If car insurance and home insurance both cover your EV cables or charging points, it’s harder to make a claim and you might end up paying your excess twice
Motor insurance experts are warning EV drivers to check their policies to avoid getting caught in the double insurance trap.
The issue is that some Home Buildings insurance products now include cover for electric car charging points and also for electric car cable liability.
Mike Powell, Motor Insurance Expert at Defaqto, said: “Policyholders could potentially be at risk if providers apply a ‘contribution clause’, with each agreeing to pay 50% of the claim. This could see some policyholders paying two excesses as well as losing any no claims discount under both their car and home insurance.
“Some policy wordings even state that cover would be excluded if insurance cover is provided elsewhere, which could leave motorists having to deal with two insurance providers to work out how their claim would in fact be paid.”
The data from Defaqto identifies a number of ‘grey areas’ around cover for EV cables and charging points.
Mike continues: “The good news for EV drivers is that over the last three years the number of car insurance products that do not provide any cover for electric car cables has started to reduce. There are, however, around four in every 10 products today that do not clearly define in the policy documentation or on a website that cover is provided. That doesn’t necessarily mean that cover is not provided, as there are no exclusions applicable. It means that for these products, you would need to check with your insurance provider whether cover is given.”
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|
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
|
|||
|
Cover for electric car cables is not provided |
9% |
8% |
7% |
||||
|
Cover for electric car cables is not defined |
48% |
43% |
38% |
||||
|
Cover for electric car cables is clearly defined |
43% |
49% |
55% |
||||
Defaqto also reviewed car insurance products to find out whether cover is given for an electrical charging point at the policyholder’s address.
“Again, the good news for EV drivers is that there’s been a notable improvement in the number of products including cover, with just over a third of all products including cover today, compared to a quarter in 2022.”
|
|
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
|
Cover for electric car charging point is not available |
75% |
71% |
65% |
|
Cover for electric car charging point is available |
25% |
29% |
35% |
When it comes to electric car cable liability, Defaqto looked at cover provided in the case of death or injury to a person or damage to property when the electric car cable is being used to charge the car. The data shows that there has been a slight increase in the number of car insurance products that will exclude liability cover.
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|
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
|
|||
|
Electric car cable liability cover is not provided |
1% |
5% |
4% |
||||
|
Electric car cable liability cover is not defined |
66% |
53% |
52% |
||||
|
Electric car cable liability cover is clearly defined |
33% |
42% |
44% |
||||
Mike continues: “The grey area with home buildings and contents insurance exists here too. For liability claims, if the car is being charged at the policyholder’s home address and they own their own home, and the car is situated within the ‘boundaries’ of the home, liability cover could also be provided under ‘Property Owners Liability’ within a building’s insurance product.
“As the cables are connected to the electric charging point (which is attached to the home) this is therefore part of the buildings. Therefore, if someone for example, was to trip and fall over the cable and was injured cover could be applicable under both the car and home buildings insurance.
“For someone who rents, cover could also be applicable under their ‘contents’ insurance under the ‘Personal Liability’ section of cover.
“Although it’s positive to see the improvements that have been made in recent years, there is still some work to be done across the industry to make sure that insurance policies keep pace with the evolving automotive landscape. Especially when it comes to the grey areas that could cause confusion for policyholders.”
Defaqto maintains the UK’s most comprehensive financial product database, providing independent expertise, insights, tools and technology to help everyone make smarter financial decisions, and has put together the above based on data available from Defaqto Matrix on 28 June 2024.