Tesla is expanding its insurance program to the US and Canada

Last year, we published an exclusive report revealing that Tesla was working on a new car insurance program, which it started offering to its customers in Australia and Hong Kong. Tesla executives have since been talking about working more closely with insurance companies as self-driving technology improves.

Now we learn that Tesla is preparing to launch the same program in North America.

It’s called InsureMyTesla and it features custom insurance plans for the automaker’s electric vehicles underwritten by insurers partnering with Tesla.

In Hong Kong, Tesla is partnering with AXA General Insurance and in Australia, the automaker released its new plan with QBE Insurance.

Now Electrek has learned from sources that Tesla partnered with Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and Aviva to offer the service in the US and Canada respectively. They are getting ready to launch the programs and start marketing them to customers.

Tesla says that InsureMyTesla is ‘designed for Tesla cars’. When talking about the program in Asia earlier this year, Jon McNeill, President of Sales and Services, said that they work with insurers to develop insurance products based on “Autopilot safety features and the maintenance costs of the cars.”

Update: Tesla’s support page for the US program is now live.

Here are features listed in the US InsureMyTesla program:

• New Car ReplacementTM – Allows for a brand new car within the first year in case of a total loss¹
• Rate guaranteed for one year²
• Genuine Replacement Parts³
• Optional 24-Hour Roadside Assistance beyond the Tesla Warranty⁴
• Optional Rental Car Reimbursement to pay your rental costs for as long as it takes to fix your Tesla⁵
• Claims Valet ServiceTM to drop off a rental car at the scene or schedule a swap at an agreed upon time and place⁶

We obtained the brochure for the US program with Liberty Mutual Insurance :

[scribd id=361526717 key=key-J7uKnhG4xnPJT3XoUxua mode=scroll]

In the US, Tesla aims to release the program in all 50 states. Tesla’s own employees will not be selling the insurance products since it is required to be done by a licensed insurance representative, but they will start referring buyers to those insurers through the InsureMyTesla program as an option.

Electrek’s Take

Earlier this year, data came out suggesting that some Tesla owners were paying higher than average premiums.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that the insurers weren’t competitive and suggested that Tesla owners paying higher premiums simply change insurer.

But he also said that they will be working more closely with them to make sure the rates are fair – especially with the advent of autonomous driving and active safety features in Tesla’s vehicles.

Self-driving cars will almost completely eliminate the occurrence of car accidents caused by humans, which represents about 90% of all car accidents in the U.S. according to NHTSA. Consequently, autonomous driving has the potential to save millions of lives and millions in repair costs around the globe every year and change the car insurance industry.

Musk added:

“Not to the exclusion of insurance providers but if we find that insurance providers are not matching the insurance proportionate to the risk of the car, then if we need to, we will in-source it. I think we will find that insurance providers do adjust the insurance cost proportionate to the risk of a Tesla.”

We will have a better idea of the competitiveness of the pricing once Tesla and its partners launch the program in more markets.

So far it seemed popular since McNeill said earlier this year that they were selling the majority of their cars with the program where it was already launched.