The quote at the beginning of the month was 5,800 yuan, and at the end of the month, the quote was 7,225 yuan. Another insurance company quoted me over 10,000 yuan.
How to solve the problem of new energy vehicle premium price increase
"The insurance company quoted 5,800 yuan at the beginning of the month and 7,225 yuan at the end of the month. When I changed to another insurance company, the quote actually reached 11,300 yuan."
Ms. Yuan, a new energy vehicle owner, complained, "There were no accidents in the first year, so why did the premium increase in the second year?" Unlike when they were refused insurance at the beginning of the year, some owners recently discovered that new energy vehicle insurance premiums were getting higher and higher, and they refused in disguise. Suspicion of security.
According to statistics from the Ministry of Public Security, as of the end of 2023, the number of new energy vehicles nationwide reached 20.41 million, accounting for 6.07% of the total number of vehicles.
Based on an average premium of 4,000 yuan per car, this means that the new energy vehicle market is worth nearly 100 billion yuan. Why are insurance companies unwilling to underwrite new energy vehicle insurance?
Industry experts said that to crack down on the cost and difficulty of new energy auto insurance, insurance companies, car companies and regulators need to work together to promote the sharing of relevant data so that new energy auto insurance pricing can be more reasonable.
New energy vehicle accident repairs encounter difficulties
A reporter from Beijing Youth Daily learned that the main contradictions highlighted in the underwriting process of new energy vehicles are not only the high price and the difficulty of renewing insurance for old cars, but also the inconsistent maintenance opinions of insurance companies, repair shops and car owners when new energy vehicles are in danger, resulting in There are many problems with claims disputes.
For example, a consumer complained that the battery pack was damaged after her car was propped up. When she went to a 4S manufacturer for repairs, she was told that the entire battery pack needed to be replaced. The insurance company believed that only part of the repair was required and refused to accept the full replacement plan. The two parties had serious disagreements. .
Industry insiders explained that the latest released parts-to-part ratio survey shows that the parts-to-part ratio of a single piece of new energy vehicle power battery pack exceeds 49%, which means that replacing the battery pack will cost nearly half of the vehicle price.
It is understood that in 2021, the Insurance Industry Association has issued the "Exclusive Clauses for New Energy Vehicle Commercial Insurance (Trial)" and "Model Clauses for Accident Insurance for New Energy Vehicle Drivers and Passengers (Trial)"; the China Association of Actuaries has released the "New Energy Vehicle Commercial Insurance" Insurance Benchmark Pure Risk Premium Table (Trial)". my country's exclusive car insurance for new energy vehicles has been launched. According to the traditional pricing mechanism, the electric item "factor" is added to the pricing model, and the motor, battery, and electronic control "three power" systems are officially included in the guarantee. It also covers driving, parking, charging and Operational scenarios and added some additional insurance.
Insurance companies encounter two major problems: difficult pricing and high loss rates
Industry insiders pointed out that due to the technical specificity of new energy auto insurance, difficult pricing and high loss rates are two major problems that insurance companies need to solve. This is mainly because my country's new energy vehicle insurance service and pricing system is in its infancy, risk control model technology is in urgent need of improvement and development, and pricing methods are relatively lagging behind. There is a clear gap between new energy vehicles and traditional fuel vehicles in terms of accident rates and average compensation per case.
Currently, the rate plans of each company are adjusted to a certain extent based on the basic rates uniformly formulated by the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission. However, the rate adjustment coefficients independently determined by most insurance companies have not yet been combined with the special structure and risk characteristics of new energy vehicles. The development time of new energy vehicles is short, the accumulation of empirical data is insufficient, and potential problems have not yet been fully revealed. Specific risk factors of new energy vehicles, including battery failure, charging failure, spontaneous combustion liability, etc., increase the risk of vehicle accidents. Insurance companies have also not established an accident claims database based on various types of data, which further makes it more difficult for insurance companies to determine reasonable rates when developing and designing insurance types.
According to data from China Banking and Insurance Corporation, the damage rate of the core power of household new energy vehicles is three times that of the engine accident rate of fuel vehicles. The maintenance cost of new energy vehicles is higher. On the one hand, the loss and residual value assessment standards for key components such as new energy vehicle batteries are imperfect. More and more manufacturing uses die-casting processes, and various types of sensing devices are pre-installed on the car body. In addition, the rapid replacement of vehicle models makes it difficult to find spare parts. The scale has resulted in high maintenance costs; on the other hand, the survey and damage assessment of new energy vehicles require professional skills, and the labor cost is also higher.
