Surge

I’m taking delivery of brand new 2023 EQS450 SUV and I was not prepared to pay DOUBLE the insurance cost of my G-Wagon. Even when brand new, the 2019 G550 was half the price, despite being considerably more expensive.
Since theft is extremely rare for the EQS (or any EV) I was not expecting to pay over $4000(CAD) per year, and with a flawless driving record and being 50, to boot. What is going on?

The car was massively discounted (>25% off) by Mercedes, but some of that gain is now lost.

MB2timer

Electric vehicles don’t do well in crashes. Electric vehicles are very expensive to repair. Electric vehicles often have charging problems. Those problems, when the cause of insurance claims, are antithetical to the profits of insurance companies. Increased premiums are intended to increase insurance company profits, discourage claims, or winnow out high risk customers, without actually canceling them.

Surge

None of this is true, unfortunately. Unless you can send us sources.
Crashes - I’m talking about Mercedes, not EVs in general. We know Tesla for instance is junk, especially when it comes to crashes. So what?
Charging problems - like what, referring to the EQS specifically. And how does that impact insurance costs?

I would hazard it’s more a function on very little data/low volumes, and insurers are being cautious.

Is anyone in Canada paying less than ~$4000/year?

RJC

EV's are more expensive to repair, fires (although less than ICE's probably because there's less EV's on the road comparatively), are far more difficult to extinguish, and fire fighters can be severely shocked when dealing with them due to the high voltage lith-ion batteries. Furthermore. if living in a flood area they can catch fire due to flooding. In FL many condo associations are having their rates increase if EV's are kept in their garages under dwellings in coastal areas. Newer tech sodium ion batteries will help with some of these fire issues, but not the elevated cost to repair. EV's, like vehicles with ICE's, both have pluses and minuses, there is no clear overall winner, no matter hard one tries to make the case either way.

There’s also thread here about garage fire, insurance etc. Unfortunately EV’s are not all they’re cracked up to be and most buyers are clueless. Auto manufacturers only went in headfirst b/c of the Tesla craze and were vying for market share . Personally I think they are ugly.

We seem to live in herd mentality times— everyone wanted a Tesla, meme type stocks with horrific fundamentals reach stupid levels, home prices have tripled in my area in the last 4 years and are horribly overvalued b/c so many think SFL is a panacea and find out in due time it’s not. The beat goes on…

k_j1m

Located in SoCal, paying $415 a month at the moment

superswiss

This has been fairly well documented in recent times. EV insurance rates have been on the rise. Below is what the NAIC has to say to it, but what they are not mentioning is due to the battery being the most expensive piece on an EV and no real way to assess the condition of the battery after a crash, EVs are written off at a much higher rate than ICE. The NAIC is optimistic that rates will come down eventually, but so far there are no signs of that going to happen. Many of the reasons they mention are not going to change any time soon, especially with the EV market cooling down as it has.

https://content.naic.org/cipr-topics...nsurance-rates

Here's a recent real world case of why insurance rates are high for EVs. This made the rounds a few months ago.

nath_h

I've read a few articles about EV's being written off prematurely leading to high insurance rates. Since a one piece EQS battery costs $78,000 plus installation, it doesn't take much of an accident to end up with a written off car. As much as I like our EQS and ev's in general, it is a weak point, at least for now. Plus, there are fewer shops that work on ev's, so another added complexity to getting them repaired post accident. I did see a CNBC mini doc recently about car insurance in general, and how rates are skyrocketing. Drivers distracted by their phones have caused more accidents, at higher speeds. The accident rates started to climb around 2016 when iPhone mass adoption happened according to CNBC.

streborx

Car rental companies, with the experience of tens of thousands of EVs, hundreds of thouands of customers, and millions of miles driven, are dialing back their fleets of EVs entirely because of higher operating, maintenance and repair costs. Hertz is selling off 20,000 EVs and its CEO resigned over EV related financial losses. Is a MB EV cheaper to repair than a Tesla? Not likely.

My non-EV insurance has increased 50% over 3 years. No accidents, no citations, no claims, except for one windshield -- but it was a $3400 windshield, thanks to all the ADAS intended to improve safety and reduce accidents.

