Tesla Insurance and real-time driving data

Tesla Insurance is car insurance sold by Tesla through its app, priced in most of its states with "Real-Time Insurance": your premium is recalculated each month from your Tesla's Safety Score, how much you drive with FSD (Supervised) engaged, and your mileage. As of October 2026 it is available in 15 states. In California it is sold without Safety Score pricing.

Where Tesla Insurance is available

Tesla's support page listed these states in October 2026:

Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Virginia.

Real-Time Insurance is not available in California. There, Tesla offers a product that does not use Safety Score to set premiums; California policyholders can opt in to see a Safety Score for information only. California's rating rules are generally stricter than other states'; for background, see California Proposition 103 explained.

The Tesla Insurance group is no longer small. It wrote $1.04 billion in private passenger auto premium in 2025, ranking 36th among U.S. auto insurance groups in NAIC data.

How Real-Time Insurance sets your premium

According to Tesla's Real-Time Insurance page, your premium is based on:

• The Tesla you drive (make, model, trim and year, which drive repair and replacement costs).
• Your garaging address.
• How much you drive.
• The coverages, limits and deductibles you choose.
• Your car's monthly Safety Score.
• Your FSD (Supervised) usage, in select states.

When you first sign up, Tesla assumes a Safety Score of 90. After that, each car's score is updated at the end of each month from the previous 30 days of driving and affects the next month's premium. Tesla notifies you of the new premium in advance. Policy changes such as adding a driver change the premium immediately, and base rates can change at renewal. Tesla notes that Safety Score changes may be capped in some states.

What goes into the Safety Score

The Safety Score is a number from 0 to 100, higher being safer, computed from "Safety Factors" the car measures itself. In version 3.0 they are:

• Hard braking: decelerating faster than 0.3g, roughly losing more than 6.7 mph in one second.
• Aggressive turning: sideways acceleration above 0.4g.
• Unsafe following: less than one second of headway to the car ahead, measured at 50 mph and above.
• Excessive speeding: driving over 85 mph, or 20% faster than a nearby car ahead that is going over 25 mph.
• Late-night driving: time behind the wheel between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m., with the riskiest hours weighted more.
• Forced Autosteer or FSD disengagement: the system shutting off after repeated inattention warnings.
• Unbuckled driving: driving over 10 mph without the driver's seatbelt fastened.

Tesla combines these into a predicted collision frequency and converts it into the score. Most factors are measured only while you are driving manually; late-night driving counts whether or not driver assistance is on. Daily scores are averaged over up to 30 days, weighted by miles.

How FSD (Supervised) use affects the price

Since Safety Score version 3.0, miles driven with FSD (Supervised) engaged are scored as 100. Tesla calculates a "Safety Score with FSD (Supervised)" as:

(share of miles on FSD × 100) + (share of miles driven manually × your manual Safety Score)

Hypothetical example: you drive 1,000 miles in a month, 300 of them with FSD (Supervised) engaged, and your manual Safety Score is 80. Your Safety Score with FSD is (0.30 × 100) + (0.70 × 80) = 30 + 56 = 86. That 86, not the 80, is used for next month's premium in states where FSD usage counts. Tesla says that, currently, FSD usage lowers premiums only in select states.

The arrangement links an insurance discount to use of Tesla's own driver-assistance software, which is unusual. The system is supervised, meaning the driver must stay attentive and remains responsible for the car; a crash with FSD engaged is still a claim on your policy.

What data Tesla collects

Tesla says it collects information from your vehicle, including measures of driving behavior and miles driven, to price the policy, help settle claims and fight fraud, and to improve vehicle safety. Its insurance page states that it does not monitor your location or share your data. If you are weighing any data-based policy, read the privacy policy and see what driving apps collect and how insurers use it.

Two practical points: each Tesla has its own Safety Score, and non-Tesla vehicles have none. A Tesla that stops transmitting data for 60 consecutive days is treated as an unconnected vehicle.

Buying, managing and claims

Tesla says you can buy a policy through your Tesla Account while preparing for delivery of a new car, or through the Tesla app for a car you already own, and manage it in the app: change your address, coverages, vehicles, drivers and payment details. Claims, roadside assistance requests and finding a repair location also run through the app. Because Teslas often need specialized body repair and sensor calibration, ask how repair shops are chosen in your area before you buy; see why electric vehicles cost more to insure for why EV repairs tend to cost more.

Who it may suit

Tesla Insurance may suit Tesla owners who:

• Drive smoothly, rarely late at night and keep a long following distance.
• Use FSD (Supervised) for a large share of their miles, in states where that counts.
• Are comfortable with continuous data collection and monthly price changes.

It may suit others less well, such as households with non-Tesla vehicles that have no Safety Score, drivers who often drive late at night for work, or people who prefer a local agent and an in-person relationship. Compare it at identical limits and deductibles with at least two other quotes using the compare auto insurers side by side. For how Tesla's approach compares with other driving-data programs, see usage-based car insurance explained.

Key takeaways

• Tesla Insurance is sold through the Tesla app in 15 states as of October 2026.
• Outside California, Real-Time Insurance can change your premium monthly based on Safety Score, FSD (Supervised) usage and miles.
• Safety Score uses seven factors measured by the car, including hard braking, following distance, late-night driving and seatbelt use.
• Miles on FSD (Supervised) are scored as 100, which can raise your effective score and lower your premium in select states.
• In California, Tesla Insurance does not use Safety Score in pricing.