Tesla Insurance is about to expand in two more states, Oregon and Virginia, and the company will underwrite the policies itself for the first time.
Tesla Insurance
Tesla had already introduced its own insurance product in California, but it didn’t utilize real-time driving data and Tesla’s safety score, which had been its original goal.
Before expanding its insurance product to other markets, the company wanted to build up its safety score system, which utilizes driving data collected in real-time from Tesla vehicles to determine if you are a “good driver” based on things like the number of “Forward Collision Warnings” you get, the amount of hard braking you do, aggressive turning, unsafe following distance, and if you get forced Autopilot disengagements.
In October, Tesla finally launched its new insurance product based on the safety score in Texas.
The automaker says that it expects those deemed “average” drivers based on their safety score should save 20% to 40% on their premium compared to competitors, and those with the safest scores could save between 30% to 60%.
In a review of some quotes compared the existing premiums for Tesla drivers, it was hit or miss on whether Tesla’s product was cheaper or not. There seems to be a bigger difference for those who already had a high premium based on age and gender, which Tesla insists it is not using in its own premium calculations, unlike other insurance companies.
Also, when first quoting and starting a policy, Tesla assumes a safety score of 90. The monthly premium price can quickly go down if you improve this score.
Tesla released an example that shows how the premium can change month-to -month, depending on your score:
In December, the company expanded the insurance product to Illinois.
Earlier this year, Tesla Insurance expanded to Arizona and Ohio – making it now available in five states – not including California – which won’t have the full product with real-time driving data.
Tesla expanding and underwriting itself
Expanding an insurance product in the US is difficult, because it is on a state-by-state basis.
Last year, CEO Elon Musk set an ambitious goal by saying that Tesla Insurance is aiming to be “in most states” by the end of 2022.
This is going to be hard, but we have seen things moving with a few more states already this year and now, Forbes reports that Tesla is about to expand in Oregon and Virginia based on the filings:
Austin, Texas-based Tesla currently offers auto insurance in Arizona, California, Illinois, Ohio and Texas. According to state insurance filings reviewed by Forbes Advisor, Tesla is looking to start selling auto insurance in Oregon and Virginia next. In these new states, the policies will be underwritten by Tesla General Insurance for the first time, as opposed to partner companies in other states.
Another interesting thing in the report is that Tesla plans to go through third parties to underwrite the policies and instead do it itself through a ‘Tesla General insurance’ entity.
This marks another important step in Tesla expanding its insurance business, which is going to be critical to the company’s plan to deploy self-driving technology.
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