New energy vehicle owners have been suffering from car insurance for a long time. With the growth of new energy vehicles, the voice of reasonable premiums is becoming more and more intense.
Recently, in order to promote the cost reduction and efficiency increase of new energy vehicle insurance, the Property and Insurance Department of the State Administration of Financial Supervision issued the Notice on Promoting the High-quality Development of New Energy Vehicle Insurance (Consultation Draft) (hereinafter referred to as the "Consultation Paper"), which not only adjusted the independent pricing coefficient for the first time, but also solicited opinions from the industry on expanding the independent pricing power of insurance companies for new energy vehicle insurance and enriching new energy vehicle insurance products.
For a long time, new energy vehicle owners have often complained about "the fuel money saved is not enough to pay insurance", the inexplicable price increase in the second year, and even the refusal of insurance. In the first half of April this year, data from the National Passenger Car Market Information Association showed that the market penetration rate of new energy vehicles in mainland China has exceeded 50%.
01
New energy vehicle owners say that it is difficult to apply for insurance and the premium is expensive
Since last year, the news of the rejection of new energy vehicle insurance and the sharp increase in premiums has repeatedly appeared in the newspapers.
Mr. Lin, the owner of Henan new energy vehicle, complained that the premium was too expensive, and this year's quotation was directly approaching 10,000 yuan, an increase of about 3,000 yuan from last year. In his opinion, the maintenance cost of new energy vehicles and luxury cars have a fight, in order not to be "wronged", in the end he only bought compulsory insurance. "Every time I have a road rage attack, I instantly calm down when I think that my car only bought compulsory traffic insurance, and I usually don't dare to drive fast, and try not to drive in the morning and evening rush hours. He said.
Mr. Xu, a new energy vehicle owner in Shanghai, said that according to his understanding, some insurance companies for new energy vehicles, more than 5 years old car is not insured, the kilometers are too high not insured, the replacement of the three-electric system is too expensive models are not insured, the chassis scraping accident can not be claimed, but the small insurance company premiums are very expensive, and the claim cycle is very long, "this is not replaced, that requires repair."
Mr. Zhou, a new energy vehicle owner in Chongqing, saw the many names and charging standards of car insurance premiums, and bluntly said, "What can I do, I can't change to a fuel car immediately." A friend suggested that he choose less extra items, and the premium would be lower, and Mr. Zhou said helplessly: "If you don't package and buy other types of insurance, the insurance company won't insure." ”
Zhang Lei, founder and CEO of Cheche Technology, pointed out that the most common dissatisfaction among consumers with new energy vehicle insurance is the difficulty of insurance and the high premium.
The difficulty in insurance is mainly due to the particularity of the new energy vehicle market. At present, there are many new energy models on the market, the driving level of drivers is uneven, the accident rate is high, and the price of accessories is expensive, resulting in huge pressure on insurance companies to pay, so many insurance companies are cautious about new energy vehicle insurance. In addition, the range of independent pricing coefficients for new energy vehicle insurance has not been expanded, which also limits the pricing power of insurance companies for high-risk vehicles, further exacerbating the problem of insurance difficulty.
The high premium is first reflected in the fact that new energy vehicles mostly adopt integrated body design, the body is pre-installed with various sensing devices such as lidar, and the use of highly integrated modules, once damaged, it is difficult to repair, and the maintenance cost is high due to replacement repair, which pushes up the cost of claims; The second is the difference in driving habits. Due to the relatively young driving group of electric vehicles, driving behaviors may be more aggressive, and behaviors such as rapid acceleration and sudden braking are more common, which increases the probability of accidents; Third, the pricing is not accurate. The accumulation of driving data and terms of new energy vehicles is relatively short, which leads to differences and misunderstandings in pricing strategies, and it is difficult to accurately estimate the risks, making the insurance premiums of new energy vehicles much higher than those of fuel vehicles. Fourth, the proportion of new energy vehicles engaged in commercial vehicles is extremely high, and there are significant differences between commercial vehicles and private cars in terms of use nature, mileage, risk exposure, etc., which have an important impact on insurance pricing and risk assessment.
02
Independent pricing unbundling Prices tend to be reasonable
In response to the demands of NEV vehicle owners for normal insurance and reduced premiums, the Consultation Paper ensures that consumer demands are further met by optimizing the supply mechanism of NEV insurance, improving the operation level of NEV insurance in the industry, and coordinating and promoting various key tasks.
Wang Hao, founder of Coppola Automotive Consulting Services (Qingdao) Co., Ltd., pointed out that the most critical content in the "Draft for Comments" is at the top. In the "Optimizing the Supply Mechanism of New Energy Vehicle Insurance", the four specific provisions are very interesting. The first is to expand the range of independent pricing coefficients for new energy commercial vehicle insurance to [0.5-1.5]; The second is to enrich new energy commercial auto insurance products and launch "basic + change" combination insurance products; The third is to optimize and adjust the benchmark rate of new energy commercial vehicle insurance, and support the industry to regularly adjust premiums according to the risk situation; Fourth, establish a comprehensive guarantee mechanism for new energy vehicle insurance.
According to Wang Hao's analysis, the current new energy vehicle insurance is not very optimistic in terms of pricing mechanism, service and business conditions of insurance companies, and the industry needs to meet it with a more open and flexible attitude in the face of the booming insurance demand. The direction of change embodied in the Consultation Paper has undoubtedly loosened the constraints on struggling insurance companies, allowing them to flexibly adjust prices according to business and market needs.