Car thefts are up, accidents are up thanks to distracted driving and drugs (legal and illegal), road rage is up, repair costs are up (inflation). Drivers cause these problems. Insurers pay for these problems.

dmstl

EQS 580 sedan easily 50% more than my traded A8 ICE insurance and double my spouse’s 2024 MB ICE SUV. Is what it is, but yes, rates are going through the roof. As a reference, Audi A8 full headlight replacement (part only) was $5K when it crack beyond repair from very minor impact, so I kind of get it. Don’t like it either, and rates seem to be going up 10% at each renewal.

pmichaelmd

All of the above. Mine is $5800/ year. 👎🏼

Surge

Yikes! I guess I should not complain at CAD4000/year.
I did not expect it to be double than my G Wagon, which is the current gen and has full replacement value should it be written off or stolen.

QuadBenz

Do you all not shop around for insurance? If one company gives you a high price, go check somewhere else. There's usually at least one reputable insurance company out there NOT trying to screw you over.

LastOne

@Surge The Canadian insurance for my EQE SUV went up 35% over my 5-year old GLA, and is less than half your bill. This is with 2 drivers and low annual mileage and full replacement value. Maybe you could get a better rate with some shopping around.

streborx

Of course -- I changed carriers about 4 years ago. But in the long run, it's a game. Insurance is competitive and largely an undifferentiated product, and similar rates after they give you the introductory rate. What do insurers advertise? Customer service and low rates? No -- they promote themselves with dufuses that own pet emus, wear butcher aprons everywhere, and are accident prone with bandaged faces.

Crito

Save 15% by switching but then it goes up 20% every year after that for no reason. To me it feels like I'm being penalized for my loyalty. When I switch insurers I never go back.

Saw a YouTube video where guy bought a cheap high-end EV (sorry cant find it now) with a salvage title at auction and only thing wrong, other than body damage, were a couple broken bolts that held the battery in place. I don;t know if it's the cost of a replacement battery or the risk of fire after repair but that seems to be the issue.

Crito

And if I may rant a little... In my fantasy world where I have inalienable natural rights and the government works for me to protect them with legal rights instead of undermining them for the corporate interests it really serves -- I'd have the right to repair my own EV. Something like NACS but for battery packs would work great. Just lift up your rear seat exposing the six NABPS modules. Five will have green lights and one has a red light. Press the button next to the red light and remove the module. Insert the new replacement module and press the button again. When the light turns green your EV's battery has been successfully repaired. Tada!

Surge

Great idea!

lkfoster

It's not just that EVs are more expensive than ICs. My insurance doubled from my old Audi e-tron EV.

hyperion667

4k a year is fawking insane

MB37

Sorry, Crito. It ain't that simple like in the sci-fi movie where the character is carrying around an energy pack the size of a gallon of milk with the power punch of a nuclear megawatt. And you just slip it into a pneumatic tube like insert, solved!
As for insurance, I'm paying ~$1900/year with Geico. I know it will go up every 6 months. We don't have a solution, we just know the problem at this point.

stealth.pilot

The EV people are not the herd. The anti EV people are not the herd. You are part of the herd. You have been brainwashed into preferring an inferior product.

EVs account for less than 1% of registered vehicles in the USA. That is not a herd. It is a vanguard. The 99% choosing to use inferior vehicles are the herd. They do what other people do because they can’t think for themselves. They cling to cliches like EV suck up your time to charge, when in reality it takes no time to charge overnight at home, and you save hundreds of hours a year driving to and from gas stations, or cliches that EVs are more flammable when the statistics show ICE vehicles are
more flammable.

Yes EVs are more expensive to own. But so are other high quality luxury goods - yachts, planes, luxury homes, luxury cars.

streborx

Yes, indeed -- there are about 4,000 of these superior vehicles resting at 3000 meters in the hull of the Felicity Ace off the coast of Portugal.

stealth.pilot

Not sure the relevance. This article says that ICE vehicles are 10X more likely to catch fire.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/neilwin...h=4e112f61dd66

RJC

Speak for yourself

stealth.pilot

Blocked. I follow a simple rule. Don't argue with idiots.