Volkswagen ID.4 review: running costs & insurance

The cheapest of the regular trim levels, the entry-level Life Pure with a 58kWh battery, costs just under £38,000. The cheapest 77kWh battery model, the Life Pro, starts from under £44,000. The range-topping GTX trim levels cost a lot more, at over £50,000.

All this means the ID.4 is somewhere in the middle of the electric family SUV market right now – it’s not the cheapest around, but it’s also not at the more expensive end of the scale, either. Company-car tax rules mean that the ID.4 has a Benefit-in-Kind rate of 2% until at least April 2024. It’s also exempt from the London Congestion Charge until 2025.

Volkswagen ID.4 insurance group

Depending on trim level, the ID.4 has an insurance group rating of 18 to 28 in most trim levels which is on par with similarly powerful electric cars such as the Nissan Leaf and Volkswagen ID.3. You can buy fixed-price insurance from Volkswagen, which won’t go up or down in price over the first three years, though you’re not tied into a contract so you can always change your cover if it becomes cheaper elsewhere later on.

Warranty

Volkswagen offers a three-year/60,000-mile warranty on all its cars, plus the batteries are covered for eight years or 100,000 miles. These are okay, although a Kia e-Niro comes with a seven-year warranty from the factory and a Hyundai Kona Electric gets five years of cover as standard.

Servicing

You might be used to sending your combustion-engined car for a service every year, but the ID.4 only needs to be looked at every two years – as electric cars have far fewer moving parts. This is another area where you’ll save money compared to running a petrol or diesel car.

Road tax

Company-car tax is notably low on electric cars, but you also don’t have to pay vehicle excise duty (VED), otherwise known as road tax. Note that you do have to ‘tax’ the car each year, but there’s no actual charge to do this and it can be done online very easily.