Hybrid and electric car insurance

If you’re considering a switch to an electric vehicle (EV) or a hybrid, you may find the following quick overview of the insurance position useful.

The basics

The good news is that:

  • electric car insurance is available, as are similar products covering hybrids.

That might be self-evident given you’ve perhaps already seen such vehicles on the road but there is an important point here. Although cover is available, it might not necessarily be easy to find.

Why?

Market positioning

Despite electric vehicles having been on the road in numbers for a few years now         , significant numbers of conventional insurance providers still haven’t reacted. That means that they don’t have policies readily available for these vehicles.

It can take some time for the insurance industry to react to radical new developments in the automotive industry. To be fair, writing and underwriting a new line of policies isn’t as easy as it might sound.

Even so, the result is that it’s still necessary to know the market well when searching for electric car insurance and associated quotes.

Points to note about EV insurance

There’s even more good news in the fact that the vast majority of EV insurance terminology should be very familiar to anyone who has ever insured a conventionally-powered vehicle previously.

There will be discussion of third party liability, no claims discounts, fully comprehensive cover and so on. There are though, a few specifics where this type of vehicle cover will vary from what you might have seen before:

When you have cables around, sooner or later someone may trip over them. An EV policy needs to cover you against the third-party exposures arising from this and subsequent claims for compensation;

  • battery cover options. Unlike a petrol or diesel engine vehicle, EVs may have a power unit (the battery) that’s not owned by you. There are a number of ownership or leasing options right now for this expensive component of the car and whichever applies in your case will need to be specified in the insurance policy so that everyone’s clear who has responsibility for insuring it.

This is a routine issue and typically not cause for concern;

  • out-of-charge cover. If by any chance you get stuck due to being out of charge, you may wish to see a speedy recovery;
  • multiple car cover. This isn’t entirely dissimilar to the same issue with convention vehicles – will you be covered to drive another car if you need to? The only difference is that you’ll need to be sure your policy covers you for other EVs as well as conventionally-fuelled vehicles.

Summary

Providing you’re dealing with a specialist provider of electric car insurance such as ourselves, you should be able to find appropriate cover and at a cost-effective price. You should also find much of the discussion around such policies to be broadly familiar.

Worries about insurance shouldn’t inhibit you from looking further at this incredible technology with all its associated environmental benefits.

Save time & money with Specialist 4 Insurance: Call 01992 307101 to get a quote