How satisfied are EV owners with their auto insurance shopping experience?

How satisfied are EV owners with their auto insurance shopping experience? | Insurance Business America

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How satisfied are EV owners with their auto insurance shopping experience?

New study finds nearly half of auto insurance customers are considering a change

Insurance News

By
Terry Gangcuangco

The J.D. Power 2024 US Insurance Shopping Study found that owners of electric vehicles are less satisfied with their auto insurance shopping experience compared to their gas counterparts.

“Electric vehicle (EV) owners are less satisfied with the auto insurance purchase experience than are customers insuring gasoline-powered vehicles,” J.D. Power noted when the consumer intelligence firm released the findings of its new study.

“The average purchase experience satisfaction score among EV owners is 663, which is 16 points lower than the average score among owners of gas-powered vehicles. This gap is attributable to lower satisfaction with the quote process and price of the policy because EVs are typically more expensive to insure than comparable gas-powered vehicles.”

Meanwhile, the research also found that 49% of auto insurance policyholders have actively shopped for a new plan in the past year. Of those, 29% have changed their insurer.

“After the past few years of steady auto insurance premium increases, customers are no longer passively keeping an eye out for a better deal,” Stephen Crewdson, senior director for insurance business intelligence at J.D. Power, said.

“Instead, they are actively seeking new carriers to offset these rising costs. However, with rising premiums across the country and fewer insurers explicitly offering usage-based insurance – or UBI plans – during the quoting process, insurance shoppers are not finding many alternatives.”

According to J.D. Power, UBI programs were only offered to 15% of insurance shoppers. The previous percentages were 22% and 20% for 2023 and 2022, respectively.

Meanwhile, the average cost of auto insurance in the US rose by 22.2% year over year through the end of February.

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