EVs are less likely to be written off than petrols or diesels

We all know the challenges electric cars have faced around insurance, whether that be higher than expected premiums, unexpected write-offs due to concerns around lightly damaged batteries or the failure of new Chinese brands to understand UK repair requirements, making certain models virtually uninsurable…

Yet in spite of all that negativity, data from CAP HPI shared with Auto Express reveals the potentially surprising fact that, since 2015, petrol and diesel cars have been written off at roughly twice the rate of their electric counterparts.

According to CAP, its study of cars under five years old in any given year from 2015 to August 2024 found that 0.9 percent of EVs were condemned as write-offs, compared to 1.89 percent of their petrol and diesel stablemates.

There’s a similar gap when you look at cars aged one year old, where 0.2 percent of EVs and 0.4 percent of petrol and diesel models were written off across the period.

However, before any keyboard warriors are tempted to use this stat as ammo in the ongoing EV culture wars on social media, it’s too early to draw meaningful conclusions, as CAP HPI spokesman Jon Clay explained. 

“The study challenges one of the many misconceptions about electric vehicles. The data clearly shows that EVs are written off at half the rate of petrol and diesel vehicles,” he said, but added there could be any number of different factors at play. 

These include the fact that the driving personas of EV owners over the last decade might be quite different to those of ICE car owners. It’s also true that EVs have often featured more safety technology than their ICE counterparts, and the stats also take no account of the arguably more significant ratio of claims that might typically end up as write-offs.

“There are quite a few variables in there, which we need to investigate to actually understand,” added Clay.

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