Insurance?

My Nissan Leaf Forum

Help Support My Nissan Leaf Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Fredr500

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 1, 2012
Messages
56
Location
Cary, NC
Just went and test drove a Leaf, I'm ready to buy. My wife is concerned about insurance rates, are they more than a "normal" car? My agent of course is closed for the weekend.

Can anyone compare rates for a Leaf vs other similar cars?
Thanks
Fred
 
Fredr500 said:
Just went and test drove a Leaf, I'm ready to buy. My wife is concerned about insurance rates, are they more than a "normal" car? My agent of course is closed for the weekend.

Can anyone compare rates for a Leaf vs other similar cars?
Thanks
Fred

this is an impossible comparison, as rates in CA depend on

zip code
driving record
age
annual mileage
 
My real question:
Is a Leaf treated any different than any other $35,000 car? I remember in 1972 I wanted to buy a FWD Subaru and my agent said they could not insure it as the NHTSA had declared FWD cars unsafe. I don't want to run into a situation like that.
 
Fredr500 said:
Just went and test drove a Leaf, I'm ready to buy. My wife is concerned about insurance rates, are they more than a "normal" car? My agent of course is closed for the weekend.

Can anyone compare rates for a Leaf vs other similar cars?
Thanks
Fred

The insurance for the LEAF is the lowest of the 4 cars I insure and it's my primary driving vehicle. There are discounts for a new car and the LEAF has a top rated safety rating from NHTSA. http://www.autoobserver.com/2011/07/nissan-leaf-earns-nhtsa-5-star-safety-rating.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; which helps to lower the insurance cost.
 
thankyouOB said:
Fredr500 said:
Can anyone compare rates for a Leaf vs other similar cars?
Thanks
Fred
this is an impossible comparison, as rates in CA depend on

zip code
driving record
age
annual mileage
Doesn't seem too bad a question to ask in a forum where there are likely to be lots of folks who changed none of the insurance-influencing factors listed above as they replaced one ICE car with one LEAF. Me, for instance.

My 2011 LEAF SL replaced a '99 Eclipse GSX as my only car. When I went to transition my auto insurance from the Eclipse to the LEAF, I was quite disappointed to find that Allstate, my provider for over fifteen years, wanted just about double the premium for the LEAF. I'm pretty careless financially; I hadn't dialed down the Eclipse's coverage from its new-car levels, and the prices of the two cars were not that dissimilar (about $29K for the Eclipse, as I recall, vs. $35K for the LEAF), so I thought that a doubling of the rates was out of line. My credit union offers an insurance-brokering service, which found me a policy from Safeco at about what I'd been paying for the Eclipse: $760/year. The "runner up" bids weren't all that far apart, so I gather that EVs are something of a novelty to underwriters, too, and I can see where there would be a lot of differences between EVs and normal ICE cars that their models might be grappling with. For one thing, as has been mentioned a few times on this forum, collision repair is hideously expensive for LEAFs (very constrained supplies of spare parts). But on the other hand, LEAFs have a very low imposed driving/refueling duty cycle. You simply CAN'T be out there driving for much of the time, so you probably stay more alert. And I don't have to remind you of the inherently more intelligent and courteous nature of the general class of people that LEAF cars appeal to; that ought to count for something, right? :D
 
I got a quote from my insurance company (Cincinnati Insurance Company) for minimum full coverage of $1000/year.

As a comparison, my 2001 Saturn SC2, which is considered a sub-compact by them, with 160k miles with only liability is $300/year.
 
same as any other 35k car.

i was surprised at how pricey the insurance was given who it is marketed to, the way it is driven and who drives it.
it prolly should be more pricey and will be once insurers figure out how costly it is to fix -- parts and battery removal for most repairs are pricey.
 
We sold our 09 BMW 328i and bought (leased) the 2012 Leaf, as wife's primary vehicle. All else remaining same, insurance premium went up 33%.
 
I am with State Farm. Switching from my Subaru Tribeca to my Leaf caused my monthly payment to go fro $88 to $106. This is in Orange County, CA with 100-300K.
 
Comparing prices of insurance isn't really helpful. Everyone pays something different.

I'm 28 and live near but not in a high crime area, commute 60 miles per day, have a clean driving record, and have a good credit score. My LEAF was only marginally more expensive to insure than a high-mileage, 6-year old, ex-vomit comet, pool patrol car.

I went with GEICO and pay about $1000/year for broad form comprehensive coverage ($100K/$300K/$50K) with a few extra options added, $500 deductible.
Compare that to $450/year for liability-only (no collision/comprehensive coverage, minimum state requirements) on my 2006 Crown Victoria Police Interceptor.
For further comparison, I was paying $960/year for broad form comprehensive coverage on my Crown Victoria with AAA before I cut it to liability-only with GEICO.

I was able to apply an NMFA discount with GEICO, so I think that helped my rates a little.
 
USAA said one of the reasons for the higher insurance price was that they don't have a lot of information on the repair cost of the vehicle to know if it's a lot or a little. My insurance is $7/6 months more than my wife's Prius she got two weeks before my Leaf. NOT looking forward to the teenage driver bump next year.
 
Based on the reports here, it clearly is much more in the "lot" category so I don't expect to see decreases any time soon.

ksnogas2112 said:
USAA said one of the reasons for the higher insurance price was that they don't have a lot of information on the repair cost of the vehicle to know if it's a lot or a little.
 
TomT said:
Based on the reports here, it clearly is much more in the "lot" category so I don't expect to see decreases any time soon.

ksnogas2112 said:
USAA said one of the reasons for the higher insurance price was that they don't have a lot of information on the repair cost of the vehicle to know if it's a lot or a little.

As I've reported here several times, my USAA original quote was $350 for 6 months. Now, I pay $800. The only thing to expect will be prices all over the place until the insurance companies determine actual losses on the car.

So far, nobody has been killed in one, that we know of. Quite a few totaled cars, though, which probably isn't unusual, except the parts for this car can only come from one place.... Nissan.
 
Back
Top