2 weeks ago
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QUESTION: Is motor insurance available in Jamaica to cover my Tesla Model S with an Autopilot system? My family and I live in Houston, Texas. I am planning to ship my household goods and car to the island when we return home next summer. Can you provide information about the auto insurance landscape?
– A.S., Houston,Texas
RISKS & INSURANCE: Gleaner columnist, obstetrician, and gynaecologist, Michael Abrahams, bravely joined what I called the RSBS debate on July 29. It is about the importation of US-made, used, and left-hand-drive school buses into Jamaica to transport children to and from their educational institutions in the rural areas, five days per week.
This was the subject of my July 6 article.
The plan is being implemented in response to what is said to be the high degree of risk linked to the existing mode of travel on licensed and unlicensed public passenger vehicles, mainly cars and minibuses. Absent from the discussions is information about the safety features of the existing PPVs, driver profile, passenger load, frequency and severity of crashes, other metrics, and risk mitigation strategies.
Most vehicles on the island’s roads are right-hand-drive. Road traffic regulations say that vehicles must be driven on the left side of our roads. Left-hand-drive vehicles are not prohibited. Dr Abrahams argued that research led him to conclude that “the decision to place children on these school buses suggested suboptimal due diligence regarding safety”.
Suboptimal is a fancy way of saying unsatisfactory. Others share his view. Are they correct?
My research led me in a different direction. A US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, NHTSA, study found that 94 per cent of crashes involve a ‘critical reason’ attributed to the driver. It listed three critical reasons, namely, distraction, misjudgement, or poor decision-making.
↔NHTSA cautioned that the 94 per cent figure should not be interpreted as assigning fault or is the sole cause of crashes. It is simply one factor in a chain of events that results in a crash.
The ‘driver factor’ was defined to Include: recognition errors – inattention, inadequate surveillance; decision errors – speeding, tailgating, unsafe lane changes; performance errors – oversteering, panic braking; and state-related issues – fatigue, intoxication, frustration.
Also, focusing on human error distracts attention from systemic issues like poor road design, inadequate signage, unsafe speed limits, and vehicle safety standards.
It can be inferred from the NHTSA study that arguments that concentrate on left-hand and right-hand drive, or other factors, oversimplify road safety. A car crash is rarely due to one cause. It is, invariably, the result of a chain of events in which many things go wrong.
My five decades of experience as a driver and an amateur accident analyst, suggests this is more plausible than the binary right-hand drive//left-hand drive reasoning that Dr Abrahams used. For example, the recently released US Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation report into the 2023 accident of the Titan submersible operated by OceanGate that killed five people as it dived to the wreck of the Titanic, found that there were several ‘primary contributing factors’ that resulted in the implosion that caused the tragedy.
None of the local insurers I contacted asked whether your Tesla was right-hand or left-hand drive. Their responses implied that this design feature was not significant in their accept/reject decision-making process. That feature was not material unlike the smoking/non-smoking habit is to life insurance rate making.
Dr Abrahams said his research found that left-hand drive vehicles were more likely to be involved in accidents than right-hand drive vehicles in countries like Jamaica. Insurers’ claims data collection process, on the other hand, is left-hand drive-right-hand drive neutral.
One company told me its decision not to insure Teslas was due to sourcing difficulties for replacement parts in the absence of a local dealer, high repair costs, extra freight charges to ship damaged vehicles to and from overseas repairers, and foreign exchange risks.
Tesla now has a Jamaican dealer. Removal of these obstacles will expand the market because I have seen a few of these vehicles on the roads. I expect that your vehicle’s advanced driver assistance system, Autopilot, would be a no-no due to the controversies about it in the United States. However, this feature was not even mentioned by the insurer, suggesting that the company was unfamiliar with the advanced driver assistance functionalities and/or did not carefully consider their implications.
US auto insurers, I am sure you know, approach underwriting vehicles like the Tesla Model S with Autopilot differently than conventional vehicles. This is due to the car’s advanced driver assistance system, performance characteristics, repair costs, and evolving data around risk and liability. Most persons working with local motor insurers, I suspect, are ignorant of these facts.
Important things that US auto insurers consider:
A. Tesla Model S-specific factors
• High repair costs: Tesla vehicles, including the Model S, have expensive parts and limited repair networks, which raise comprehensive and collision damage premiums.
• Advanced technology: Autopilot, cameras, and sensors can lower accident frequency but raise claim severity when accidents do occur.
• Battery replacement costs: These also influence the size of potential claims, especially in major collisions.
B. Driver behaviour and data (telematics)
• Some insurers may use telemetry or driving behaviour data from Tesla (if shared by the driver) to offer usage-based or behaviour-based discounts.
• Tesla’s auto insurance product, available in some US states, directly uses real-time driving data to price risk more dynamically.
C. Autopilot system factors
• Autopilot is not autonomous driving: Since it is a Level 2 driver assistance system (the driver must remain engaged), insurers treat it differently from hypothetical fully autonomous systems.
• Mixed evidence on safety: While Tesla claims lower accident rates when Autopilot is engaged, insurers remain cautious due to potential driver misuse and lack of full regulatory clarity.
D. Accident liability complexity
• In crashes involving Autopilot, the line between driver error and system malfunction complicates fault determination.
• Some insurers are cautious or may charge higher premiums due to uncertainty over litigation and claims resolution.
A Florida jury, according to a recent New York Times report, found that “flaws in Tesla’s self-driving software were partly to blame for a crash that killed a 22-year-old woman in 2019 and severely injured her boyfriend”. The verdict, a US$243-million punitive and compensatory damage award to the parents of the woman and to her boyfriend, assigned 33 per cent responsibility for the accident to the car manufacturer.
The driver of the Tesla, according to the report, approached a T-intersection with Autopilot software activated. He dropped his phone and bent to look for it. The Tesla blew through the intersection at more than 50 miles per hour and crashed into a black SUV that was legally parked on the far side.
This award, which the manufacturer plans to appeal, is likely to make US insurers even more cautious where this software is involved.
Local motor insurers are more risk averse than their US counterparts. They are therefore even less likely to offer anything but the minimum third-party liability insurance package.
May I suggest that we revisit the subject in six months as the situation may change.
Cedric E. Stephens provides independent information and advice about the management of risks and insurance. For free information or counsel, write to: aegis@flowja.com or business@gleanerjm.com
English (US) ·