Massive insurance premium increase

[noobzilla]

I need to do more research on car insurance. I had always just assumed that if my car gets totaled and Im not at fault, the insurance will either get a similar car or pay "market value" but I'm usually seeing that the payout value is on the lowball side ie. can sell car for $10k but insurance would only pay $8k.

There's really no used Pure for sale right now on the market but if there is soon then it'll likely be in the $70k or lower range. Insurance would then offer a lowball $50-60k value in case of a total? Could I then sue the at-fault driver to pay for the remaining difference?

 

[Amster]

I need to do more research on car insurance. I had always just assumed that if my car gets totaled and Im not at fault, the insurance will either get a similar car or pay "market value" but I'm usually seeing that the payout value is on the lowball side ie. can sell car for $10k but insurance would only pay $8k.

There's really no used Pure for sale right now on the market but if there is soon then it'll likely be in the $70k or lower range. Insurance would then offer a lowball $50-60k value in case of a total? Could I then sue the at-fault driver to pay for the remaining difference?

Standard insurance will pay the current market value for your car. Which means a used car with similar mileage on it. Of course that is less than you paid for it new. A few companies, Safeco and Pure, will give you full replacement value, the amount to buy a similar car now. I don't know about Pure, but for Safeco it's an add on coverage, but it's cheap, like $45 or something like that.

 

[gregshap]

I have Farm Bureau in New Mexico and it's only 1300 for a whole year full coverage. When I was in Texas it was 1300 for 6 months with the same company.

 

[hmp10]

I just got our 6-month insurance bills from State Farm:

2018 Honda Odyssey premium went up 12% to $754.81.

2021 Tesla Model S Plaid premium went up 12% to $811.44.

2022 Lucid Air Dream Performance premium went up 29% to $761.80.

These are obviously stiff increases over a 6-month period and hit the Lucid hardest, but they maintain the pattern I have seen since owning the Lucid. Relative to its power and cost to repair (with which I've had experience when our first Lucid was totaled), the Lucid remains the cheapest to insure relative to its purchase price.

Far and away the most expensive to insure relative to it original price and to its power is the Honda minivan, which is also the oldest of the three. Perhaps the Honda is more prone to theft (a huge driver of insurance rates) than the two EVs? Perhaps Odysseys have a significantly higher accident rate?

It's also interesting that our Lucid -- which cost 37% more than our Tesla, is newer, and has more power -- still remains significantly cheaper to insure than the Tesla despite the Lucid's much heftier rate increase.

 

[idiot900]

2022 Lucid Air Dream Performance premium went up 29% to $761.80.

I wonder how this change was distributed among the various components of your premium - i.e. which component of your risk does your carrier think has increased the most?

Currently something like 25% of my premium (not with State Farm) is collision and comprehensive. By far the largest component is insurance against uninsured/underinsured motorists.

 

[Adnillien]

2022 Lucid Air Dream Performance premium went up 29% to $761.80.

My 22 Lucid GT with Statefrm went up by 21% here in AZ. It has been increasing with each renewal.

 

[hmp10]

I wonder how this change was distributed among the various components of your premium - i.e. which component of your risk does your carrier think has increased the most?

As the Honda has different coverages, I checked the components of the Lucid and the Tesla premiums.

Liability: Lucid increased 39%, Tesla increased 23%

No Fault: Lucid decreased 13%, Tesla decreased 15%

Medical: Lucid increased 9%, Tesla increased 6%

Comprehensive: Lucid increased 42%, Tesla increased 16%

Collision: Lucid increased 27%, Tesla increased 27%

So the Lucid's most outsized increases relative to the Tesla were in liability and comprehensive.

 

[hmp10]

It's also interesting that our Lucid -- which cost 37% more than our Tesla, is newer, and has more power -- still remains significantly cheaper to insure than the Tesla despite the Lucid's much heftier rate increase.

Just an added thought on this point:

Lucid authorizes body repairs only through a very limited network of shops which have to buy expensive custom tooling for some repairs and have to send their personnel to training at Lucid facilities. Consequently these are high-end shops with correspondingly high labor rates.

I got an ample taste of the issues this triggers with insurers when our first Dream Edition was totaled. One of the things I found out was that at least some insurers originally underwrote Lucids on assumptions about repair costs that turned out to be significantly underestimated. Now that insurer experience is building with Lucids, I think some of the stiff Lucid rate increases are simply catching up with experience.

