Luxury Car Insurance Tips Tesla Autopilot and Lidar Technology 2023

Understanding luxury car insurance exclusions
Luxury car insurance coverage options
Luxury Car Insurance Tips Tesla Autopilot and Lidar Technology (credit: Unsplash)

Congratulations! You just got your Tesla or you’re thinking about getting a tesla or you just ordered one and you’re waiting for delivery the tesla is a great vehicle of course.

 as everyone knows about the technology and the sensors and just the overall comfort of electricity is amazing not having to fill up on gas is just a fantastic thing to have.

but what I would like to talk with you today is about how to properly insure your tesla one thing we want to look at when wTeslaure a Tesla vehicle.

we want to look at the property damage coverage so every auto insurance policy that you have has a  property damage portion of the policy and what those property damage means is that that’s going to essentially cover the damage of not your car but someone else’s vehicle that you hit.

so you hit another tesla with your tesla you hit another vehicle for that matter that property damage amount is going to be the amount of money that your insurance policy would y for the damage to someone else’s vehicle.

 tesla as we know starting with the tesla model  3 through the models and so forth can start anywhere in the ballpark of about eighty thousand dollars up to over 130  000 plus dollars depending on the features and the model.

so with that in mind you want to look at property damage limits of at least a hundred thousand dollars minimum or even up to two hundred fifty thousand dollars depending on your insurance company and what they can provide.

it’s really important to understand that if you do not have enough limits in the event you hit another vehicle with that you know price tag then that will leave you to have to be personally liable to cover the property damage for that vehicle.

likewise,f  someone else hits you want to make sure that eir policy also has enough money to cover your sla car in the event they hit your car damage.

the vehicle you want to make sure that they have enough limits now you might say well how can I verify that they have limits that’s where we have a big challenge with insurance is that people may not have enough insurance which could be a big deal.

people may say well you know what a hundred thousand dollars is too much I’m never going to hit someone and have to pay for damage that way but some situations happen all the time and there are also cases where people don’t have any insurance at.

so on your policy, you want to make sure you purchase or elect or speak with your agent about underinsured or uninsured motorist coverage and what under-insured or uninsured motorist coverage does is that in the event you are hit by someone that doesn’t have enough insurance or no insurance at all your policy will act will pay to cover your vehicle or even cover your injuries.

for that matter, another thing that in most cases each state is different so again make sure you talk with your specific insurance agent for your state that if you’re in a hit and run or if someone just they’re the grocery store hit your car by accident d they decide to just leave and not leave a  note in that case.

if you have uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage in most cases on your policy that will cover hit-and-run situations so also speak with your insurance company or your insurance agent about that coverage.

as well if you don’t have that coverage right now and you have a tesla or any vehicle for that matter I highly recommend you look at options to add that coverage to your call another key consideration to give.

when you’re insuring a tesla you want to look at your bodily injury liability amounts the bodily injury liability amounts to a liability that means if we are or if you are personally liable for the bodily injury to someone else then your policy will pay their medical bills or medical expenses any litigation any court costs that you might have to incur.

if you’re sued the thing about tesla or any luxury vehicle for that matter is that if you are ever in an accident you are essentially looked at as a very wealthy person a very a person who has the means to you know pay money and overpay for someone’s accidents or injuries.

and so with that said and sometimes that may be the case sometimes it’s not always the case you never know every person’s situation but if you are in a situation where you are in an accident with someone who says oh wow this person has a tesla.

I’m going to call an attorney I’m going to call someone and try to file a lawsuit you want to make sure that you have appropriate bodily injury limits that way if there is an attorney involved and they try to sue you that you have enough.

I would never say enough because you just never know the situation but you have the most possible limits you can purchase for yourself and I’m in the insurance industry and I see this all day long for myself.

I have five hundred thousand dollars minimum for bodily injury and although hopefully, my likelihood of loss for that is low you just never know in what situation you could be in.

if someone god forbid I was to hit someone and they passed away and died I mean that that can be a very significant cause and so the bodily injury limit that I have 500 000 will cover me for expenses of bodily injury to that person’s death etc.

and if I need it more then that’s what we talk about umbrella insurance and that’s going to be a completely different course is when you talk about umbrella insurance that is if I had to pay more than 500 000.

the umbrella insurance policy would step in and pay the additional amount but that’s going to be for another segment so just make sure you have bodily injury.

