Zurich prices Tesla FSD as lower risk, saving about 5% on premiums

Zurich has become the first Australian insurer to treat Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) as a rating factor, pricing cars that run the system as lower risk on its InsureMyTesla policies.

The change took effect this week and applies to Model 3 and Model Y vehicles equipped with the software. Zurich has not published a discount figure, saying the factor sits alongside standard inputs including age, location and claims history.

Quotes obtained by Drive put the effect at about 5%. A 35-year-old man in Chatswood, New South Wales, insuring a Model 3 Long Range rear-wheel drive was quoted $2,357 without FSD, $2,239 with a monthly subscription and $2,329 if the software had been bought outright.

That is a saving of $118 a year for the subscriber and $28 for the owner who paid upfront. The subscription itself costs $149 a month, or $1,788 a year, so the insurance benefit returns about 6.6% of what the software costs to run.

Priced on the manufacturer’s data

Zurich is underwriting the change on figures supplied by Tesla, which claim drivers using FSD (Supervised) record seven times fewer major or minor collisions. That comparison is drawn against an estimated United States average rather than Australian claims experience.

“The data shows that drivers using this technology are involved in far fewer accidents, so it’s important they can access insurance that reflects this lower risk,” Zurich product manager David Toma says.

Tesla says Australian owners have now covered more than 132 million kilometres with the system engaged. Australia and New Zealand were the first right-hand-drive markets to receive FSD (Supervised), a year ago.

It is not an industry position. Allianz has indicated Tesla customers with FSD subscriptions will continue under standard policy terms for now, and Zurich’s move is tied to its own Tesla-branded product rather than its general motor book.

Buyers are not convinced

Separate research released by comparison service iSelect has 41% of Australians saying they would not buy or use a vehicle with self-driving technology because they do not trust it.

The same survey found one in nine would trust an artificial intelligence system in a critical road situation, against 54% who would trust a sober, experienced human driver. A quarter said they would be comfortable with partial automation where the driver stays alert. On safety, 28% expected autonomous vehicles to increase crashes and 23% expected a reduction.

The survey covered 500 people. iSelect has not published fieldwork dates, weighting or a research provider.

For dealers the precedent matters more than the Tesla-specific pricing. It is the first time in Australia that a driver assistance system has been priced into a motor premium as a rating factor, on a vehicle sold direct without a franchised network, and most brands now sell Level 2 systems of their own.