Covéa Insurance plans to re-enter EV insurance market in 2025

Covéa Insurance chief executive Georges de Macedo has confirmed to Insurance Times that the insurer will re-enter the electric vehicle (EV) insurance market in 2025 after initially halting the sale of new EV policies and renewals distributed through its partnership with retailer John Lewis in 2023.

Back in April 2021, Covéa Insurance entered a five-year motor insurance agreement with John Lewis. This arrangement saw Covéa provide policy administration, underwriting, pricing and claims service for the car cover product, while John Lewis marketed the policies.

However, in October 2023 – just two years into the deal – John Lewis was forced to stop the provision of policies to EV drivers because Covéa Insurance temporarily paused underwriting new policies and renewals on fully electric vehicles.

At the time, a John Lewis Financial Services spokesperson cited the reason for this as Covéa wanting to fully analyse “the risks and costs entailed”, especially around EV repairs.

An ‘A to Z proposal’

Last week, following the publication of Covéa Insurance’s 2024 full-year financial results on 9 April 2025, De Macedo told Insurance Times that Covéa first entered the EV insurance market because it was an “important” sector development and the firm wanted to ensure it was not left behind as UKGI insurers flocked to fulfil early consumer appetite around these cars.

However, he admitted that the insurer “never had a real analysis of what does it mean for us in terms of pricing, in terms of network”.

He said: “[The] supply chain [around EVs] is quite complex and you can have some shortfalls in supply chain, so we need to really make sure that we align the organisation to support such an initiative.”

De Macedo confirmed that after some organisational soul searching and decision-making, his team will now “be working on a clear plan to re-enter this market – but this time, we’ll have [an] A to Z proposal and not just go into the market and take any risk”.

He added: “[We] will be more targeted, more in line with what we can deliver.”

The insurer is additionally continuing talks with John Lewis regarding the future of the agreed partnership – De Macedo explained that both sides are exploring a model that will benefit all parties, which is not purely centred on EVs.

Service centred

Although De Macedo wants to roll out Covéa’s EV offering this year, he has no set time frame of when exactly in 2025 this will be delivered. But he firmly believes the insurer’s revamped proposition could be “one of our strengths” due to the organisation’s focus on service in the very price driven motor market.

Cementing this perception, Covéa Insurance has received the highest five star score in Insurance Times’ annual Five Star Rating Report: Personal Lines for seven consecutive years. The insurer remains at the top of the ranking table for 2024/25 out of a field of six UKGI personal lines insurers.

Its most recent score, 4.29, is an improvement on 2023/24’s result of 4.11.

De Macedo said: “I want Covéa to continue to be seen as an insurer which provides the right level of services.

“I think [EV insurance] will be one of our strengths if we want to compete in this market, which is very competitive, sometimes really price driven.

“We have to play [to] our strengths and I think that the customer service and the value that we can generate for our services will make a difference.”