How to save on luxury car insurance
Luxury Car Insurance Tips Tesla Autopilot and Lidar Technology 2023 (credit: Unsplash)

it’s not uncommon to see 250 000 it’s kind of like a  baseline for a luxury vehicle and typically people with luxury vehicles or teslas for that matter have assets homes have savings and they want to protect that.

and so I always recommend at least 250 000 minimum but again you want to talk to your agent you want to talk to your financial advisor etc another thing I want to mention is the technology that’s inside tesla the technology as everyone knows and as you know as a new tesla owner or soon-to-be Tesla owner is that the sensory technology is.

it can be very expensive the lidar technology which is the technology that when the autonomous autopilot is on it essentially can project and see at least 50 feet in a lot of cases up to  100 feet away ahead of any objects.

that might be in its path and so the vehicle will automatically slow itself down or alert the driver to look out for the vehicle as it approaches and if that object’s still there the vehicle will in many cases slow down and stop or avoid colliding with that object.

so that’s just another type of technology that can be very expensive especially when you add on the autopilot feature and I think in most cases the autopilot feature is an add-on I think it’s like ten thousand dollars fifteen thousand dollars.

at least the last time I checked for Florida it could be different based on your state or where you’re ordering your vehicle from and with that add-on feature you just want to make sure that you let your insurance agent know or your insurance company knows that you have the autopilot feature.

that way they can make sure that your vehicle is appropriately covered there is a concept and uh terminology when you talk about replacing your vehicle so you say how much am I going to get?

should I wreck my vehicle or should my vehicle be stolen you know caught on a fire or in a hail storm or thunderstorm etc and you want to talk to your agent about looking into an insurance auto insurance policy that will provide coverage for your tesla.

on an agreed value basis and what the agreed value is different than market value or the MSRP the agreed value is essentially saying whatever you paid for that vehicle so if you paid, for example, one hundred thousand dollars for your tesla agreed value will essentially.

let the insurance company know this is the amount they’re going to give you should your vehicle suffer a total loss that’s a great situation to be in because you don’t want to be in a scenario where you’re getting market value so we know cars depreciate well.

Lately, they’ve been appreciating but in the general sense cars will typically depreciate and so if you bought the tesla for a hundred thousand dollars two years later it now retailing eight for eighty thousand dollars.

and you’re in an accident the insurance company is going to pay you eighty thousand dollars but the agreed value, if you have that option, will essentially pay the hundred thousand dollars so that you can get another tesla that’s the same make and model that’s for that particular year that you’re buying.

it is so you’re not having to worry about do I have to buy a used tesla because that’s 80 000 or do I have to downgrade what I had before because that would only give me what the 80 000 check is so the agreed value is a good situation from an insurance perspective.

if you have a tesla or any luxury vehicle for that matter if you don’t have the agreed value option I encourage you to talk with your agent talk with your insurance company to see if that’s an option they have and if they don’t you should look for an insurance company that can offer that for you.

because it can be almost night and day come clean time hopefully you never are in a situation where you have a total loss but if you are you want to make sure that you get the full amount for the car that you paid for and not the market value for the car.

you want the agreed value not market value and then secondly when we talk about the price for the tesla you want to also talk to your agent about your insurance company and what their provisions are in terms of the OEM.

which is the original equipment manufacturer’s parts if you are at a loss or if your vehicle is damaged will the insurance company give you at the market so for tesla vehicles and any luxury vehicle for that matter you want to make sure that you have the OEM provision and your insurance policy.

because if you get into a small fender bender or any sort of accident for that matter you don’t want to work with and typically with teslas there are no after-market parts everything is really from tesla.

Luxury car insurance for high-end vehicles
Luxury Car Insurance Tips Tesla Autopilot and Lidar Technology in the future (credit: Unsplash)

if you have to replace the parts so that’s not it doesn’t apply to tesla as much it could be maybe smaller parts etcetera but there are not a lot of parts that you can find at the market at least as of this today.

but if you have a luxury vehicle or any other type of 

model you want to look at making sure your policy includes OEM parts and not aftermarket there are many scenarios and I knew a friend who was in a scenario a couple of weeks ago he had a range rover.

he got a new range over about three or four months ago and the windshield he drives a lot for work and personal he got one show damage so he fouled an insurance claim to replace the windshield.

but when the windshield vendor came out to replace the windshield he realized that as they were taking the winning show out he asked the question he goes is this the windshield that is made by land rover the vendor said no.

this is an aftermarket windshield so for him he immediately kind of raised the red flag and told them to stop with the work he called his agent to check his policy and find out he didn’t have a policy that covered OEM parts.

so they paid him the difference of what the after-market was so the insurance company just covered the aftermarket but I think the out-of-pocket cost to him because he preferred and it’s that’s great is to get the OEM the out pocket was an additional 800 that he had to pay out of pocket to have the OEM part.

