Insurance costs are based off claim probability. So if say a Tesla is more expensive to insure than a Honda. It likely means self insurance costs of a Tesla would be higher than a Honda.
And yet when it comes to insurance (car or otherwise), in my country at least the area you live in changes the cost of insurance; some areas have a higher rate of theft, some brands are more likely to be stolen, and some demographics are more likely to end up in an accident (due to inexperience or recklessness).
It's a difficult one; objectively speaking, cost is a factor of risk, and risk is what insurance is for. But at the same time, it's discrimination based on age - not ALL people who just got their license are reckless.
That cost gets wrapped up in your insurance rates. If your car actually does cost more then people with your type of car will pay higher rates. If you as a driver are more likely to hit other cars or people, then your personal rates will be higher.
It's both the car, and the driver, and the driver's past claims history. An exotic car is going to cost more to insure regardless of who's driving it. Even more so if the driver is young, male, unmarried, or has a record of accidents or violations.
When I added my 16 year old to my insurance, there was quite a difference in cost, depending on which car we said was his primary car.
The way insurance works is that risky behavior leads to higher premiums. Insuring a sports car is more expensive because studies show risky driving is associated with sports cars.
Hosts that don't treat neighbors respectfully or guests safely will quickly see bonds confiscated and premiums raised until they are out of the business.
Likewise, insurers often provide discounts for good behavior like taking safety courses, a history without incidents, installing anti theft devices, etc.
And requiring insurance also gives neighbors a recourse (payouts from the policy) if the block is set on for or something (though there are already laws and regulations about that sort of thing).
Thats a terrible metric if you consider that some cars cost more to insure not because of the vehicle or make but simply because of the kind of people that tend to drive it.
People choosing to drive more expensive (and physically punishing in the event of a collision) vehicles is some part of it. But insurance companies like that, so they're not about to include that in their PR script.
Or, much more likely, that the average person who buys a Mustang GT drives ina much more accident-prone (and a much more expensive accident-prone) manner than the type of person who buys a Tesla.
A very large (and the most variable) part of the actuarial cost of car insurance is third party liability, not the liability the insurer takes on for repairs to your own car or fire/theft.
The difference between insuring a 19-year old man and a 55-year old woman on the same car is huge.
Because that's not how car insurance works. You purchase a policy to insure your car (and in most cases other drivers in your family). Car insurance doesn't insure the individual against whatever vehicle he may be operating on any given day. That's why your car insurance is based upon the make/model/year of your car, as well as which state it is registered in, how many miles you drive it per day, etc.
It also seems from the article that they haven't determined who was at fault.
Insurance can be weird. For a while I was paying less for insurance on my 2008 Dodge Viper than I was on my 2001 Ford Mustang GT. It's all risk tables.
Classic car insurance is more expensive because they are more expensive to fix. Insurance for a piece of property is proportional to the risks of damage to or caused by the property, which shouldn't change much in a landscape with self driving cars in play
I think there are so many other factors though. Regulations about what must be covered, competitiveness in insurance markets, expected payouts for various situations, and a big thing: Americans are much richer and drive more expensive cars than in basically any other reasonably sized developed country, so you should expect the insured value to be higher.
Not the only reason why insurance rates are skyrocketing. Cars are expensive and getting more so. Car repair is expensive. Insurers could exert pressure on manufacturers to make cars cheaper, but they are too busy enjoying the profits.
In Germany all car models are classified based on current accident and insurance payout statistics for the last three years, and that classification is one of the factors determining how much you need to pay for your insurance. So if you drive a model of car that is expensive to fix and/or frequently involved in accidents, you need to pay more.
It's no secret that sports cars are more costly to insure, specifically because people are more likely to drive recklessly in them.
If we didn't discriminate against people's car preferences, everyone's insurance would increase overnight.
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