautions to prevent accidents, for example, ensuring the cable is safely routed and visible and not a tripping hazard.  

Now, another area that I’m going to cover in this podcast may seem a little strange as I’m going to talk about windscreen replacement, which you may think would be the same for ICE cars and electric cars. In my season 1 podcasts I reported that the cost of replacing an electric car screen was 6 times the cost of an ICE car screen with the ICE car reported to cost £400 whilst an electric car screen cost £2,400, according to Total Motion, mainly because of the extra technology fitted to an electric car requiring much more calibration and in some electric cars different glass compound to keep wind noise to a minimum as well as heating elements resulting in this increase in the cost of the replacement screen including fitting and recalibration.

However, since 2022 there has been an increase in technology fitted into ICE cars, increasing the cost of replacing the screen but it is still believed that replacing an electric car screen is substantially more than an ICE car screen. Now windscreen replacement is normally covered separately as part of glass cover requiring you to pay 70 - 100 pounds excess per claim, following which you have the glass windscreen replaced with nothing more to pay. If you lease the car or you finance it on a PCP and hand the car back at the end of the contract, you may be tempted to just have any chips in the windscreen repaired. If the chips are repaired you’ll not usually be charged any excess for the repair work carried out, so it will effectively cost you nothing. 

But here’s the danger. If you do that and then you send the car back, they could refer to a term within the contract that says you must replace a windscreen if there is a chip in the eye line and the eye line is normally the sweep of the windscreen wipers. Check the lease or PCP contract to see what is expected when you return the car as it can differ between leasing companies. Some may accept small chips and advise the maximum size of the chip that’s acceptable.  

I always recommend that you replace the screen if it has a chip in it rather than have the chip or crack repaired then risk being charged for a replacement screen that could be in the region of £2,400. To make matters worse I was at a conference earlier in 2023 and I was talking to a group of people working in the car insurance industry and they were saying that the insurance companies are actually thinking of moving electric car windscreen replacement from glass cover into general accident cover. This means that if you make a claim, you’re going to have to pay your accident claims excess. It could then affect your accumulated no claims discount because if you don’t have no claims discount protection you could lose all of your no-claims discount which can amount to a substantial amount. If you have no-claims discount protection then you’ve lost one of your lives. You normally have 2 lives so you can make two claims and then you lose your no claims discount. With no protection you will lose all of your no claims discount if your windscreen cover moves to general accident.

The reason given was that reversing into a lamp post may cost £1,500 to repair less your excess whereas a replacement windscreen could be as high as £2,400 with an excess as low as £75 which is suggested to be wrong. At the time of the discussion it was still a rumour but I would recommend that you check that your glass is covered separately and not moved across to general accident and if still covered separately check the excess to make sure that you won’t be hit with an excess similar to your main insurance excess. 

Whilst on the subject of no claims discount protection I should point out that if you make a claim it doesn’t mean that your premium will remain the same. It just means that you will protect your no claims discount that you’ve built up, say 60%. So, following an accident your premium will normally increase, that can’t be prevented, but you will still keep the discount of 60%. On balance I still feel that No Claims Discount Protection is worth it especially if you have 40% or more accumulated discount. 

OK so those are three of the main areas I would say you need to check when you take out your insurance on an electric car as opposed to a petrol or diesel car. Make sure your home charger and charge cable are covered as well as windscreen cover being separate to the main insurance cover. And always make sure that you have it. Most of the other terms remain pretty much the same between ICE car cover and electric car cover although I have plenty more to say about Insurance and Insurance products throughout the next few podcasts. 

There is another very important item that needs specific insurance cover and that’s battery damage either through accident or flood but I’m holding that back until I expose a myth buster for giving out dreadful information that could cost drivers a fortune through to injury and even death. So, I’ll deal with this subject then. A must listen to episode. 

On the good news front it would seem that electric cars are less easy to steal. Known for high levels of technology included in electric cars it acts as a deterrent to would be thieves. In a recent TV programme on car theft a disguised car thief said, as he was looking for cars to steal and saw a Tesla that he wouldn’t bother. And that seemed to be the case whenever he saw an electric car. When asked by the interviewer why he ignored electric cars he simply said, ‘Too complicated with some fitted with trackers that were too difficult to jam.’ Of course, one of the issues is the 800 volt operating system as most of the stolen cars were ‘chopped’ for the spare parts and shipped abroad in containers. When any work needs to be carried out on electric cars they have to be isolated by qualified personnel to make them safe to work on. Do something wrong and the battery can catch fire or at worst explode and the dismantlers may suffer a serious shock. As just mentioned inbuilt trackers, immobilisers and even eye recognition systems can put off thieves. 

Also, one more general tip is parking your car in the street as opposed to in a garage. I have often been told stories by customers that whilst they have a garage they normally park their car in the street but say on their insurance application that their car is normally parked in their garage overnight. Believing that this is preferred to street parking and reduces the premium. In fact, in many cases, we’ve seen a lower premium when the car is shown as being parked in the street than in a garage. When parked in a garage thieves are clearly out of sight and free to take their time. But on the street the thieves are far more visible and likely to be picked up on domestic and public CCTV. And not knowing which car belongs to which house makes stealing it using the ‘relay attack’ method much more difficult.   

OK, so that’s this insurance podcast finished. I hope that it’s been useful. These aren’t the sort of things that dealers and brokers explain when you buy or finance an electric car and certainly beyond the whingy myth busters. So make sure that you subscribe to this podcast and if you’re selling electric cars make an impression with your customers by providing all of this advice. You also have a duty of care to your customers to make sure that he or she is fully prepared and aware of these insurance implications. I thought I’d just mention that.

Please subscribe on whichever platform you’ve found this podcast. Or you can subscribe by visiting grahamhilltraining.com/podcast. See the episode notes for details. If you want to sponsor my podcast and have a link to your website in the podcast show notes please let me know by contacting me via the contact form on grahamhilltraining.com. That’s this podcast over, many thanks for attending, I’ve been Graham Hill, catch you on the next one, keep making a ruckus and bye for now!.