Tesla Extends Insurance Policy With Real-time Data Collection

The pricing directly depends on the driving security level: Tesla expands the offer of the most personalized insurance service available so far, a system that basically collects all your driving data in real time.

Knowing even the smallest detail of the use that your client gives to the vehicle would ideally allow insurance companies to customize the price of their policy insurance and the actual coverage included. This dream situation is already possible with Tesla Insurance company division. Tesla Insurance expands the scope of its policy, which will base its entire strategy on analyzing driver data thanks to the collection of remote information – via its many different built-in sensors - by the car. Is it a good idea or is it a way of totally interfering in the life and privacy of the insured?

When signing an insurance policy with any regular company, they normally ask several questions in order to determine the way we drive, and also the actual use and the kind of care/protection we give our car. The age of the driver, the normal use of the car, the number of drivers, the number of miles per year, the places where the car is usually parked, accident history, etc. are the kinds of questions that help insurance companies to adjust the price, up or down, of each of their insurance contracts. But by having access to more personalized driving data, those insurance contracts could be adjusted in a way more detailed, tailored way.

Tesla's insurance division is not something new, as a matter of fact. The company has already been operating for some time now, although it is only available in a few states such as California, Texas, Ohio, Arizona or Nevada, among others. It is precisely in Nevada that Tesla just implemented the new insurance policy based on driving data in real time, thus bringing to eight the number of states that already allow this type of insurance contract, so far the most advanced and personalized by the company; a type of contract that every time gains more preference at the Austin offices.

Tesla has actually had a particular driving safety classification system for its customers for years now. Given the built-in high connectivity features each car has, the company knows perfectly well how safe the user's driving style is, automatically assessing said driving style on a scale between 0 and 100, where 100 is the highest possible score. This same program is the one that serves as a guide for the deployment of the constant security updates of the autonomous driving "FSD" package; the higher your security score, the sooner you will get the precious new features.

Tesla Insurance basically makes sure that thanks to this new data collection, average drivers will be able to save between 20 and 40% on their insurance policy cost. In the case of drivers with better driving safety ratings, the savings can be between 30 and 60%. As an example, with a safety score of 90, the approximate cost of the policy would be 121 dollars; while if we are more cautious in our driving the price could dramatically drop to 83 dollars per month (with a score of 98).

Tesla hopes it will be able to expand this format - as well as the entire Tesla Insurance network - in the coming months, reaching more states and more drivers. Once it is established throughout the United States, the possibility of exporting the system abroad will be considered - and hopefully be well received - just like in the US.

All images courtesy of Tesla Inc.

Nico Caballero is the VP of Finance of Cogency Power, specializing in solar energy. He also holds a Diploma in Electric Cars from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, and enjoys doing research about Tesla and EV batteries. He can be reached at @NicoTorqueNews on Twitter. Nico covers Tesla and electric vehicle latest happenings at Torque News.