# BMW, Mercedes and Tesla owners could be hit by higher insurance premiums



## WHIZZER (Oct 25, 2005)

Thousands of drivers could see their car insurance rocket if new uncapped data is used by insurers.

Since 2009, Thatcham's Group Insurance Rating has placed vehicles into a 1-50 system by using a capped algorithm to help insurers determine the cost of cover. While there are no plans to replace the current process, raw data shared as a result of taking the cap off has seen around 500 cars surge into a 50-plus category.

This has left owners of some high-powered and expensive vehicles, including electric models, for brands such as BMW, Mercedes and Tesla at risk of being hit with even higher premiums.

“We already know that many BMW, Mercedes and Tesla vehicles are among the most expensive to insure,” said a spokesperson for Adrian Flux, one of the UK’s largest specialist motor insurance brokers.

“They’re new, high-powered and high-value vehicles that are costly to repair which puts them in a higher risk category. Drivers are aware of that but what they won’t be aware of is that their insurance is likely to have gone up overnight now the cap has been taken off.

“Some vehicles have had a 40% increase in car group and while Thatcham say it’s for internal use only, lots of insurers will build this into their rates for cars in group 50 which will ultimately hit some drivers in the pockets.”

Tesla Model-X, Mercedes S-Class and BMW i8 are just three of the models that may be affected. The new information provided lifted a Model-X PD 100 to an uncapped group 58E, S-Class 4 Series AMG S65L to 60E and a 2019 i8 to 66E. However, the trio will officially remain categorised as group 50 vehicles.

Audi, Jaguar, Land Rover, Nissan and Porsche are among the other brands listed on the document - which places Audi’s R8 Series 2 V10 Performance Decennium as the highest in a possible 77E category - that has been shared with several insurers.

Over half of all money paid out in motor insurance claims goes on repairing cars. The cost of spare parts and the time taken by repairers are major factors in pricing motor insurance. Several other factors including the car price, performance, security and braking performance are taken into account for the system which, until 2009, used to work on a 1-20 category basis.


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## muzzer (Feb 13, 2011)

Isn't it funny how the powers that be are screaming about how we should do more for the environment and all drive electric cars.
Then they announced that if everyone bought an electric car, they would HAVE to start road charging to make up the £40 Billion short fall from Fuel Duty.
Now they want to whack the insurance premiums through the roof?

Just another stealth tax to milk the motorist dry to make up for their broken promises they used to get elected.


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## straight6hatch (Jul 17, 2020)

muzzer said:


> Isn't it funny how the powers that be are screaming about how we should do more for the environment and all drive electric cars.
> Then they announced that if everyone bought an electric car, they would HAVE to start road charging to make up the £40 Billion short fall from Fuel Duty.
> Now they want to whack the insurance premiums through the roof?
> 
> Just another stealth tax to milk the motorist dry to make up for their broken promises they used to get elected.


Exactly the same tactics used for smokers. High tax on cigarettes, then everyone decided to jump to quit or using vapes. Now theyre taxing us in other ways.

The bit that boils my **** more than anything car tax related is where the F does the money go? Its meant to be a 'road tax'? Theres barely any road that isnt totally ruined where I live. Its like doing the Baja 500......
Then you get these cars that are £0 road tax. WHY. Just because the emissions are low doesnt mean they should be exempt. They still use the roads dont they?


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## wish wash (Aug 25, 2011)

Surely premiums should be going down. More people working from home and all.


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## muzzer (Feb 13, 2011)

straight6hatch said:


> Exactly the same tactics used for smokers. High tax on cigarettes, then everyone decided to jump to quit or using vapes. Now theyre taxing us in other ways.
> 
> The bit that boils my **** more than anything car tax related is where the F does the money go? Its meant to be a 'road tax'? Theres barely any road that isnt totally ruined where I live. Its like doing the Baja 500......
> Then you get these cars that are £0 road tax. WHY. Just because the emissions are low doesnt mean they should be exempt. They still use the roads dont they?