Interestingly, Tesla also authorizes only certain body shops to repair their vehicles, but it's a much wider network, and repair work is less closely monitored by Tesla than by Lucid. For example, while some repair parts for Tesla can now be obtained through the aftermarket or the junk market, Lucid parts can still only be obtained from Lucid in most cases, and Lucid will not sell them to an unauthorized body shop.

Yet, all this being said, State Farm still charges us 7% less for the same coverages on our newer and much more expensive Lucid than our Tesla.

 

[idiot900]

As the Honda has different coverages, I checked the components of the Lucid and the Tesla premiums.

Liability: Lucid increased 39%, Tesla increased 23%

No Fault: Lucid decreased 13%, Tesla decreased 15%

Medical: Lucid increased 9%, Tesla increased 6%

Comprehensive: Lucid increased 42%, Tesla increased 16%

Collision: Lucid increased 27%, Tesla increased 27%

So the Lucid's most outsized increases relative to the Tesla were in liability and comprehensive.

Makes sense, carriers are now better pricing in Lucid repair costs given how few certified repair shops there are. Thank you for looking! Presumably I’ll have a big increase here in PA next year when I renew and I’ll add to this thread then.

 

[Rogue]

Just an added thought on this point:

Lucid authorizes body repairs only through a very limited network of shops which have to buy expensive custom tooling for some repairs and have to send their personnel to training at Lucid facilities. Consequently these are high-end shops with correspondingly high labor rates.

I got an ample taste of the issues this triggers with insurers when our first Dream Edition was totaled. One of the things I found out was that at least some insurers originally underwrote Lucids on assumptions about repair costs that turned out to be significantly underestimated. Now that insurer experience is building with Lucids, I think some of the stiff Lucid rate increases are simply catching up with experience.

Interestingly, Tesla also authorizes only certain body shops to repair their vehicles, but it's a much wider network, and repair work is less closely monitored by Tesla than by Lucid. For example, while some repair parts for Tesla can now be obtained through the aftermarket or the junk market, Lucid parts can still only be obtained from Lucid in most cases, and Lucid will not sell them to an unauthorized body shop.

Yet, all this being said, State Farm still charges us 7% less for the same coverages on our newer and much more expensive Lucid than our Tesla.

Let me tell you... 6 weeks since the accident that almost certainly totaled the car. USAA considers the Lucid GT to be a specialty car. They have no idea the cost to repair, nor do they know the timeline.

Insurance premiums will be catching up for all of us as insurance companies struggle through the first repairs and totaled cars.

 

[hmp10]

USAA considers the Lucid GT to be a specialty car. They have no idea the cost to repair, nor do they know the timeline.

Part of our problem was that State Farm did have an idea about the cost to repair . . . but it was based on standard shop rates and was wildly out of whack with the authorized body shop's idea of cost.

A showdown was avoided when a deeper examination of the car revealed that the aluminum horseshoe (a structural member through which the front axle passes) was bent beyond spec, and that means totaling the car no matter the extent of other damages. At that point the question became replacement cost instead of repair cost, and that was much more easily resolved.

 

[MoniputerLM]

Part of our problem was that State Farm did have an idea about the cost to repair . . . but it was based on standard shop rates and was wildly out of whack with the authorized body shop's idea of cost.

A showdown was avoided when a deeper examination of the car revealed that the aluminum horseshoe (a structural member through which the front axle passes) was bent beyond spec, and that means totaling the car no matter the extent of other damages. At that point the question became replacement cost instead of repair cost, and that was much more easily resolved.

I am having the same issue with State Farm. They want to pay about half of the cost to repair from the only authorized body shop in Houston.

 

[hmp10]

I am having the same issue with State Farm. They want to pay about half of the cost to repair from the only authorized body shop in Houston.

At the time of our accident Lucid had an in-house team that oversaw accident repairs done by their network of authorized dealers. They also worked as liaisons with insurers in the event of repair disputes and spent a lot of time on the road examining wrecked Lucids, probably wanting to understand how Lucid's perform in various accident scenarios.

Insurers want to pay the "prevailing community rates" for shop labor. However, most of the repair shop chains and franchises whose labor rates go into the insurers' databases will not invest in the equipment and training it takes to work on a Lucid. Consequently, Lucid's authorized shops are usually high-end shops that specialize in ultra-luxury and exotic vehicles and charge significantly higher labor rates.

A lot of accusations got slung between the body shop and State Farm in our accident, including a State Farm claim that the body shop inflated invoices. Lucid informed me that their oversight team examined every invoice submitted by their authorized repair shops for both parts and labor time and that no such scamming was occurring.

