Tesla Insurance has expanded to Nevada, making it the ninth state to get Tesla’s in-house insurance program. There were reports that Florida and Maryland could be next, but although Tesla has made moves there, neither of those states became the ninth to get Tesla insurance.
Tesla Insurance was launched in 2019 in California, and during the Q2 2020 Tesla earnings call, it was announced that they were still working on some things before making it available outside of California. Tesla’s CFO, or Master of Coin, Zachary Kirkhorn, also pointed out back then that Tesla was designing the insurance product with elements that are unique to Tesla’s vehicles. It was also in this earnings call that both Zachary Kirkhorn and Elon Musk explained how they were solving insurance and Elon confirmed that Tesla is building a major insurance company. Although it was launched in 2019, it was then still only available to residents of California.
Fast forward to Tesla’s Q3 2020 earnings call and Elon Musk pointed out that insurance was substantial and could be 30% or 40% of the value of Tesla’s car business.
He also explained that insurance is an excellent example of a product made by Tesla’s internal applications team. The product is made, then connected to the car, and Tesla can analyze the data and calculate the risk internally based on internal software applications.
Fast forward almost two years later — we’re still in Q2 2022 — and we have seen Tesla expand its insurance product to a total of nine states, with Nevada being the ninth. Perhaps Maryland will be number 10. Personally, I’m hoping Lousisiana won’t be last — it’s last in almost everything.
Tesla Insurance uses real-time telematics, and as Zachary Kirkhorn pointed out two years ago, Tesla uses specific features within the vehicle for the calculations, making this unique to Tesla and its cars. Those features determine the premium based on the vehicle owner’s driving behavior. Teslarati notes that the Tesla Safety Score and the type of vehicle being driven as well as a few other factors play a part in the driver’s monthly premium.
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