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Since the launch of new energy vehicles, its insurance "expensive" has become a topic of complaint for many car owners, especially for operating car owners, the car is out of insurance, and the premium is "commonplace" to casually exceed 10,000 yuan. Recently, Xiaomi SU7 was launched, and some SU7 owners reported that the insurance cost of Xiaomi SU7 is similar to that of more than 500,000 fuel vehicles, which once again set off a discussion of "expensive insurance" for new energy vehicles.
In this regard, Xiaomi's official response is that the terms of commercial insurance for new energy vehicles and fuel vehicles are different, and the exclusive terms for new energy vehicles not only provide protection for the "three electrics" system, but also cover the use scenarios of driving, parking, charging and operation of new energy vehicles, and will also be calculated comprehensively according to factors such as new / old cars, brands, models, household types, types of insurance, and insurance amounts.
An insurance practitioner said: "New energy vehicle insurance is not cheap, especially for models with more than 200,000 yuan. "It's common to have premiums of tens of thousands of dollars. According to industry insiders, at present, the comprehensive cost rate of new energy vehicle insurance of various insurance companies is more than 100%, and even the head insurance companies are in a loss-making state, and many small and medium-sized insurance companies dare not rush into the game. Due to factors such as expensive maintenance and high accident rates, insurance companies are pricing high when underwriting new energy vehicles.
For the issue of new energy vehicle premiums, a number of industry experts said that the premium of new energy vehicles is related to their own design, driving habits of car owners, and the relatively high proportion of operating vehicles, the insurance rate is higher than that of fuel vehicles, and the maintenance cost is relatively high, and the maintenance system is in a relatively closed state, and the price of after-sales accessories is generally high, which is reflected in the high cost of compensation in car insurance.
Li Zhaokuan, an expert in the automotive industry, believes that one of the important reasons for the high premium of new energy vehicle insurance is the high cost of claims and maintenance, which is caused to a certain extent by car companies, such as the monopoly of integrated die-casting manufacturing processes, sales and after-sales maintenance channels. Therefore, in addition to insurance companies, car companies need to play a role in reducing the premiums of new energy vehicle insurance.
Looking back at the development of new energy vehicle insurance:
-- Policies to boost the new energy vehicle insurance industry
On the one hand, in December 2021, in order to further implement the Notice on Printing and Distributing the Guiding Opinions on the Comprehensive Reform of Auto Insurance issued by the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, the Chinese insurance industry issued the "Exclusive Terms for Commercial Insurance for New Energy Vehicles (Trial)", making structural reforms in the auto insurance industry and launching exclusive auto insurance for new energy vehicles. As mentioned in the policy, the terms of new energy vehicle insurance are divided into main insurance and additional insurance, which can be insured with all the main insurance, or part of the main insurance, and the additional insurance cannot be insured independently. There are a total of 16 types of main insurance and additional insurance, of which 3 additional insurance types are newly added, all of which are for new energy vehicle power grids and electric piles.
-- BYD is indeed laying out the insurance industry
In March 2022, the State Administration for Market Regulation officially approved the application and registration of "BYD Insurance Brokers Co., Ltd." Not only that, in February of the same year, BYD had already launched positions related to insurance brokerage companies on a recruitment software, such as compliance directors of insurance brokerage companies, vice presidents of insurance brokerage companies, operation directors and managers of insurance brokerage companies.
-- The scale of insurance premiums for new energy vehicles
In 2013, the scale of new energy vehicle insurance premiums was only about 160 million yuan, and by 2021, China's new energy vehicle insurance premiums have exceeded 30 billion yuan, and according to forecasts, in 2030, China's new energy vehicle insurance premiums will exceed 400 billion yuan. This shows that in the future, with the increase in the penetration rate of new energy vehicles, in the long run, new energy vehicles will gradually replace traditional fuel vehicles, and the premiums of new energy vehicles will gradually increase.
Li Zhaokuan said that the best way to reduce the premium of new energy vehicles is to establish socialized spare parts sales and after-sales maintenance channels through policy guidance to reduce the maintenance cost of new energy vehicles.
Industry insiders believe that to solve the problem of high premiums for new energy vehicles, it is also necessary to innovate the pricing mechanism and optimize the insurance rate. New energy vehicles have a large amount of driving behavior data, which is an important factor for insurance companies to accurately price.
According to industry insiders, car companies can better participate in customized auto insurance products, join forces with insurance companies or insurtech companies to optimize service processes, reduce loss ratios, control cost ratios, and explore multi-party win-win cooperation. It is worth looking forward to the establishment of a cooperative ecosystem between car companies and insurance companies around auto insurance, and the top priority is to solve the problem of expensive premiums caused by high after-sales maintenance costs.
Prospective Economist APP Information Group
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