Car Insurance Renewal

[Plissken]

I've heard (but can't vouch for) that electric cars are expensive to repair because if the battery is damaged, or even potentially damaged, the insurer has to replace it because of the potential fire risk. If they send back a car with a potentially damaged battery, even if it's only a small potential, the costs of failure in both human and money terms are astronomical. Most parts of most vehicles don't carry the same catastrophic risk.

Yes they do. An ICE car carries a highly flammable liquid around with it at all times in order to produce power via a series of miniature explosions. If you really want to be pedantic about it - and I'm a grumpy sort of mood, so what the hell - an ICE car is technically on fire at all times while someone is driving it around because that's how it works.

The fire risk from a battery pack is vastly, vastly overstated. The difference is that putting a battery fire out is harder than putting an engine fire out and requires different materials.

EVs are expensive to repair because they are effectively computers on wheels powered by a battery pack that is effectively 90% of the parts. It's not like a broken gearbox or a blown engine, which constitutes a smaller part. So it's a case of the battery pack being much less likely to go wrong, but if it does it's a bigger bill.

[Walton]

Weirdly, mine went down. Identical car, no change to policy or circumstances. No idea how these things are worked out.

Same for me. The open market was nowhere near what I got as a renewal quote, so I'm happy to stay with Ageas for another year.

[Plissken]

I'm another who's read/heard a stream of hefty price increase stories but managed to secure a better/higher mileage police with a better profile company (Aviva) for £20 less than I managed last year

To be honest, forget what other people say. Because of the variables involved, the chances of two similar cases having the same price rise/fall are slim to start off with. Too many anecdotes seem to assume that because one persons premium went up by 30% or down by 20 quid then they will get similar. It just doesn't work that way.

Edit: As an example, my wifes car is the exact same model as my old car but six months newer. My renewal for this year went up by a fiver, and hers went down by a tenner.

[South West Claret.]

Thanks for that information dsr.

Another reason for not buying an electric car just yet.

[The Hung Juror]

Does car insurance get more expensive the closer you leave it to your renewal date, or is that another misnomer?