12 Things You Need to Know About California Car Insurance

Having test driven a Zoe and confirming with Renault Leicester that the battery must be insured as well as the car itself I thought I’d start with ZE specific Renault Insurance (0800 5003108).

Having gone through all the questions on the phone I pointed out that I needed to ensure the battery was covered, to which the guy needed to check with his supervisor. The response was if the value of the car was the cost before the EV grant (£19k+ on the Intens) the battery was covered. In my case 21 yrs protected no claims and additional driver £701!!!

Looking online at screen scrapers very few list a Zoe yet but comparethemarket.com did. Having tried this I get a quote of £221 from Admiral but as it is online I would need to confirm the battery cover.

I thought this may help others or maybe prompt others to comment on their experience so far.

This is just another nail in the coffin of the Zoe if this is the case, why would we have to pay for more insurance, it should be covered with the lease, and it falls in to the hands of the money grabbing insurers who will love this.

Yet another area where the information coming out of Renault seems to be conflicting. I was recently told by Renault that the battery is insured under the lease scheme (ie a part of the £70 per month payment is covering the battery for defect or accidental damage). I have recently just changed insurance companies based on planning ahead for how much it will cost with Zoe. As Appmacguy pointed out, not that many sites are listing Zoe yet but for me at least QuoteMeHappy.com worked out best.

I agree AndyW it would be good to have a definitive answer.

I’m going on what I was told at Renault Leicester and I am finding information from Renault at times confusing or scarce. One of my worries is moving brand from BMW (mini) who I have used for the last 11 years and rate the customer care to the unknown of Renault.

It’s great that you’re considering a Zoe – but it sounds like an i3 should also be on your shortlist?

Oh an i3 would be if I had £35,000 (est) to spend on a car.

The idea of insuring the battery separately seems like madness to me. I’ve never paid house insurance on a house I’ve rented, so why would I pay insurance on a battery that does not belong to me?

Clear guidance would be helpful, but has any reliable source said that separate battery insurance is required, or is this an assumption?

I’ve pinged an email to both my dealer and RCI to see what there’s any official guidance.

I was disappointed PlugInsure’s web form is not available currently, which is not an encouraging sign. They’d previously quoted the missus and I for about £400, which isn’t bad given I got my licence last year.

Going through CompareTheMarket my best quote for the pair of us is Admiral at around £560.

Car insurance is mad though – fully comp was much cheaper, and premiums are cheaper if I leave the car on the drive instead of in a garage!

Bugger. Taken from the shared by AppMacGuy elsewhere on this forum:

You are responsible for arranging insurance for the Battery from the time of delivery. Insurance cover must be effected with the same reputable insurer through whom you insure the vehicle and under the same fully comprehensive policy that you insure the vehicle so that the battery is covered with the same level of cover. You must keep the Battery so insured throughout the currency of this Hire Agreement or otherwise whilst the Battery is in your possession or under your control. This applies whether the Battery is in the United Kingdom or abroad. The insurance must cover the Insured value of the Battery (as defined in clause 19). You will be responsible for any uninsured losses.

I don’t know how everyone else feels about this, but I’m pretty annoyed. I’ve no idea if there’s anything that can be done about this save for complaining vociferously to Renault.

How the hell do we even go about securing insurance for a battery? I can’t imagine the processes of any regular car insurer will have taken this into account. How do we value the battery given that Renault haven’t told us how much it will cost? How much more expensive will our premiums be as a result? Why am I paying £70 a month to cover the damned battery if insurance isn’t included?

I just called Renault customer services, and got put through to someone on the EV finance team. He offered to email me the value of the battery and contact details of Renault’s insurance provider. I also asked for contact details of whoever made the strategic decision to have the battery lease exclude insurance costs, because I’m pretty hacked off that after waiting 9 months for this car it looks like there might be a showstopper.

Got this reply. I’ll let you know what else I find out.

Thank you for your call with regards to Renault ZE Insurance, as discussed the insured value of the battery for the Zoe is £7392.00. With regards to obtaining further information on ZE insurance the following phone number is posted on the Renault website, 0800 5003108. An advisor at Renault should be able to answer any queries you may have with regards to insurance.

Absolutely with you ! I am seriously angry at Renault yet again for not making this (yet another thing!) much clearer before now since it will make a huge difference in cost. Especially when I was told otherwise previously. Will be calling Renault insurance in a mo…

CAP have already stated the battery is valued new at £7392 so that matches.

I’ve emailed PlugInsure and so far all they’ve said is ‘ring us for a quote’ but the way the email reply was worded suggests they are an insurance broker, not an insurer themselves. I’ve pointed out that the Zoe T&Cs require the battery to be insured with the same company as the car and whether they are able to filter the quotes they offer based on this criteria.

I’ve had the best quotes so far from QuoteMeHappy so I’ll also call and ask them about the battery. For reference they were in the £700 range while my current car (8 year old Toyota Aygo) costs me £450 to insure. Given the difference in the value of the cars I don’t actually think £700 odd is a bad price for me (my Aygo is worth about £3000 and even new it is only £8000)

PlugInsure no longer operate:

Unfortunately the insurers withdrew the electric scheme. We are unable to issue any new business via the website… We are currently in negotiations with other insurers to set up a new scheme.. In the meantime we can offer quotations via P F Spare. Please call our office on 01530 270574 to obtain a quotation.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

My best quote was from Admiral; upping the value of the car by £7,392 didn’t make any noticeable difference to the insurance premium, but this still won’t explicitly cover the battery, and I’m almost 100% certain that no regular car insurer will have the processes and paperwork in place to insure a battery separately. You only have to look at how few have web forms that acknowledge the existence of electric cars to realise their backend IT system won’t handle this use case.

I may give Admiral and Renault Insurance a call after lunch when less people are likely to be phoning them.