Electric vehicle (EV) owners are urged to double check both their car and home insurance policies to avoid getting caught in a “double insurance trap”.
The warning comes from financial product research firm Defaqto, which explains that some home buildings insurance policies now include cover for electric car charging points and also for electric car cable liability.
This means EV drivers may unwittingly have both car and home insurance that covers the cables and charging points.
And when it comes to making a claim, some policy wording states that cover would be excluded if insurance cover is provided elsewhere.
This could leave motorists having to deal with two insurance providers to work out how their claim would in fact be paid, according to Mike Powell, motor insurance expert at Defaqto.
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He added that policyholders could potentially be at risk if providers apply a “contribution clause”, with each agreeing to pay 50% of the claim.
“This could see some policyholders paying two excesses, as well as losing any no claims discount under both their car and home insurance”, Powell said.
‘Grey areas’ of cable and charging cover
He added that Defaqto’s data “identifies a number of grey areas” around cover for EV cables and charging points.
Over the last three years, the number of car insurance products that do not provide any cover for electric car cables has reduced from 9% in 2022 to 7% in 2024. However, it still means that around four in every 10 products today do not clearly define this cover. Meanwhile, 55% of policies do provide cover for electric car cables, up from 43% in 2022.
There has also been a “notable improvement” in the number of products including cover for charge points, from 25% in 2022 to 35% now.
Turning to liability claims, such as death or injury to a person or damage to property when an electric car cable is being used, Defaqto revealed there has been a slight increase in the number of car insurance products that exclude this cover (from 1% to 4%). However, there has also been an increase from 33% to 44% of policies that clearly define liability cover in their terms.
Powell said: “The grey area with home buildings and contents insurance exists here too. For liability claims, if the car is being charged at the policyholder’s home address and they own their own home, and the car is situated within the ‘boundaries’ of the home, liability cover could also be provided under ‘Property Owners Liability’ within a building’s insurance product.
“As the cables are connected to the electric charging point (which is attached to the home), this is therefore part of the buildings. Therefore, if someone, for example, was to trip and fall over the cable and was injured, cover could be applicable under both the car and home buildings insurance.
“For someone who rents, cover could also be applicable under their ‘contents’ insurance under the ‘Personal Liability’ section of cover.”
The insurance expert added that although it’s positive to see the improvements that have been made in recent years, “there is still some work to be done across the industry to make sure that insurance policies keep pace with the evolving automotive landscape, especially when it comes to the grey areas that could cause confusion for policyholders”.
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