The insurance premium goes up even though there have been no claims in the past year? Why is electric vehicle insurance so confusing?

The insurance premiums for electric vehicles have increased again – this has become a common perception among many new energy vehicle owners.

Many vehicle owners have complained on social platforms that even though they haven't made any insurance claims in a year, their premiums have increased instead of decreasing. "Previously, the premiums for fuel - powered vehicles decreased every year, but now, those for new energy vehicles have gone up," they said. Some self - media reports even claim that the insurance premium for a new energy vehicle worth around 100,000 yuan can be as high as 30,000 yuan. Is this really the case? What's even more confusing is that the final insurance premiums for new energy vehicles at different price points may not differ much.

Facing such doubts, insurance agents often give a similar explanation: "The insurance premiums for new energy vehicles are increasing across the entire industry."

However, this statement can hardly quell the dissatisfaction of users. There are various opinions on the Internet: some people directly point out that electric vehicle insurance is a "big pit" and sigh that "they can afford to buy the car but can't afford the insurance"; others believe that the actual situation is not that serious and is still within an acceptable range.

It's worth noting that industry giants have also publicly acknowledged this issue. Li Bin, the chairman of NIO, once responded straightforwardly about entering the auto insurance business: "This decision was made because the current insurance costs for new energy vehicles are high, and users are complaining about the high prices." This statement directly confirms that the insurance premium issue has become an important factor affecting consumers' decisions and automakers' strategies.

The new energy vehicle industry is expanding rapidly. The latest data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers shows that as of the end of July 2025, the sales volume of new energy vehicles has accounted for 45% of the total new vehicle sales volume, and the penetration rate continues to rise.

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On one hand, the popularity of new energy vehicles is constantly increasing; on the other hand, vehicle owners' dissatisfaction with insurance premiums is intensifying. What exactly causes the so - called "stealthy increase in auto insurance premiums"? What factors are related to the insurance premium pricing? Is the insurance premium increase just an excuse for insurance companies to make more money? Is there any hope for improvement in the future? All these questions are worth in - depth exploration.

The high insurance premium is not absolute

Let me calculate a clear account for you using my colleague's insurance renewal form. This year, my colleague's Li L9 Extended - Range 6 - Seat model reached the insurance renewal period. It's impossible not to be nervous, considering that people on the Internet always say that electric vehicle insurance is extremely expensive.

As a result, when the quote came out, the total insurance premium was just over 4,000 yuan, which is 2,000 yuan cheaper than the first - year premium of 6,167 yuan. The key factor is that there were no insurance claims during this period, but this also makes me wonder: This seems different from what people on the Internet say about "the pitfall of electric vehicle insurance".

Breaking down the components of the insurance policy, the vehicle damage insurance indeed accounts for the largest part, amounting to 1,605 yuan. In addition to the basic coverage, new energy vehicles must also cover the "Three - Electric System" of the battery, motor, and electronic control. And the "Three - Electric System" is precisely the weak point of electric vehicles, with extremely high maintenance costs. I think this part of the cost is reasonable.

My colleague said that for the third - party liability insurance, there were only two options for the insurance amount: 2 million and 3 million yuan. He chose the 3 - million - yuan option, which cost 1,683 yuan. The compulsory traffic accident liability insurance for motor vehicles cost 791 yuan, and the rest were some additional insurance types.

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What my colleague felt most obvious this year was the change in the third - party liability insurance. In 2022, 2023, and 2024, it was still possible to purchase a policy with a 1 - million - yuan insurance amount, but this year, many insurance companies clearly stated that they couldn't issue a policy with a 1 - million - yuan insurance amount. After inquiring at several companies, the minimum insurance amount was 2 million yuan, and it was required to be paired with a driver and passenger insurance policy to pass the underwriting process.

Finally, my colleague chose the 3 - million - yuan option. The actual price wasn't much higher than the 2 - million - yuan option, but there were far fewer overall discounts. This year, the total discount was only 200 yuan.

I consulted a professional, who explained that because new energy vehicles have fast acceleration and a relatively high accident risk, especially high - power models, the pricing of third - party liability insurance will be slightly higher, and high - insurance - amount policies are gradually becoming the norm.

However, those who have bought new energy vehicles probably know that the insurance in the first year is usually purchased through the automaker, and the price is relatively high. It is indeed cheaper to directly contact the insurance company in the second year. Out of curiosity, I also asked some other friends around me about their situations.

My friend A Yue's Denza N8, which cost 310,000 yuan when it was purchased, had a total insurance premium of 4,300 yuan this year, including compulsory traffic accident liability insurance for motor vehicles, 3 - million - yuan third - party liability insurance, and 100,000 - yuan accident insurance. The price was basically the same as last year.

Another friend, Lao Li, drives a fuel - powered vehicle, a Volkswagen Passat 380TSI, which cost 240,000 yuan when it was purchased. This year, his insurance premium was actually 5,100 yuan. In comparison, my colleague's electric vehicle insurance doesn't seem like such a "pitfall". Of course, there are individual differences. For example, Lao Li had an insurance claim last year, while my colleague and A Yue had no claims.

