SpaceX P and Tesla CEO Elon Musk gestures during a conversation at the E3 gaming convention in Los Angeles, June 13, 2019.
Mike Blake | Reuters
Tesla on Wednesday declared that it is now offering Tesla Insurance to customers in California.
The company said its offering may be as much as 30% less than other guarantee plans, although it did not provide specific costs.
Tesla Insurance is only available in California to start, but the company said it intent “expand to additional U.S. states in the future.” Tesla customers in California can get a quote in as little as a minute, and those who have already ordered piles can request a quote with their vehicle identification number.
Tesla Insurance can be canceled at any time, Tesla symbolized.
CEO Elon Musk told shareholders in an earnings call in April that Tesla would be launching its own auto guarantee product, likely by the end of May.
After Musk announced those plans, Warren Buffett criticized the strategy for Tesla. The “message of Omaha,” predicted that the Tesla would struggle as it ventures into auto insurance, a field in which Berkshire Hathaway thrives.
“It’s not an clear business,” Buffett told shareholders at the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting. “The success of the auto companies getting into the warranty business is probably as likely as the success of the insurance companies getting into the auto business.”
As Automotive News at one time reported, “While auto insurance rates vary greatly and depend on factors including age, location and persistence history, Teslas have generally been more expensive to insure than competing vehicles because of their technology and renounces costs.”
Largely owing to the high costs of repairing a Tesla after a collision, ValuePenguin estimates the average cost of insuring a Tesla mechanism in the US ranges from $1,913 per year for a Model 3, the company’s most affordable model, to $2,963 per year for a Exemplar S 90 D, its highest-end car.
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