How much do you pay for insurance for your LEAF?

[RegGuheert]

I am shocked at how CHEAP it is to insure our new LEAF! For full coverage (including collision and comprehensive) we are only paying $237/year! :shock: We do have a high deductible of $1000 and low miles-per-year, but we also maintain high liability coverage. This is only $26/year more than we pay for the same coverage on our 10-year-old Honda Civic Hybrid with the same driver.

Interestingly, the insurer would not allow us to add the replacement coverage rider for the first two years once they found out this was a demo vehicle, even though it was sold as new, which was their originally-stated criterion.

So I have three (or four) questions:

- How much do you pay to insure your Leaf? Is that high or low compared to your other vehicles?

- Do you expect my rates will go up once my insurer learns how expensive it is to repair a Nissan LEAF?

- Any other thoughts on LEAF insurance?

 

[jennrod12]

Wow, who are you insured with? I can't remember right now exactly how much I'm paying for insurance on our i-MiEV, but it's at least $200 every six months. State Farm, low mileage, $500 deductible, I think.

Jenn

 

[Pipcecil]

I push 80ish per month on mine, but thats a very low deductable ($250), which is quite compareable to my wife's sedan that pays 70ish. Its state farm, and it is higher than others, but the service is outstanding. I would rather pay for good service when the crap hits the fan.

 

[NYLEAF]

I'm paying just over $1000 every six months...

However, I'm male, single, 24 years old, and living in the NY metro area, which is an expensive insurance market as it is. My previous car was in an accident (being driven by my father, who is on the same policy), so that probably bumped up the price, too. I have State Farm.

 

[DesertDenizen]

I pay $456 a year with a $500 deductible.

 

[N1ghtrider]

Wow, are you guys spoiled. I pay $7,746 per year :x for 4 cars, with 3 drivers: myself, my wife and 20 year old college student daughter (all with clean records). We have discount coverage with USAA. Price per car is 2007 Audi A4, $2,038; 2006 Honda Civic Hybrid, $2,026; 2003 Mazda MPV, $1,650; and Leaf $2,032. I have $500 deductible and $50,000 liability and uninsured motorists (which costs a lot in Miami). I would be paying $10K per year without USAA discount.

 

[hgoudey]

Interestingly, the insurer would not allow us to add the replacement coverage rider for the first two years once they found out this was a demo vehicle, even though it was sold as new, which was their originally-stated criterion.

What is the replacement coverage rider? Demo or not, it seems they should insure it like any other car. It may have had a few miles put on it at the dealership or Nissan events, but it is essentially a new vehicle. How is it any worse than the question marks associated with insuring all the much more heavily used vehicles out there?

For the record, the Leaf portion of our insurance (two drivers) is broken out at about $460/6mo ($50k liability+uninsured, collision -$500, comprehensive -$50). There are other vehicles on the policy, so it could be a bit different for the Leaf alone. The Leaf is almost double the other vehicles on the policy, but they are much older (1997-2002), low value, and seldom driven.

Howdy

 

[ghabel]

$800/yr with high liability, with $500 coll ded, $300 fire/theft ded, with replacement for 1st year. MA.

 

[videographer]

I don't have my Leaf yet, but have a combo home/car policy thru AARP with The Hartford. Called the other day to ask what the insurance cost would be when it replaces my '08 Prius. Put me on hold for 10 minutes... came back and said they had never heard of the Nissan Leaf.

I find it unlikely that I will be the first Hartford customer with a Leaf, but when I get my VIN I guess they'll have a better idea of what to charge me.

Anyone else have this happen to them?

 

[kubel]

$120/mo, $300 deductible. I'm in the 25-29 age group. I was told I would have to get in writing from NMAC that they would reimburse me for the down payment should the car be totaled, since the obligation that AAA has is to the title holder, not me. That means NMAC would keep $7500 + $2599 that I put down, all the while getting the value of the car as well, unless stated otherwise in the contract.

