Tesla Insurance: Pros, Cons, & My Experience

In this video I'm going to talk about the pros and the cons of Tesla insurance, and I'll share my experience as I've had Tesla insurance for about two years now and unfortunately have had to deal with them on more than one occasion. And I'll try not to be too biased but let's start with the pros and why I went with Tesla insurance in the first place. So the biggest pro, number one for pros for me, is the cost of Tesla insurance. I've gotten quotes from places like Geico, Allstate, Farmers, and Tesla insurance was a little bit cheaper than all of them. But it's important to note that if you get a quote from Tesla insurance, you're going to get a quote based off a safety score of 90. And to quickly explain what a safety score is, it's metrics that Tesla uses to rate how safe you drive. So the safer you drive, the higher your safety score is. And with Tesla, the higher your safety score is, the cheaper your insurance rate is. Now I consider myself an average driver and my safety score is constantly between a 97 and a 98 for a month on average, which is pretty good. And I don't think it's hard to have a pretty good safety score. So it's important to keep in mind that when you get your quote from Tesla, it will be assuming a safety score of 90. And like I said, when I was shopping for other insurances, this estimate from Tesla with that 90 assumption safety score was already a bit cheaper than most other companies. And now that I'm at like a 97 or a 98 consistently, it's pretty significantly cheaper. And one more quick note about safety scores, the metrics for the safety score are different in each state. So here are some things that Tesla insurance uses to calculate my safety score here in Nevada. And here are metrics that Tesla uses to calculate a safety score in Illinois. You can see that Illinois has quite a few more things to consider when factoring in for your safety score. But even with all that, my friend who sent me this screenshot is still consistently above a safety score of 90. So the number one biggest pro for Tesla insurance, in my opinion, is the cost of it. But secondly, let's talk about the automation. You can do just about everything through your app. From the app, you can edit almost everything about your policy. You can get a quote, you can file a claim all through your phone. And it's pretty cool when you're actually getting a quote from Tesla insurance, you can play with your coverages and you can see how your quote changes in real time based on the coverage that you choose. So I think that's pretty cool that you can actually do that through the app because I don't know of any other insurance company that really does that without having to speak to someone on the phone and say, you know, hey, what if I change this? Or what if I get more or less coverage here? How does my price change with that? You can see that through your Tesla insurance quote in real time and it's super easy. And like I said, you can pretty much edit your entire policy from the app. So when I got my Model 3, I refinanced just like a month or two after I bought it for a cheaper rate. And I was able to put my new bank's information on my policy through the app in like two seconds. Also, what's pretty cool with Tesla insurance, your insurance card is completely digital. There's no paper card, you don't get anything in the mail and you can pull up your insurance card from your app at any time. Now this all sounds pretty great so far and I thought so too. So that's why I went with Tesla insurance in the first place. But let's go a little deeper here. On the note of having everything automated through your app, it's probably the biggest con of the thing too. Because when you get into a situation like filing a claim, where you have to actually speak to a person, it's just good luck from there. The general Tesla insurance phone number, the general helpline, always has a wait of at least over an hour. Like every single time. I guarantee you right now, if you call that number, you'll be told that the wait is over an hour. And I know this because unfortunately, I've had to do this many times. But if you can do almost everything from the app, why would you ever need to speak to a person? And the answer to that is when you actually have to use the insurance that you're paying for, aka filing a claim. But like I said, you can file a claim through the app and that includes giving details of the accident, submitting pictures, and then when Tesla hooks you up with one of their adjusters, that's where the fun begins. In my most recent accident, you can see it was clearly 100% the other driver's fault and his insurance admitted this as well. So I filed a claim under his insurance and although they admitted fault, I still had to go through my insurance because that driver was driving for Grubhub and I guess that insurance didn't cover him for that work. So I had to go through Tesla insurance for this claim. So I went through the whole process submitting a claim and I got hooked up with an adjuster and we actually sent a few emails back and forth a few days after the incident, just to kind of clarify some details of what happened. And then the conversation moved to text and that's where I really stopped hearing from him. And this was concerning for me because I didn't really know what was going on and I had a ton of unanswered questions like, do I have to pay my deductible? I have uninsured motorist coverage, doesn't that apply to this situation? Do I have to get a repair estimate before I bring it in? And if