if you do have a lease or you’re looking or even if you have a loan and you’re looking to sell the car down the line that can make a difference in the car value as well if you have the OEM parts maintained or if you have you put aftermarket parts on it so that is one option that you want to look at as well.

and then the last concept for luxury vehicles and tesla vehicles that you want to look at in your insurance policy is and most car insurance or auto insurance policies there is an exclusion called diminished value what the diminished value exclusion is?

it says that if your vehicle is damaged let’s say for instance you bought the tesla you got it delivered last week tomorrow you go out with friends you go out for maybe a coffee or you drive somewhere to pick up your kids and you in a fender bender or the car is damaged.

somehow one way or another so basically there’s been an accident and we know that when we are in an accident and we try to sell the car down the line they run a carfax report or any sort of but carfax is usually the main vendor that tracks that and if you have an accident on your car on your driving record for that vehicle and you try to sell it then that accident could bring your retail value of that car down.

Comparing luxury car insurance policies
Luxury Car Insurance Tips Tesla Autopilot and Lidar Technology review (credit: Unsplash)

and that in some cases especially for luxury vehicles it can be pretty significant you know difference in what you could have sold it for had you not had that accident 

so for insurance purposes the diminished value said that if you tried to file a claim for the difference of what the car is worth from what it should have been worth should you not have got into an accident and the insurance policy won’t cover that.

but there are insurance policies that are out there that will cover diminished value and if that’s something that will be of importance to you or a consideration you should talk to your insurance agent or talk to your insurance company to see.

number one if you have a diminished value exclusion or if that’s already covered and if you don’t have it and if you’re interested and you want that you should ask them what would it take for you to add that or you should speak with your agent about finding you an insurance company.

who can get that added for you and then lastly I’ll talk about the deductibles you have two deductibles in most cases you have a collision deductible and you have a comprehensive auto insurance or car insurance deductible and I always recommend the teslas.

and people will usually try to get a higher deductible that’s fine that’s just an effort to get the premium down but again I highly recommend keeping a more reasonable deductible.

you just never know in what situation you might need to tap into that insurance policy whether or not you have the means to cover it or not a reasonable deductible of 500 500  250 so if in the event of a loss that’s the amount that you have to exceed first.

before the insurance company will pay and there are cases where especially for the tesla parts can be very expensive depending on if it’s the fender, etc.

the parts can be very expensive so if you’re talking about a thousand dollars minimum just for the fender and if you have a 500 deductible that’s not gonna be enough or a thousand dollar deductible that’s not going to be enough to cover that.

so it’s usually the price difference between a 500 deductible to a thousand-dollar deductible can be very few and far between but speak with your agent to get different options so that you understand.

the value and the amount for each tier but I see a lot of people that have expensive vehicles but therefore they choose to have higher deductibles which is fine because they can afford to you know cover that loss but in the cases where it might be unforeseen like a fender bender and it’s oh wow that part the fender.

we thought it was only going to be this but you find out its twenty-five hundred dollars five thousand dollars and the higher your deductible that’s pretty you’re going to have to retain that loss until you exceed those higher amounts.

and just like real estate and cars are suspensive to replace the parts are getting more expensive the labor costs are getting more expensive.

so if you have high deductibles that’s fine but talk to your insurance agent to see if it makes sense to have a lower deductible that’s going to be for each situation and so collision that’s going to cover any sort of colliding with an object colliding with another vehicle colliding with you know anything.

that causes you to have any sort of damage if you ran into a pole or a fence etc that’s going to be part of your collision deductible and then the comprehensive deductible. which is typically the same as the collision in terms of the dollar amount that’s going to cover cases like weather events if it rains and thunderstorms and then the tree falls on your car that’s going to be comprehensive things.

as if you were to the vehicle or to turn over each area is different but sometimes to call that upset could either be under collision or comprehensive depending on the circumstance and things where like the windshield breaks.

Understanding luxury car insurance exclusions
Luxury Car Insurance Tips Tesla Autopilot and Lidar Technology Nowadays (credit: Unsplash)

if you’re driving on the highway and then a rock breaks the windshield that’s going to be under your comprehensive deductible most states the comprehensive will cover automatically without a deductible for the windshield.

but for your particular state, you want to check with your insurance agent want to check with your insurance company on that so again I really can’t emphasize enough to make sure that the deductible that you have is right for you.

and then also check with your loan or lease company if you do have a loan or release on your tesla to see what the max deductible you can sometimes they will dictate how high of a deductible you can go.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *