The insurance sector is also a good thermometer of the fears of Spaniards in crisis situations such as the current one; The greater the perception of risk, the greater the interest in trying to protect yourself. Starting from that premise and attending to the searches and insurance contracts that citizens have carried out during the confinement by the coronavirus, it can be said that caring for the family and caring for health has become a priority for Spaniards. Travel, motorcycles and cars have, for the moment, taken a back seat.
This is reflected in the data collected for EL MUNDO by the insurance comparator Rastreator, which cover between February 5 and April 25, 2020 compared to the same period in 2019. As explained by the firm, "in general terms and Due to the pandemic, there has been a fall in interest and traffic in the search for products, as has happened in other sectors, however, users who have reached the comparator have had a much higher interest in contracting products. they are looking for and this is the main reason why many of the products have experienced an increase during that period. "
By branches, life insurance is the one that has experienced the greatest growth during this time, with an increase of 50% compared to the same period last year. The consultations in this case have been more direct, that is, the users carried out the searches with the clear purpose of ending up contracting a product. As curious data, from the comparator they assure that the reason for hiring to "take care of the family" has had a slight increase of 2% and that the age range of the policyholder who has had a greater variation -9% more, to be exact - it is the population of 46 to 50 years.
Health insurance
Another branch that has experienced remarkable growth in these weeks is health. Policy contracts of this type grew by 43% between February and April this year. In addition, 34% of the takers were from Madrid and Barcelona (17.5% and 17%, respectively), two of the cities most affected by infections and deaths from Covid-19.
As for deaths, their recruitment rose 40%. Curiously, the population group between 35 and 45 years old is the one that has most accentuated their interest in this type of product, since they have contracted 7% more than in the same period of 2019.
Most insurers have decided by their own decision not to apply the exclusion of pandemic and epidemic provided in the General Conditions of death policies, thus covering cases of death from the coronavirus.
Travel insurance
And if health insurance is one of the ones that has grown the most as a result of the pandemic, travel insurance is among the most affected. Transport and mobility restrictions were the first to be implemented in all countries and will probably be one of the last to be lifted, hence traveling is almost a utopia right now.
"The conversion has fallen almost in half," they say from Rastreator. The firm explains that until March 12, insurers were selling policies normally, "even with slight spikes in late February and the first week of March, where the possibility of travel was still in the air." In fact, in the comparator, record figures were obtained from travel insurance searches, with more than double those registered in the same dates of 2019 and well above the summer data, "the period with the most hiring of this product".
The declaration of the state of alarm on March 14 marks a before and after in this trend: hiring becomes practically nil and insurers begin to manage date changes and policy cancellations.
"On the other hand, it can be seen how the main reason for searching for this type of insurance during this period is the cancellation of the trip (+ 32%) while in 2019, the main reason for hiring was medical assistance on site of destiny".
Motorcycle insurance
The same mobility ban that has affected travel has influenced vehicles. Regarding motorcycle insurance, users have paralyzed comparisons and contracts for this type of product, which generally registers an increase with the arrival of the spring months and good weather.
Nor in the auto branch, where vehicle purchases have been reduced to a minimum, there have been variations in the increase in hiring.
Home insurance
Citizens have spent almost two months locked up at home and this has also been noted in our insurance preferences. The number of users who have made a price comparison and decided to purchase home insurance afterwards has increased by 15% in the month of March, compared to the same month of 2019. "This improvement may be related to the fact that a period in which users stay at their homes for many more hours than usual, think more about this type of insurance as the possibility of a greater number of claims also increases.
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