Talking Business with Mark and John · 2025-06-20 · 5 min
Key moments - from our scoring
Substance score
22 / 100
Five dimensions, 20 points each
Mark vents about a mainstream media article claiming EV insurance is unfairly expensive, criticizing the lack of substantive investigation into why insurers charge more. The real driver isn't safety - EVs are actually less fire-prone - but rather repair economics: when an EV battery is damaged in a crash, the repair cost can be prohibitively high, forcing insurers to write off vehicles faster than they would conventional cars. John adds nuance by explaining that modern insurance systems now attempt to prevent total losses by coordinating discounts across the supply chain (dealers, panel beaters, parts suppliers) to keep repair costs below write-off thresholds. This approach benefits everyone: insurers reduce claims, repair shops get work, parts suppliers move inventory, and vehicles stay out of landfills. The conversation underscores how insurance risk models are fundamentally tied to repair infrastructure and parts availability rather than vehicle type alone.
EV insurance is more expensive because battery damage from crashes incurs higher repair costs, and when batteries are compromised, the total repair expense forces insurers to write off vehicles faster than they would conventional cars.
No - EVs actually have a lower chance of catching fire than petrol cars, so fire risk is not the reason for higher insurance premiums; the cost driver is repair expenses.
Modern insurers use automated systems to evaluate whether coordinated discounts from dealers, panel beaters, and parts suppliers can bring repair costs below the write-off threshold, usually making this decision within 24 hours.
When dealers, panel beaters, and parts suppliers discount their services, it reduces total repair costs, allowing insurers to keep cars out of landfills, ensures repair shops get work, and lets parts suppliers sell inventory rather than insurers issuing total-loss claims.
Our reviewer’s read on each dimension, with quotes from the episode.
The episode spends most of its runtime venting about mainstream media coverage rather than delivering substantive explanation. While the hosts eventually touch on repair costs and battery damage as reasons for higher EV insurance, they admit uncertainty ('I'm not sure of the detail because I'm not that close to it') and don't provide concrete data, comparisons, or numbers to support claims.
it's always hype whenever it's on the when it makes the mainstream news, it's always it's whether it's clickbait or just hype
I'm not sure of the detail because I'm not that close to it, but my assumption is you probably have to write your right off. EV is a lot quicker
The core argument - that EV insurance is more expensive because repair and replacement costs are higher - is a widely-known, unchallenged explanation. The hosts don't offer contrarian angles, first-principles analysis, or novel thinking; they mostly complain about sensationalism and then land on obvious reasoning.
So if an EVA has a crash, you know, and you compromise a battery. That's a big expense
It's all that risk and repair, the cost to repair and replace
No guest appears in this episode. The conversation is between two hosts (Mark and John) who are not positioned as insurance or EV industry experts and explicitly claim uncertainty about the details they're discussing.
I'm not sure of the detail because I'm not that close to it
We don't really drill. Down into why is that the case
The episode is almost entirely devoid of specific data. There are no named insurance companies, no repair cost figures, no accident statistics, no manufacturer names, no actual examples, and no concrete timelines beyond a vague mention of 'within twenty four hours'. Claims remain abstract and unsupported.
So if an EVA has a crash, you know, and you compromise a battery. That's a big expense
the insurance company will make a decision within twenty four hours
The conversation lacks disciplined questioning or follow-ups that would deepen understanding. Instead of probing why battery damage is so costly or comparing actual insurance premiums, the hosts mainly vent about media sensationalism and agree with each other without pushing for specifics or challenging assumptions.
it's always hype whenever it's on the when it makes the mainstream news
And whenever you see the mainstream media reporting on castiles or anything with the auto industry, you can't help but deal treat it with a degree of suspicion
Computed from the transcript - who did the talking, and the words that came up most.
Today we talk about why you pay more for insurance for an electric vehicle compared to a internal combustion engine car. Got questions or experiences to share? Drop them in the comments below - we'd love to hear from you! Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share this video to inspire others to explore careers in the auto industry. Become a supporter of this podcast: .
Transcribed and scored by The B2B Podcast Index.
And I saw the news today there was a an article and it's always hype whenever it's on the when it makes the mainstream news, it's always it's whether it's clickbait or just hype. That's not really no one, actually it's not. It's almost like it's not peer assessed if that makes sense, or peer reviewed. It's it's just you know, the we've.
Got compare the market of saying how expensive evs are the EV owners getting slugged with insurance without actually asking the question why. They go, oh, but ice cars are cheaper than EV's whatever, EV's costs more. It's you know, it's not because. It's only an EV, but evs aren't going to catch and they say this bullshit about they said this thing, and I just was I was angry, John, I was angry when I saw the TV because the garbage they said, Oh and EV's got less chance of catching fire, so.
Why are they more expensive to ensure? It's like it was it a fire issue that that was being insured for or. Is it just insured for in general? Because if you're going to get it crashed or stolen, the value of that card to repair is more expensive.
That's why. Because more to ensure it, you know what I mean. But then there are this high but ah, you're getting ripped off, you know, And then there's all this bullshit about oh oh, but you should then maybe consider having a lower higher access at a lower premium. You can do that with your eyes, you know what I mean.
And it's like whether whether it was using the fact that you're paying more insurance for a higher premium for an EV in order to sell the insurance company idea of comparing the market, I don't know. Probably was maybe I'm dumb enough to think that they're trying to add value about talking about evs. But it's just was weird. And whenever you see the mainstream media reporting on castiles or anything with the auto industry, you can't help but deal treat it with a degree of suspicion.
So what are they really saying? Because rarely, rarely is there substance to what they're claiming or what they're not claiming what they're reporting. And you know, it's only when you when you look at people like Mike Sinclair who actually do the proper reporting of the industry, that you can actually say, all right, yeah, that's that's that's a serious interrogation as to what's going on why. Yeah, we do a little bit on the show here, but we men mainly talk about generic stuff industry related.
We don't really drill. Down into why is that the case that an insurance company is charging that much for that car? Whereas we know why insurance companies do what they do. It's all that risk and repair, the cost to repair and replace.
So if an EVA has a crash, you know, and you compromise a battery. That's a big expense, you know what I mean, That's. Why you're paying more for a for a premium or an EV. I'm not sure of the detail because I'm not that close to it, but my assumption is you probably have to write your right off.
EV is a lot quicker than you have to write off as yeah, because you can probably do there's a lot of things you can repair on an ASK before you have to actually write it off. But that gets to that certain point whether as soon as the there's that amount of damage they say okay, well we're right to off. Because that's why there's you can start to get apps now that look at that value and then say okay, how do we keep them repairing the car rather than writing a dorfss is escort save a coin these type of things.
So what they do is the insurance company will make a decision within twenty four hours. So they have tried to build an automated system and they says, okay, it would have been written off at this priss. But if the dealer discounts the cost to do the repairs or the panel beater and the parts get discounted, and so everybody in the supply chain discounts it, they then can say okay, between this priss and that priss, they can actually save the con get it repaired, because it's both good for the environment and it's good business because the parts company sells parts there, the panel beater does more work to repair it, and it's keep cars from going to the tip.
So I think it's a good idea, but it's trying to balance that out and getting the quote back to the insurance company fast enough that they will then make that decision. So it has to will happen like within sort of automatic piece. It has to be all are generated and made to happen. Interesting stuff, very interesting time job, very interesting times.
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