As soon as the time enters 2022, the news of the increase in vehicle renewal premiums has been reported in the circle of new energy vehicles.
Among them, the largest proportion of upswing is Tesla. According to some active car owners in the Xiaote community (Tesla Chinese online community), the highest increase in vehicle renewal premiums this year even reached 80%, and related news once rushed to the hot search.
Image source: Weibo hot search
Other domestic electric vehicle brands such as "Wei Xiaoli", etc., the premium has also risen to varying degrees, but the relative increase is small, about 10%.
On the one hand, the rise in new energy exclusive car insurance premiums, on the other hand, the subsidy policy for new energy vehicles is also further tightening.
It is reported that 2022 will be the last year of subsidies for new energy vehicles. In January this year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other four departments jointly issued a notice of 30% decline in new energy state subsidies, and many car companies have responded to increase the price of vehicles.
Therefore, some people judge that the enthusiasm for buying new energy vehicles at the beginning of the year will fade. But in fact, the sales volume of the new energy vehicle market does not seem to be affected, and the sales of electric vehicles of various brands continue to rise, achieving a "good start" in the new year.
Is the new energy vehicle insurance independent and the premium increase reasonable? Will the reduction of car purchase subsidies slow down the coverage of new energy vehicles? Why is it that after the rise in premiums, the sales of new energy vehicles still soared in the beginning of the year?
1. Premiums are rising and sales are increasing?
At the junction of the old and new years, the independent system of new energy vehicle insurance has landed.
On December 27, 2021, the Shanghai Insurance Exchange officially launched the new energy vehicle insurance trading platform, which means that the first batch of exclusive commercial insurance for new energy vehicles will soon be put into the market. Behind the landing of the newly launched exclusive insurance products for new energy vehicles, there are 12 traditional property insurance companies with the support of the landing.
For example, on the homepages of Ping An Property & Casualty insurance and CPIC Property & Casualty Insurance, there are publicity for relevant new energy vehicle exclusive insurance, explaining in detail the specific protection content and insurance consultation.
The China Insurance Industry Association issued the "Exclusive Clauses for Commercial Insurance for New Energy Vehicles (Trial)", which stipulates that all new energy vehicles need to be insured with new energy vehicle insurance.
At the same time, the provisions also clarify that the driving, parking and charging processes of new energy vehicles are within the scope of exclusive insurance product protection, covering almost all use scenarios.
As early as the press conference in the first quarter of 2021, the Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission pointed out that the risk characteristics and accident causes of new energy vehicles showed particularities - their body structure, power system, use scenarios, maintenance, etc., are different from traditional cars. Therefore, the independence of new energy exclusive car insurance should be an inevitable trend in the future.
"After the independence of new energy vehicle insurance, the price is too expensive." A Tesla owner sighed after getting the premium for the exclusive insurance of the new energy vehicle when renewing the insurance. Some netizens posted a set of data: Tesla Model Y models were insured for 8278 yuan on December 23, 2021, and after the release of the new policy on December 27, the insurance cost of this car immediately soared to more than 14,000 yuan.
Source: CCTV Finance
Although the premiums of new energy vehicles are independently formed into a system, there are differences in the premiums of new energy vehicles in different regions and different models, the unified cognition of new energy car owners is that "new energy vehicles of more than 250,000 yuan are basically rising in different degrees". Tesla's main concerned model series is priced at exactly more than 250,000, so it is more affected, and the basic premium increase is more than 2,000 yuan.
For more new energy vehicles priced below 250,000 yuan, the premium has not changed much from before, and even declined. According to the Time Weekly, after the official launch of new energy vehicle captive insurance, about 50% of the benchmark premiums of new energy vehicle owners will decline, while 30% of car owners will be flat.
A car owner who bought BYD Qin said that although he heard that the premium for new energy vehicles will rise, in fact, the premium of his own car has been reduced by about 300 yuan.
This creates an interesting phenomenon. On the one hand, many car owners complain that "the fuel money saved has been harvested by the premium", and even predict that the coverage speed of new energy vehicles will stagnate for a short time; on the other hand, big data shows that the independence of new energy vehicle insurance has not affected the sales of new energy vehicles at the beginning of this year, and the coverage and marketization of domestic new energy vehicles have continued to increase.
According to data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the sales of new energy vehicles in mainland China last year were 3.521 million units, an increase of 1.6 times year-on-year. In the fourth quarter of 2021, China's new energy passenger car sales were 1.3 million units, and in January this year, new energy vehicle sales soared.
Among them, BYD's new energy vehicle sales in January were 93,200 units, an increase of 361.73% year-on-year; the delivery volume of ideal cars was 12,300 units, an increase of 128.1% year-on-year; and the delivery volume of Xiaopeng Automobile in January was 12,900 units, which has exceeded 10,000 units for five consecutive months.
From another point of view, the rise in premium costs, the basic impact is more than 250,000 yuan of new energy models, this group of customers who can afford to buy new energy vehicles at higher prices, will not care about more premiums, so the increase in the price of car insurance will not affect the general trend of sales. At the same time, first-tier cities such as Beijing have liberalized the mouth of family electric vehicles, which has more effectively driven the sales of new energy vehicles.
In the larger context, the subsidy policy for new energy vehicles is also gradually tightening. In this way, both buyers and sellers of new energy vehicles will be more inclined to seek market-oriented solutions.
2. The premium of new energy vehicles "must rise"?
For many car owners, the new energy vehicle premium system is independent, and even the cost increase is a good thing.
