Tesla tests car insurance with a variable premium based on driving behavior
The American automaker Tesla is currently conducting an innovative experiment in Texas, where it is offering its customers car insurance with a variable monthly premium, calculated according to a safety index based on various driving behavior criteria. Here, age and gender are of no importance.
Tesla offers particularly competitive car insurance rates, currently in Texas and soon in California. Indeed, the insurance premium is indexed on a so-called safety score. Each month, a new total gives rise to a new payment. The idea is simple: the better the driver drives, the less they will pay for their insurance. And vice versa.
Several driving criteria are taken into account to calculate this score, such as the number of head-on collision warnings recorded every 1,000 kilometers, the number of hard braking incidents, aggressive cornering, dangerous following distances, and the number of forced Autopilot deactivations.
In other words, the cost of this innovative insurance policy varies in relation to driving behavior. Indeed, drivers who sign up to this insurance will make monthly payments based on their driving behavior instead of more traditional factors such as age, gender or claims history.
Tesla is currently offering this new type of insurance policy to all Model S, Model 3, Model X and Model Y owners who want it, initially in Texas. This type of insurance does not require any additional device to be installed in the vehicle, since Tesla uses functions and data already integrated in its system.
The lower the score (and the lower the driver’s risky behavior), the lower the monthly payments will be. According to its calculations, Tesla estimates that the safest drivers could save up to 60% compared to classic car insurance.