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But at least it shows one thing: The so - called "high insurance premium for electric vehicles" is not absolute. In fact, the statements of each person I saw on social platforms also vary greatly.

For example, a Xiaohongshu user named "Boluotou Dabeibei" said: "In 2023, the insurance premium was over 5,000 yuan. After having an accident, it increased to over 8,000 yuan in 2024. The salesperson promised that it could be reduced by 1,000 yuan this year, but the quote in 2025 was directly over 9,000 yuan. The insured amount of the vehicle damage insurance also dropped from 430,000 yuan last year to 140,000 yuan."

Image source: Xiaohongshu

Another user named "Yinyue" said: "I've had my 170,000 - yuan electric vehicle for 4 years. The insurance premium was 5,400 yuan in the first year, 2,700 yuan in the second year, 2,650 yuan in the third year, and 2,600 yuan in the fourth year. The insurance items are the same as those for my 200,000 - yuan fuel - powered vehicle. Now, the fuel - powered vehicle has basically been parked in the garage and hasn't been driven much for three years."

Image source: Xiaohongshu

As mentioned at the beginning of the article, a self - media account named "Beitai Shuoche" reported a typical case: an owner of a new energy vehicle worth around 100,000 yuan had an insurance premium as high as 30,000 yuan. After analysis, this was mainly due to two special factors: First, all 5 seats in the vehicle were insured with a high - insurance - amount seat insurance of 500,000 yuan per seat, and this item alone cost over 11,000 yuan; second, the insurance policy also included some less common insurance types such as mental damage compensation liability insurance, which added nearly 7,000 yuan to the insurance premium.

More importantly, the vehicle had 6 insurance claims within 2 years. In this case, most insurance companies might refuse to provide insurance, resulting in a significant increase in the insurance premium. So this case is quite special and usually doesn't happen often.

In addition, there is also a special situation like what Mr. Huang encountered. His new energy vehicle didn't have any insurance claims in the past year, but he found that the insurance premium had increased when renewing the policy. When he asked the insurance company for the reason, the company didn't give a very specific explanation, only mentioning "the overall pricing adjustment in the industry" and "the update of the vehicle model risk coefficient". This phenomenon of "an increase in insurance premium without any insurance claims" has also attracted a lot of attention and discussion among vehicle owners.

Why do different new energy vehicle owners have such different experiences with insurance premiums? What exactly causes the situation like Mr. Huang's, where the premium increases without any insurance claims?

Why do insurance premiums vary?

If you want to understand why the insurance premiums for different new energy vehicles vary, you need to figure out the factors that truly affect the insurance premium pricing.

Auto insurance is mainly divided into two major categories: compulsory traffic accident liability insurance for motor vehicles and commercial auto insurance. Compulsory traffic accident liability insurance for motor vehicles is an insurance that is mandatory for purchase by the state. Its basic premium rate is uniformly set by the state and follows the principle of "rewarding the good and punishing the bad" with a floating premium rate mechanism.

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The specific calculation formula is: Final premium = Basic premium × (1 + Floating ratio related to road traffic accidents) × (1 + Floating ratio related to traffic safety violations).

Among them, the basic premium is the same across the country for the same type of vehicles. The main factor causing the difference in the final price of compulsory traffic accident liability insurance for motor vehicles is the floating premium rate, that is, whether the vehicle has been involved in a traffic accident or has any traffic safety violation records. Due to the limited influencing factors, the price of compulsory traffic accident liability insurance for motor vehicles usually doesn't change much.

In contrast, the pricing mechanism for commercial insurance is much more complex. Although there are slight differences among different insurance companies, they generally comprehensively consider multiple dimensions such as "related to the driver", "related to the vehicle", and "related to the environment".

The "factors related to the driver" mainly include the driver's gender, age, driving experience, and the No - Claim Discount (NCD) coefficient. The NCD coefficient is one of the few variables in commercial insurance that is directly related to the vehicle owner's driving behavior. It dynamically adjusts the insurance premium based on the vehicle's historical insurance claim records, following the principle of "rewarding the good and punishing the bad". Different insurance companies implement a unified standard to match the risk with the cost.

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The "factors related to the vehicle" cover the vehicle model, vehicle price, usage nature, safety performance, mileage, etc. Therefore, the vehicle price is just one part of the insurance company's pricing model. This also explains why for many vehicle models with significant price differences, under the combined influence of various factors such as energy type, insured area, accident rate data, and mileage, the final insurance premiums may be very similar.

From the perspective of the "factors related to the environment", insurance company actuaries will also consider factors such as the region and city where the vehicle is located and the social environment. For example, the battery attenuation speed in winter is different between the north and the south, and such regional differences will also be incorporated into the pricing model.

In addition, different insurance companies use different risk factors and model architectures, and the underwriting and claims settlement data they possess also vary, which will all affect the final pricing.

Different insurance companies may have very different insurance premium quotes for the same vehicle due to differences in risk