You might want to contact Lucid to enlist the aid of their in-house team if it's still up and running.

 

[MoniputerLM]

At the time of our accident Lucid had an in-house team that oversaw accident repairs done by their network of authorized dealers. They also worked as liaisons with insurers in the event of repair disputes and spent a lot of time on the road examining wrecked Lucids, probably wanting to understand how Lucid's perform in various accident scenarios.

Insurers want to pay the "prevailing community rates" for shop labor. However, most of the repair shop chains and franchises whose labor rates go into the insurers' databases will not invest in the equipment and training it takes to work on a Lucid. Consequently, Lucid's authorized shops are usually high-end shops that specialize in ultra-luxury and exotic vehicles and charge significantly higher labor rates.

A lot of accusations got slung between the body shop and State Farm in our accident, including a State Farm claim that the body shop inflated invoices. Lucid informed me that their oversight team examined every invoice submitted by their authorized repair shops for both parts and labor time and that no such scamming was occurring.

You might want to contact Lucid to enlist the aid of their in-house team if it's still up and running.

"Insurers want to pay the "prevailing community rates" for shop labor. However, most of the repair shop chains and franchises whose labor rates go into the insurers' databases will not invest in the equipment and training it takes to work on a Lucid. Consequently, Lucid's authorized shops are usually high-end shops that specialize in ultra-luxury and exotic vehicles and charge significantly higher labor rates."

This is exactly the case for the shop here in Houston.

 

[Bunnylebowski]

I am having the same issue with State Farm. They want to pay about half of the cost to repair from the only authorized body shop in Houston.

Report them to the state insurance commissioner ASAP. The same thing happened to me with Esurance, reporting them resolved everything within a few days when before they were extremely unprofessional, not even replying to the shop or my inquiries and delaying repairs by refusing to authorize the labor costs.

 

[Bunnylebowski]

"Insurers want to pay the "prevailing community rates" for shop labor. However, most of the repair shop chains and franchises whose labor rates go into the insurers' databases will not invest in the equipment and training it takes to work on a Lucid. Consequently, Lucid's authorized shops are usually high-end shops that specialize in ultra-luxury and exotic vehicles and charge significantly higher labor rates."

This is exactly the case for the shop here in Houston.

Also a Taycan owner in Florida was granted class action status over a very similar case, where insurance refused to pay labor for the certified shop.

 

[SubSailor]

40% increase for my 2013 Mazda and 50% increase for my Lucid. What the heck!? Anyone else got massive insurance increase?

From Wawanesa.

"The cost of providing insurance coverage has increased significantly since we last increased rates for all our customers in
2018. This is due to a variety of factors:
- Serious injuries resulting from accidents have increased 12%, impacted by increased speeds
- The cost to repair vehicles (including parts & labor) has increased 40%
- The cost of replacing used vehicles when totaled has increased 60%
- The cost of medical claims has increased 55%"

What I have now
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Next month
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My USAA premium went to 2200 for Lucid and 1050 for Tesla with no accidents and 48 yrs with them. Also moved to $1000 deductible. I called them and got the same song and dance about inflation and major claims over the last few years. I get it but at 81 years old, I am getting tired of it. Planning on selling the Tesla and just using the golf cart around the neighborhood and the Lucid for travel. Spouse is getting to the point of not letting me drive much longer with "our" Lucid. Ouch!!!! Anyway, life is good and Lucid is running well. Hope all had a great Christmas and keep safe over New Years.

 

[SaratogaLefty]

My USAA premium went to 2200 for Lucid and 1050 for Tesla with no accidents and 48 yrs with them. Also moved to $1000 deductible. I called them and got the same song and dance about inflation and major claims over the last few years. I get it but at 81 years old, I am getting tired of it. Planning on selling the Tesla and just using the golf cart around the neighborhood and the Lucid for travel. Spouse is getting to the point of not letting me drive much longer with "our" Lucid. Ouch!!!! Anyway, life is good and Lucid is running well. Hope all had a great Christmas and keep safe over New Years.

Did you have an accident claim? Moving violations?

 

[Lucken]

Did you have an accident claim? Moving violations?

SubSailor said: My USAA premium went to 2200 for Lucid and 1050 for Tesla with no accidents and 48 yrs with them.

 

[pjdcorp]

SubSailor said: My USAA premium went to 2200 for Lucid and 1050 for Tesla with no accidents and 48 yrs with them.

My USAA premium went up about 35% for my Touring. I had USAA for 35+ years. So I switched to Amica where my premium is 10% less than what my USAA premium had been prior to USAA's latest increase.