Even if car companies are personally involved in operating car insurance, they still have not achieved profitability. According to relevant data disclosed in Tesla's financial report, Tesla's insurance business in the United States has accumulated premium income of US$300 million from the beginning to the end of 2022. In the first nine months of 2023, Tesla's property and casualty insurance underwritten premiums were US$48 million, of which the net underwriting loss was US$13 million, and the combined ratio was 146%. Tesla's general insurance premiums in the first nine months were US$18 million, of which the net underwriting loss was US$3 million, with a combined ratio of 121%. The combined losses of the two exceeded US$16 million.
Many car companies set up insurance brokerage companies
Compared with existing cars, the market share of new energy vehicles is about 1/20, and it will take a long time for the existing 300 million existing fuel vehicles to exit the market. For the huge stock of fuel vehicles in the automobile market, insurance companies have relatively mature operations, and the comprehensive expense ratio can be controlled within 100%. When new energy auto insurance experiences overall losses in the industry, insurance entities may tighten underwriting control, reduce the number of underwriting, and reduce enthusiasm for new energy auto insurance business development in accordance with traditional refined management requirements to avoid the risk of losses.
An industry insider from a property and casualty insurance company said that judging from the current situation, insurance companies do lack sufficient motivation to seize the new energy auto insurance market.
In this regard, Zhang Lei, founder and CEO of Cheche Technology, pointed out when participating in an industry forum that the rapid development of new energy vehicles has made auto insurance one of the largest purchases for consumers after purchasing electric vehicles. The annual cost is between 5,000 and 10,000 yuan, which is far from Higher than power-up and maintenance costs. Therefore, car companies are paying more and more attention to the strategic deployment of insurance. Many car companies such as NIO, BMW, and Li Auto have established insurance brokerage companies, and BYD has acquired an insurance company. Insurance companies themselves have also increased investment in technology for the new energy auto insurance business. Giant companies such as PICC, Ping An, and Pacific Ocean have set up independent technology sections to conduct special research on new energy insurance.
Supervision requires optimization of new energy auto insurance pricing mechanism
On January 18 this year, the Property Insurance Supervision Department of the State Administration of Financial Supervision issued the "Notice on Effectively Doing New Energy Auto Insurance Underwriting Work" to the property insurance supervision offices of all regulatory bureaus and relevant property insurance companies. Put forward requirements for property insurance companies and property insurance departments of various regulatory bureaus from five aspects. It was emphasized that all property and casualty insurance companies should improve their political stance and make it clear that compulsory traffic insurance should not be refused coverage, and that commercial insurance should be fully insured. At the same time, all insurance companies are required to conduct comprehensive investigations and rectifications, and cancel unreasonable underwriting restrictions. The "Notice" also requires large property and casualty insurance companies to play a leading role in the industry.
During this year's two sessions, Li Yunze, director of the State Financial Supervision and Administration Bureau, answered questions from media reporters at the "Ministerial Channel" centralized interview event. He said that he was studying to reduce the down payment ratio of passenger car loans and further optimize the pricing mechanism of new energy auto insurance.
Regulatory authorities have repeatedly issued documents on issues such as the high prices of new energy auto insurance, including rectifying industry rates and requiring no one-size-fits-all policy denial. On March 18, the Liaoning Supervision Bureau of the State Administration of Financial Supervision and Administration stated that it would conduct a comprehensive investigation of new energy auto insurance underwriting policies and assessment indicators, and adjust the unreasonable assessment targets set for new energy auto insurance. Compulsory traffic insurance coverage shall not be refused or delayed, and the insured shall not be required to sign a commercial insurance contract or put forward other additional conditions when signing a compulsory traffic insurance contract to ensure that "compulsory traffic insurance shall not be refused coverage, and commercial insurance shall be fully insured."
To crack down on the cost and difficulty of new energy auto insurance, insurance companies, car companies, regulators and other parties need to work together to promote the sharing of relevant data, so that new energy auto insurance can be priced more reasonably. (Text/Reporter Lin Lishuang Coordinator/Chi Haibo)