It hasn't been called road fund licence since 1997 or whatever year it is Tony Blair swept to power. Labour changed the title to Vehicle Excise Duty, thereby neatly avoiding having people question why their RFL wasn't being used on the roads.


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## MDC250 (Jan 4, 2014)

wish wash said:


> Surely premiums should be going down. More people working from home and all.


More cars getting nicked apparently as people are home all the time, so home burglaries are down, car theft up.

You can't win with insurance, always 10 steps ahead 

I'm actually worried as Insurance drives a lot of things in the economy/country including pensions. Lots of pension funds are invested in commercial property. Covid has impacted on that and one thing insurers don't do is absorb loss.


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## percymon (Jun 27, 2007)

If you can afford those high performance cars then chances are you're not going to worry too much about insurance premiums. IT may however stop people getting cheap PCP deals (such as the likes of the M140 3 years ago) if they baulk at the insurance.

Electric cars are at least matching the performance cars in terms of acceleration/speed - this change in insurance might encourage some realignment of car makers, making electric cars to mirror the humble 1.8/2.0litre hatches and saloons most folk were happy with


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## Bizcam (Nov 19, 2012)

Off subject any excuse for a insurance rant. Car insurance is merry go round anyway. My son 20 drives a clio 0.9 tce thingy. Got his contract terminate early over the holidays because of the virus now unemployed. Informed the car insurance they wanted £273 more. W*****s Rant over.


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## Christian6984 (Dec 20, 2007)

straight6hatch said:


> Exactly the same tactics used for smokers. High tax on cigarettes, then everyone decided to jump to quit or using vapes. Now theyre taxing us in other ways.
> 
> The bit that boils my **** more than anything car tax related is where the F does the money go? Its meant to be a 'road tax'? Theres barely any road that isnt totally ruined where I live. Its like doing the Baja 500......
> Then you get these cars that are £0 road tax. WHY. Just because the emissions are low doesnt mean they should be exempt. They still use the roads dont they?


It is quite mad to think that my Fiesta diesel cost £30 to tax based on emissions but the newer ST is £145 and I'm fairly certain the Diesel is worse for the environment


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## Christian6984 (Dec 20, 2007)

Bizcam said:


> Off subject any excuse for a insurance rant. Car insurance is merry go round anyway. My son 20 drives a clio 0.9 tce thingy. Got his contract terminate early over the holidays because of the virus now unemployed. Informed the car insurance they wanted £273 more. W*****s Rant over.


An extra nearly £300 to use your car less, Car insurance logic must dictate the less miles you do the more likely you are to have an accident because your not as alert to hazards by getting less experience and practice on the roads :lol:


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## mbarn (Mar 2, 2019)

Christian6984 said:


> An extra nearly £300 to use your car less, Car insurance logic must dictate the less miles you do the more likely you are to have an accident because your not as alert to hazards by getting less experience and practice on the roads :lol:


They are just legalised scam artists. I moved from a big city, where I parked on the city centre street over night to a village where I had my own drive. Crime stats are available for all to see, yet my insurance added a few hundred extra on for the last 3 months of my policy. The renewal with a different company was significantly cheaper.

I was also in an accident in 2018. Not my fault, kept my no claims, but you have to list it when you apply for insurance. My Audi A4 went from £280/year to £1000 year. The Alfa I replaced it with costs £600/year but should actually only be £300 without the accident. Even though it wasn't my fault, I'm considered a higher risk of having another accident. Any future bumps, if the damage is less than £1k, then Ill just pay and not report


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## RS3 (Mar 5, 2018)

I believe this is driven mainly by electric cars and I understand that the insurance industry is looking at extending the current 1 - 50 insurance groups up to 80 as a result.
I also read recently that once the manufacturers warranty on electric vehicles run out, private warranties will cost a small fortune compared to an ICE car because the average warranty claim is more than double the cost (Usually electrical/battery faults which apparently Tesla and other electric manufacturers are plagued with).
This will be a major blow to the eco lobbyists once people realise the true lifecycle costs and turn their backs on electric.


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