you're familiar with the process, you might know these answers to these questions, but I didn't. So I wanted to ask and I just couldn't get an answer. And then when he would text me back, it would be unhelpful and unrelated to any questions I was asking. And I swear, I got like two texts between the four weeks when I got in the accident and when my repair date was. And I went into my repair date, not knowing what the hell was going on. And I felt like I was harassing this dude, just trying to get ahold of him. And I'm a pretty proactive person. Like I'll do what needs to be done, but I didn't know what needed to be done. So when my service appointment date came, the app said I needed to get a repair estimate. So I went to my appointment, assuming that's all I needed to get done. But when I walked in, they were ready to take my car. They assumed I had a rental and everything figured out. And when I told them I didn't know any of that stuff, I had to reschedule for a later date and get that stuff figured out. At the Tesla graveyard, I'm being sent home because they don't do estimates. I have to come here to drop it off. They have to disassemble the estimate and I don't have a rental set up because I haven't heard from my guy in about over a week. So just kind of walked in, got some answers about some stuff, but still kind of clueless and just still waiting to hear back. They did tell me I needed a repair estimate, but for them to do that, they need to see the extent of the damage and, you know, take apart my car and see what is all damaged. And that all makes sense. I wish somebody would have told me that beforehand, like my claims adjuster, you know, but I didn't know that until they told me when I arrived for my appointment. So unfortunately I got sent home and had to reschedule. And what's funny too, they actually tried to call and message my claims adjuster through their Microsoft Teams chat and they couldn't even get a hold of him. So over the next few days, I tried to call him, no answer. I sent him a few texts of telling him what happened, you know, what can I do, what's going on. And a few days later, he just texted me back with some rental information, no other like clarifications on what's going on, just that he set me up with a rental. And I still had all these unanswered questions that he just wasn't answering, but I had a rental car lined up now finally. So I was able to get my car serviced, get it to the appointment, and take my rental car. And from here on out, the rest of the story, I have not heard from my claims adjuster once ever since he sent me up with a rental. I left my car there for three weeks, had a rental for three weeks, dropped it off, picked it up, it was all repaired, and I still have not heard from him. And I wanted to wait to make this video until it was all settled, but I have not heard from this dude in over two months now. I know Tesla had some layoffs, maybe he was part of that, I don't know, I'm not sure, but it's been over two months and I still don't know what's going on. I ended up having to pay my deductible, and now the app says that they're going after the other guy's insurance that helped get the money back, so maybe I'll get my deductible back, but I don't know. And I've left several unanswered texts, calls, voicemails, emails with all these questions that I have, and I wish I had answers for you guys about what's going on, but I just can't hear from anybody. So that's my story of what happened to me, but I will say, in the Tesla app, it does give you your claims adjuster's name, phone number, and email, which is pretty useless because when you call or email or text them, they don't respond to you, at least in my experience, and I've heard this from others as well, but it's there, it's just not really useful. So if you're somebody who really likes and needs to talk to people, and you're not familiar with the post-accident process of what to do, which I feel like most people aren't, then Tesla Insurance might not be for you. So I'm sorry I don't have an official end to my story. I wanted to wait to post this until I did, but I don't know when I will, so when something happens next, if I hear from my adjuster or I get my deductible back, I'll leave a comment down below, but yeah, that's my experience at Tesla Insurance. So in summary, without trying to seem too biased, there are pros to Tesla Insurance. It is cheap, easy to set up, easy to adjust your rate, and you can do everything from your app. With Tesla's software, it's so easy to do all that and to navigate your insurance. But if you're ever in a situation where you have to use your insurance and talk to a person or file a claim, customer service is just not existent with Tesla Insurance. And if you have any questions along the way, Google and ChatGPT are your friends, not your adjuster. But I do want to shout out the Tesla Service Center of Las Vegas. They were all great. But like I said, if I ever do hear from my adjuster or I get my deductible back or hear something else, I'll leave a comment down below and I'll pin it so you guys can see it. So if you're curious how long that will take, look for a comment down below. If you don't see anything, I'm still waiting. And if you guys have any experiences of your own from Tesla Insurance, please leave a comment down below. I love to think that I'm an outlier in this situation, but from what I've seen and read, it seems like this is the case for most people. But I'd love to hear your guys' experience if you have any. And as always, thanks for watching. Catch you in the next one.