Insuring independent car insurance means that the new energy vehicle insurance system is becoming more and more perfect, and there is a new evaluation system for determining losses. New energy vehicle insurance, maintenance, etc. will come out of the early "barbaric era" as soon as possible.
Zhang Hong, 31, who has just started Tesla for a year, has said many times that "as long as you have driven Tesla, you can no longer accept other cars." The computer screen controls the intelligent experience of the whole car, the smooth sense of the vehicle driving, the large and wide sunroof... Such a comfortable driving experience, a month of charging fees as long as a few dozen yuan, let her feel that the tram is not wrong.
It wasn't until she needed to repair the car that she found that the new energy car was much more complicated to repair. She first needs to find the nearest 4S store, and if there is no store nearby, she will have to go to other cities to repair it.
"If the oil car is broken, if it is a small problem, you can bypass the 4s shop to find a repair shop to repair the car, but the new energy vehicle cannot do it." Tesla itself has a high accident rate, maintenance costs are also expensive, and it is completely monopolized by 4S stores, and if it encounters unreliable 4S stores, it is even more tearless.
New energy vehicles and oil truck damaged accessories are different, and their insurance loss determination and maintenance methods and required costs are also very different.
From the perspective of power core, new energy vehicles are "three electricity" (batteries, motors and electronic control systems), while oil vehicles are engines and gearboxes, which basically belong to two completely different maintenance systems. From the perspective of appearance configuration, new energy vehicles are also more "laborious" than the repair of traditional oil vehicles. For example, Tesla's one-piece aluminum body, its one-piece body as long as it bumps into a place, it will be replaced as a whole.
The previous new energy vehicle insurance basically followed the rates and terms of the oil vehicle, and there was no specific guarantee clause for the battery, motor and electronic control of the new energy vehicle. The driving habits of new energy car owners will also affect the compensation ratio, "it is still quite worrying, the premium is not cheap, and the scope is still small." ”
In the face of such an unclear premium system, not only car owners have many opinions, but also insurance companies feel that they are wronged. Shenwan Hongyuan's research report pointed out that due to the higher insurance rate of new energy vehicles and frequent technological innovations, insurance companies are actually in a passive position of pricing.
The maintenance of new energy vehicles basically requires original spare parts, which is costly. In addition, due to the lack of driving skills of many car owners, the risk rate is high. If they are paid according to the standard of fuel truck premiums, it is obvious that the compensation price is too high, so that the insurance company can not eat, and even losses.
As a result, many insurance companies have also played a "new strategy". For example, if a car owner has a claim record in the previous year, the next year's premium will be increased to varying degrees, and try to transfer the risk of new energy vehicle insurance not being independent and the maintenance price being high to the owner. This practice of "watching people get off the dish" has been described by car owners as "the floor price that has not been risked, and the aristocratic price that has been risked".
Since the introduction of independent insurance, many such problems have been solved. Not only has the scope of auto insurance protection been expanded, but the protection items for new energy vehicles have also increased, and many insurance types have been set up for new energy vehicles. In view of the thorny problems of previous loss determination such as charging fire liability, there will be clearly applicable insurance items in the future, which is a standard and progress for both car owners and insurance companies.
3. What role do car companies play in the price increase of premiums?
On January 19 this year, NIO Holdings Limited established an insurance brokerage company called "NIO Insurance Brokers Limited".
According to the company's industrial and commercial information, its business scope includes insurance brokerage business, insurance agency business, insurance concurrently operating agency business and so on. Although this is only an "insurance brokerage" company, it still shows that car companies will play an indispensable role in the new energy exclusive car insurance system in the future. It is reported that Weilai Auto's captive insurance products are being evaluated.
On January 4 this year, Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the National Passenger Car Market Information Association, also said on the WeChat public account of the "Passenger Car Association" that in order to avoid the phenomenon that the insurance cost of new energy vehicles is too high and car owners "can't afford to use", it may be possible for "car companies to establish their own insurance varieties" and let major car companies participate in the joint formulation of standards.
In fact, Tesla has always wanted to implement the "car + insurance" model in the United States.
Musk is very bullish on the auto insurance industry. Since August 2019, Tesla has launched an internal insurance plan in California. Musk has said that he wants insurance to become one of Tesla's main products, and the value of this part of the self-insurance business is expected to account for 30% to 40% of the whole vehicle in the future.
The insurance launched by Tesla is "insurance based on the actual driving behavior of customers", which is consistent with the principle that the compensation coefficient is affected by the region, model, driving habits and insurance situation of the previous year after the official launch of the exclusive product of new energy vehicle commercial insurance.
As early as 2017, the United States and Europe, which have a relatively high coverage rate of Tesla, have experienced several premium increases, all of which are based on the differences between new energy vehicle maintenance, claims and traditional fuel vehicles, and have made targeted new energy vehicle insurance terms.
Many domestic Tesla owners are also very much looking forward to Tesla's self-operated insurance. In August 2020, Tesla established Tesla Insurance Brokers Co., Ltd. in Shanghai. Although the company has not yet laid out independently, it may really cooperate with commercial auto insurance in the future to launch the Tesla new energy vehicle insurance plan directly under the car company.
New energy vehicle insurance is closely related to car companies. For example, the rise in the premium of high-end models of new energy vehicles is related to the high maintenance cost of new energy vehicles themselves. The rise in premiums has also forced car companies to pay more attention to vehicle production and research and development, reducing the number of vehicle damage, maintenance and insurance, which has promoted the improvement of product quality of car companies.
Under the general trend of marketization, the independent "self-insurance" of new energy vehicle companies may become a new model of automobile insurance in the future.
(Author |.) Guo Zhaochuan, editor | Maji)