The Hunt for Electric Vehicle Auto Insurance

Armed with a White Wheego Whip VIN [Vehicle Identification Number] graciously given to be by Ray of MC Electric Vehicles [http://www.mcelectricvehicles.com/], I have begun my search of insurance companies to see who will insure an NEV [Neighborhood Electric Vehicle].

I began with my own Insurer, Safeco. I just emailed my agent. I will keep you posted as to what they have to say on the matter, and we'll see if I get a quote, or not.

Neither State Farm, nor Farmers had the Wheego Whip listed [http://wheego.net/pdf/wheego_whip_brochure_2010.pdf.
Doing some on-line searching most NEV owners said that both State Farm and Allstate will provide policies. We shall see. I've contacted State Farm, Famers, Allstate, and my own agents for Safeco.

Of course with the major Auto Company launch of the Nissan Leaf coming this Fall http://www.nissanusa.com/leaf-electric-car/index#/leaf-electric-car/index,  all of the major insurance companies have to get their act together soon, or risk losing out on what I anticipate will be a quickly growing market segment.

***UPDATE***

Okay...I received my first quote a couple hours after submitting my online quote request, from State Farm Insurance, for full coverage. He is the text from the exchange:

Subject: RE: Internet Referral INCOMPLETE Auto Quote - Scott D Menge
Date: Mon, 10 May 2010 13:25:16 -0700
From: malissa.d.glade.rby0@statefarm.com
To: scott_menge@hotmail.com
Hey Scott!

For full coverage, it looks like that car will be $528.51
every 6 months. Thanks!

Malissa
Malissa Glade LSA-SSA
Brooks G Tish State Farm Ins Agcy
http://www.brookstish.com/
State Farm Insurance & Financial Services
12504 - 116th Avenue NE
Kirkland, WA 98034
425.821.1717
800.821.8852
F 425.821.5997

-----Original Message-----

From: Internet Customer - Scott Menge
Sent: Monday, May 10, 2010 11:22 AM
To: Brooks Tish

Hello Brooks,

I'm looking to get a quote on a comprehensive auto policy quote for
the following NEV - Neighborhood Electric Vehicle, called the Wheego Whip.

The MSRP is $18,995 Lead acid battery array
VIN: 1W9WL21B1AC485166

***UPDATE***

Toward the end of that same Monday I received the following reply from my Safeco Insurance Agent:

From: ep@phillipsinsurance.net
To: scott_menge@hotmail.com
Subject: RE: Information needed for possible NEV purchase [NEV = Neighborhood Electric Vehicle]
Date: Mon, 10 May 2010 16:15:11 -0700

Hi Scott,

The $20k one would be approx $488 and the $30k one would be approx $535 every 6 months. They don’t pull info using the vin because they aren’t that common that there are insurance statistics on them, the rating is done by the value for now. That might change later on. Let me know if you have any more questions.

Thanks,

Emily Phillips
Phillips Insurance, Inc
10709 Beardslee Blvd., #201
Bothell, WA 98011
(425) 485-8660
(425) 485-8600 fax
http://phillipsinsurance.net/


As there are no real [or at least tabulated statistics yet, or none
the Insurance companies pay attention to] statistics yet, the
Insurance companies insure by monetary value. As both of these
quotes are a mere $7 apart, I would say these are fairly accurate.