Repair costs for electric vehicles (EVs) in Germany are beginning to ease as adoption rises and service providers gain more experience, the German Insurance Association (GDV) said.
According to GDV, comprehensive insurance claims for EVs were 20% to 25% higher than for comparable combustion engine models last year. That gap has since narrowed, with the average claim now around 15% to 20% higher than for internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles.
“The more electric cars there are on the road, the less their claims differ from comparable cars with combustion engines,” said Anja Käfer-Rohrbach, deputy general director at GDV.
She added that “a broader model range reaches a larger customer base, and workshops, towing companies, fire departments, and appraisers now have more experience with damaged electric cars.”
Käfer-Rohrbach said these developments are helping to reduce costs as EVs become the “new normal.”
The association noted its findings covered the period between 2021 and 2023, when electric cars were less common on German roads. As of the beginning of this year, there were around 1.65 million EVs registered in Germany, a fivefold increase from 2021. EVs now account for 3.3% of all registered vehicles in the country.