An important reason for the high price of new energy vehicle insurance is that many full-time or part-time online car-hailing drivers will choose to buy new energy vehicles to engage in online car-hailing services, which are frequently driven and have a high accident rate, which raises the overall premium price of new energy vehicles. After expanding the independent pricing coefficient, insurance companies can price these high-risk vehicles at a higher price, and lower prices for new energy vehicles for simple household use, so as to match risks and prices more reasonably and accurately.
Zhang Lei also believes that the main purpose of the regulatory authorities to issue the "Consultation Paper" is to promote the high-quality development of new energy vehicle insurance, solve the problems of difficult and expensive insurance in the market, and improve the operation level of insurance companies by adjusting the range of independent pricing coefficients and benchmark rates of new energy commercial auto insurance, improving digital intelligence capabilities, and continuously improving the service system.
For insurance companies, the reform can make the insurance rates more accurately reflect the risk characteristics of new energy vehicles by improving their independent pricing capabilities and dynamically optimizing and adjusting the benchmark rates, which will help insurance companies to price more accurately, thereby alleviating the pressure on claims and improving underwriting results.
For consumers, the Consultation Paper requires insurance companies to clearly underwrite the use of new energy vehicles for business purposes such as online car-hailing, and to study the launch of "basic + change" combination insurance products, which will help meet the insurance needs of different types of car owners, and then through more accurate pricing, private car owners and operating car owners will obtain more reasonable premiums and effectively solve the insurance problem.
03
The game between the auto and insurance industries has intensified
The "Consultation Paper" released this time is regarded by the industry as the first fee reform of new energy vehicle insurance. In this regard, Wang Hao used "not at the table, just on the menu" to describe its profound impact on the automotive industry. "The reform of new energy vehicle insurance is actually a game between the insurance industry and the automobile industry. If you are not actively involved in decision-making or competition, then you may become the object of decision-making or competition, i.e., become a passive party. He explained.
Although consumers complain about the high premiums, due to the high insurance rate and high maintenance costs, insurance companies have been losing money in the new energy vehicle insurance business, and it is urgent to reverse the passive situation. Wang Hao pointed out that while the "Consultation Paper" not only regulates the insurance industry, but also helps insurance companies to strive for more initiative, so that the "seesaw" on which insurance companies and car companies sit is more biased towards the insurance company.
Zhang Lei believes that this round of fee reform will have a far-reaching impact on new energy vehicle companies, insurance companies and maintenance companies.
First of all, insurance companies, car companies and third-party insurance technology companies will develop in a coordinated manner, fully participate in the tracking and classification analysis of new energy vehicle data, and optimize the insurance pricing mechanism through multi-dimensional analysis and modeling such as mileage and driving habits, so as to achieve accurate quotation more reasonably. Second, the demand from insurance companies will drive innovation among automakers in vehicle safety, parts repair, and more. Third, insurance companies can cooperate with car companies and maintenance companies to establish a set of scientific parts claim standards, especially the scientific pricing of main parts such as batteries and motors, and can use technical means to improve the efficiency and accuracy of damage assessment and maintenance.
For NEV insurance providers, insurance companies also face multiple challenges. First, there are too many risk factors. The technological development of new energy vehicles is too fast, the iteration of models is fast, and the price fluctuations are large, and it is difficult for insurance companies to quickly control the risks brought by emerging technologies. Second, there is a lack of data. The market ownership of new energy vehicles is relatively small, the historical data is small, and there is a lack of risk factors and pricing models that can truly reflect the characteristics of new energy vehicles. Third, the cost of compensation is high, the driving habits of new energy vehicle owners and the structure of the vehicle cause the high frequency of new energy vehicle insurance, high maintenance costs, and high maintenance and parts costs, especially poor battery maintenance, high replacement costs, battery loss and performance damage assessment, car companies involution sales profits are thin, the zero-to-whole ratio is too high, and the back-end maintenance costs such as accessories cannot be reduced due to technical protection and back-end profit needs.
04
There is an opportunity for independent maintenance companies
In the context of the continuous heating up of the new energy vehicle market and the rapid growth of the penetration rate, the Consultation Paper will have a comprehensive impact on all parties in the market such as insurance companies, car companies, 4S shops, maintenance companies, and consumers.
According to Wang Hao's analysis, after the fee reform, insurance companies have more flexible pricing power, and at the same time, they also have stricter requirements for claims cost management. If we continue to insist, insurance companies will make various efforts to guide more new energy accident vehicle maintenance to independent after-sales stores. This is a major benefit and opportunity for independent maintenance companies.
Previously, after-sales maintenance companies were not deeply involved in new energy vehicles, and were often in the embarrassing situation of "outsiders", so they should take this opportunity to accelerate the transformation to new energy services. First of all, the service model must be adjusted, if you stick to the service model and process in the era of fuel vehicles, it will inevitably fail; Secondly, it is necessary to upgrade the electrification and intelligent maintenance technology, and reserve talents in advance; At the same time, in the current era of high involution, the cost of customer acquisition has risen sharply, and how to tap higher value customers at a lower cost is a compulsory course for every maintenance company.
Zhang Lei also believes that for maintenance companies, the maintenance technology of new energy vehicles is relatively complex and requires higher professional knowledge and skills. At the same time, the cost of parts and components of new energy vehicles is high, especially the maintenance and replacement costs of core components such as batteries are more expensive, which will put forward higher requirements for cost control and service quality of maintenance enterprises. As insurance companies increasingly control maintenance costs, maintenance companies also need to reduce maintenance costs and improve service efficiency while ensuring maintenance quality.
Text: Hao Wenli Editor: Jiao Yue Layout: Wang Kun
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