Tesla Insurances is offered in various U.S. states
Not a Tesla App
Based on an update from a senior ex-GEICO executive on LinkedIn, Allen Laben will now be joining Tesla’s Insurance team in the coming days, with an interesting focus.
Laben, who previously worked at GEICO as Director of Claims Specialty Operations will be taking on the role as Head of Insurance Partnerships at Tesla.
Reducing Costs
One of Laben’s goals is to “lower the total cost of Tesla ownership…”, which is a fairly lofty goal. Tesla’s have notoriously had extremely high repair costs, owing to the low availability of parts, and the tendency for third-party insurance services to total vehicles rather than try to repair them.
Laben intends to reduce these costs by partnering with insurance companies, teams across Tesla, and collision shops in the US and Canada.
Tesla Insurance
Tesla launched Tesla Insurance in 2019 in California and now offers insurance in various US states. In most states, the insurance premium is based on a user’s Safety Score, which uses vehicle metrics to determine how the vehicle was being driven. These metrics included Forward Collision Warnings, hard braking, aggressive turning, unsafe following distances, and harsh braking. They also include the rather controversial night-time driving policy, which Tesla has changed multiple times over the years.
In California, the Safety Score isn’t factored into the insurance rates. However, in other states as of 2021, Safety Score directly correlates to the insurance rates. A higher score results in lower rates, with rates changing month-to-month based on your score.
The higher a Safety Score, the lower your insurance premium will be
Not a Tesla App
Tesla Insurance Expansion: Canada and Other States
Given Laben’s goals and words – it may seem that Tesla Insurance could eventually make its way to Canada. Today, navigating to Tesla’s Insurance page on its Canadian site provides a 404 error. Canadian owners are often subject to high rates, with few exemptions.
Having Tesla Insurance in Canada could make a big impact on Canadian Tesla ownership costs, which are driven higher by insurance costs. These same goals and words can also apply to other states – not every US state has access to Tesla Insurance just yet, but Tesla continues to expand.
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Three months after launching the Refreshed Model Y in North America, Tesla has finally ended the Launch Edition of the new vehicle. In addition, Tesla has also launched a new paint color for North America.
April has been the month of a lot of positive news, and it is great to see Tesla going beyond the Launch Edition of the Model Y and making it available to more customers immediately.
Launch Edition
The Launch Edition of the Model Y included the following extra features, bundled into the package cost.
Any paint choice (up to $1,500 USD value)
20” Helix 2.0 wheels ($2,000 USD)
Tow package ($1,000 USD)
Any interior color ($1,000 USD)
FSD ($8,000)
Acceleration Boost ($2,000)
The Launch Edition Model Y also included some other subtle changes like Launch Edition badging and trim, which you can read about here. Everything but the badging and Launch Edition trim can be bought for other Model Y trim levels.
Updated Pricing
The pricing has changed quite a bit from the Launch Edition, and it turns out the Launch Edition was also a pretty good deal if you were planning to buy most or all the extra features, which could save you almost $5,000 US. This is in sharp contrast to the Foundation-Series Cybertrucks, where there was very little to no difference in terms of price between a Foundation-Series truck and the AWD version with all the paid extras. Of course, not everyone may be interested in all features of the Launch Edition, so waiting for the AWD Model Y will save most people some cash.
Here’s a chart with the launch pricing and the updated pricing. Of note, the Refreshed Model Y Long Range AWD is $1,000 USD ($1,000 CAD as well) more expensive than the first-gen Model Y.
Model Y LR AWD
Price (USD)
Price (CAD)
Launch Edition
$59,990
$84,990
AWD Model Y
$48,990
$69,990
AWD Model Y With Paid Options
$64,490
$90,790
Interestingly, at least for now, Tesla is still including the Mobile Connector with the Model Y. We’re not sure how long that will last, but that’s a pretty nice little boost since Tesla stopped including the Mobile Connector with vehicles back in 2022.
New Paint Color
Last, but not least, Tesla has brought a brand new paint color into the fold. Last month, we heard Franz von Holzhausen, Tesla’s Chief Vehicle Designer, discuss paint colors - and the possibility of a new paint color on the horizon.
This has materialized with the launch of the brand new Diamond Black color option, which is replacing the old standard Black that Tesla used to offer. Diamond Black is a premium paint option and will cost $1,500 USD.
Diamond Black is a multicoat black paint with embedded sparkles and flakes, giving it a very fresh and unique look. We’re excited to see it in person, as it looks like a big step up from the solid black paint that Tesla was previously using. Several years ago, black was the standard color included in most new Teslas, so it’s also fairly common.
Paints like the new Diamond Black tend to glimmer and slightly shift colors based on the angle, so this one will be an eyecatcher, just like Quicksilver.
For now, Diamond Black is only available in the United States - it isn’t available in Canada or Mexico just yet. Since both countries receive vehicles from Giga Texas and Fremont, we expect this color to be made available in the coming days.
Tesla has been making steady progress on adding the second of FSD’s “senses” — hearing. Since some FSD updates in late 2024, Tesla has been collecting audio input to help FSD recognize and respond to emergency vehicle sirens. Tesla’s VP of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, previously confirmed that improved handling of emergency vehicles would be coming to a future FSD update.
Now, it looks like Tesla is also introducing a feature to alert drivers when the vehicle detects an emergency vehicle. This change was found by @greentheonly in a production version of update 2025.8, which means that it may not be long before it’s enabled for everyone.
Emergency Siren Detection
In a future update, Tesla will enable the vehicle to alert the driver whenever it detects an emergency vehicle, either through sirens or visually. This is assuming the owner has given the vehicle permission to use the internal microphone. While the new Model Y features multiple internal microphones for better noise isolation, most Teslas only feature a single internal microphone, which is used for features such as voice commands and talking through Bluetooth.
Since the vehicle can see in all directions and is actively paying attention, it will likely detect an emergency vehicle even before the driver, so this is much more than a feature for FSD.
According to Green, Tesla included text in the vehicle software that describes the new emergency vehicle detection as:
“Automatically detects and alerts the driver to nearby sirens, helping you or Autopilot recognize and yield to approaching emergency vehicles. When a siren is detected, the media volume lowers, and an alert appears on the display. Sound detection data stays within the car and is not saved or transmitted unless data sharing is enabled.”
While on FSD, the in-vehicle microphone can help to detect and allow the vehicle to yield to approaching emergency vehicles. In addition, whether you’re using FSD or not, your media volume will be lowered, and an alert will be displayed on your vehicle’s display.
We’re not exactly sure what this alert will look like, but it could look similar to today’s “Keep your eyes on the road” alert, which displays over the center of the display with a blue hue over the screen to catch your attention.
This is an eye-catching alert, and in combination with the media volume being lowered, this should help to grab the attention of a driver in a safe and unobtrusive way.
We love these types of updates that not only improve FSD but also improve safety when drivers don’t have Autopilot enabled.
While Tesla hasn’t enabled this feature just yet, we should expect it soon since it lies dormant in update 2025.8. It could be enabled through a server-side configuration or in Tesla’s upcoming 2025 Spring Update.
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