Insurance can be cheaper, sometimes

In general, pricier vehicles will cost more when it comes to insurance, and EVs typically have higher price tags than their gas counterparts. However, a quick search will also find companies that offer a green discount for EVs and some hybrids.

The insurance arms of CAA — Desjardins, TD and Intact Insurance — all offered discounts to EV owners, mostly about five per cent. A recent MoneySense article on auto insurance suggested discounts can range from five to 15 per cent.

For comparison purposes, I went to the insurance aggregator website Rates.ca and searched quotes for two new and two used EVs, all of which have a purchase cost between $40,000 and $60,000 at time of writing. The makes and models of these four vehicles — a 2022 Chevrolet Bolt EUV Premier, 2022 Hyundai Ioniq 5 Preferred AWD, 2018 Tesla Model 3 75D and a 2021 Toyota RAV4 Prime XSE — were entered along with the same driver details.

The lowest combined quote I received to ensure all four EVs was just over $277 a month, or $3,330 per year. This worked out to an average of $833 per year for each vehicle. The site didn’t give me a breakdown for each EV, but when I searched regarding a Tesla Model 3, I was quoted $1,068 per year.

Ian Jack, a CAA spokesperson, said that there’s no industry-wide discount, but its insurance does offer an EV discount for environmental reasons, not actuarial ones. “The question is really the sticker price and not the drivetrain,” he said. “As of right now, there is no statistical analysis behind the discount.”