I think I'm going to risk it and buy out my lease after 90 days to avoid this risk. The substantial amount of down payment I will effectively have in the car, in addition to the outrageous interest (4.9%) makes buying out the lease worthwhile. I can get a 1.99% used car loan for 48 months from PenFed. I'll also have a ~2 year heads up from all you early adopters to warn me about potential battery issues.

 

[Valdemar]

$920/year 100/300/100 $1k deductible comp/collision. Good driver, multi-policy discount with Liberty Mutual. Cannot really say it's cheap as a similarly priced SUV on the same policy/terms is $750/year. Yes, I did shop around extensively.

 

[N1ghtrider]

Interestingly, the insurer would not allow us to add the replacement coverage rider for the first two years once they found out this was a demo vehicle, even though it was sold as new, which was their originally-stated criterion.

What is the replacement coverage rider? Demo or not, it seems they should insure it like any other car. Howdy

"Replacement Coverage Rider" will pay you whatever is the cost of replacing the vehicle with a new one if it is totalled within the policy period, even though the fair market value of the car is less than the cost to buy a new one.

 

[lpickup]

I find it unlikely that I will be the first Hartford customer with a Leaf, but when I get my VIN I guess they'll have a better idea of what to charge me.

Anyone else have this happen to them?

Not me, I was actually pretty surprised that they were able to give me a quote so quickly, but then again I had my VIN and they typed it into a computer that made the decision for them, avoiding encountering a person who possibly (justifiably) had not yet heard of the Nissan LEAF.

Anyway, not sure what good talking about this is since there are so many variables between drivers, riders, locales, etc. that even I don't understand the rates or have anything to compare to, but my annual premium for the LEAF is $827.76 (<$70/month) and that includes the full replacement rider and a relatively low $250 deductible, $500 collision deductible. I can certainly live with that, especially compared to my other two vehicles: 2007 Chrysler Sebring: $1477.76/year and 2006 Hyundai Sonata: $1828.76/year!

What, you say? Okay, the other 2 vehicles have my two young sons (age 16 & 18) on them, thus the higher rates. Given that variable, I really don't have a good way to compare the LEAF's rate with a similar gas vehicle. It would be nice to see the dollar amount of the inexperienced driver surcharge, but alas they don't share that number.

Other pertinent info:
Ins. co: Erie
State: NC
Driver: 28 years driving experience, clean record (knock on wood)
Full coverage: $250 compherensive deductible (premium = $111/year); $500 collision deductible (premium = $342/year); optional transportation expenses rider ($20/year); full replacement rider ($68/year)
Auto/home discount

I normally would not have gone for the full replacement rider, but my own uncertainty on what kind of games they would play trying to assign a pro-rated value to the battery pack led me to just go for the extra expense (it's only $5.67/month).

 

[TomT]

It surprised me that coverage for my Leaf (same coverage, same company) is more expensive than for the BMW it replaced...

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

just got new insurance statement and the inequity is leveling out. its now $366 for the Leaf/$362 for the 2010 Prius. last year the difference was $120.

the Prius has gone up a little, the Leaf has gone down a lot.

 

[GlennD]

With State Farm and 64. I went from $84 per month on my Tribeca to $106 on my Leaf. This is with 100-300K.

Someone here said the Leaf is one down from the highest rate.

 

[Valdemar]

With State Farm and 64. I went from $84 per month on my Tribeca to $106 on my Leaf. This is with 100-300K.

Someone here said the Leaf is one down from the highest rate.

Tribeca and Leaf? Same here. Proud niche market shoppers

 

[neal77]

I have State Farm also and they quoted me 561.00 for 6 months with 100 300 100 (this is what is required for a lease) It would go up 230.00 for 6 months for me.

 

[leafedbehind]

We pay $285 every six months for the leaf. $1000 deductible. We pay $228 every six months for an 11-year-old Audi with the same coverage, so you're right -- it's relatively cheap to insure a Leaf for us, too.

 

[OrientExpress]

Our Leaf costs us $231/6 months, with a $1K collision deductible & $100 Comp deductible.