New energy exclusive car insurance "full moon"! Car owners generally perceive that premiums are rising, and car companies are scrambling to enter the game

"The insurance will be renewed in March, and the original insurance agent was consulted, and the premium is estimated to rise from more than 5,000 to more than 6,000 yuan." Recently, a Tesla owner in Shanghai lamented to the "International Finance News" reporter, "The car is not insured, but the premium has risen, I heard that it is a policy reason, and the 'hidden benefits' such as driving vouchers are gone." ”

According to the reporter's understanding, the "policy" mentioned by the above-mentioned car owners refers to the new energy vehicle commercial insurance model clauses (trial) officially launched on December 27, 2021. In fact, at the beginning of January this year, the news of the increase in vehicle renewal premiums in the new energy vehicle circle has been reported one after another, and the highest increase in Tesla vehicle renewal premiums has even reached 80%, and related news once rushed to the hot search.

Xiaopeng, Weilai, Ideal and other parts of the new energy model premiums have also risen to varying degrees, many netizens sighed, "the little oil money saved is all pulled back by the premium."

Guarantee capacity expansion

Why are premiums rising for some models?

In December 2021, the China Insurance Industry Association issued the Exclusive Clauses for Commercial Insurance for New Energy Vehicles (Trial), including the Model Clauses for Commercial Insurance for New Energy Vehicles (Trial) and the Model Clauses for Accident Insurance for Drivers and Occupants of New Energy Vehicles (Trial). The China Association of Actuaries also simultaneously issued the Benchmark Pure Risk Premium Table for Commercial Insurance of New Energy Vehicles (Trial Implementation) (hereinafter referred to as the "Benchmark Premium Table").

From the definition point of view, new energy vehicles refer to vehicles that use new power systems and are completely or mainly driven by new energy sources, including plug-in hybrid (including range extender) vehicles, pure electric vehicles and fuel cell vehicles. This also means that the new insurance and renewal of new energy vehicles such as BYD DM-i series (plug-in hybrid), ideal one (extender), NIO ES8, Xiaopeng P7, Tesla Model-S (pure electric), hydrogen battery vehicle (fuel cell) and so on, will be uniformly underwritten by the model clauses.

"Compared with traditional fuel vehicles, the main insurance of new energy vehicle insurance includes liabilities such as fire combustion, batteries, and factory equipment, and power grid failures and pile losses can also be insured, which fully covers the risks of new energy vehicles." This is closely related to the increase in premiums of some models. Wang Gang, CEO and founder of Panda Insurance Technology, told the International Finance News reporter.

Specifically, the model clause consists of 3 main insurances and 13 additional insurances. Among them, the main insurance includes new energy vehicle loss insurance, new energy vehicle third-party liability insurance, new energy vehicle vehicle personnel liability insurance a total of three independent types of insurance, the insured can choose to insure all types of insurance, you can also choose to insure some of the insurance types. Additional insurance includes additional external grid fault loss insurance, additional self-use charging pile loss insurance, additional self-use charging pile liability insurance, and additional special clauses for value-added services for new energy vehicles.

"Expanding so many responsibilities and keeping the fire burning, the increase in premiums is acceptable." The above-mentioned owner said with a smile.

80% fee reduction

According to the adjustment of the calculation and adjustment of the new energy vehicle benchmark pure risk premium table announced by the industry, from the perspective of the pure risk rate:

The price of cars below 250,000 yuan will not increase; some models with a price of more than 250,000 yuan will increase the fee, but the increase in fees will not exceed 3% in principle.

From the perspective of insurance types, car damage insurance is 60.2% fee reduction, 21% unchanged, 18.8% increase; the three insurances are 25% fee reduction, 62% unchanged, 13% rise.

This means that 20.7% of the existing new energy vehicle insurance policies will face a fee increase; while nearly 80% of the new energy vehicles will be flat or reduced under the same conditions after using exclusive terms to insure car damage insurance and three insurances.

Shenwan Hongyuan pointed out that the price increase models are mainly new car-making brand, mainly due to the high insurance rate and spare parts cost, which drags down the level of the loss rate (before some insurance companies only had a loss rate of more than 110%). Taking Tesla Model Y as an example, the degree of integration is high, and some spare parts can only be replaced and cannot be repaired. The double increase in the benchmark premium + independent pricing coefficient has led to an increase in the premium of some new energy models. However, it is expected that the overall new energy vehicle insurance premium will remain stable.

But why do car owners generally reflect price increases? Wang Gang added that the new energy car insurance fee has been reduced to only 4%, which is also the reason why the owner perceives the rise in premiums.

In this regard, Dr. Wang Min, senior consultant of Shanghai Jianwei Law Firm, suggested that car owners can consider choosing new energy vehicles with a price of less than 300,000 yuan, because their maintenance costs are relatively low, so they are also lower in terms of premiums than some popular models with a price of more than 300,000 yuan. If the owner is more sensitive to the price of car insurance and needs to buy new energy vehicles, then hybrid vehicles and extended range vehicles are the best choices at this stage.

Wang Min proposed that if the owner's residence or workplace is inconvenient to use the private charging pile, it is necessary to frequently use external energy filling equipment, and it is recommended to purchase external power grid failure loss insurance. If there is a self-use charging pile at home and a poor maintenance environment, it is recommended to purchase self-use charging pile loss insurance and self-use charging pile liability insurance.

Some insiders also said bluntly that if new energy vehicle owners encounter rising premiums, they can try multiple companies and multiple intermediary platforms to insure and compare prices, and at the same time choose companies and platforms with relatively many service outlets and better claims service levels.

Car companies enter the game

New energy vehicle insurance is closely related to car companies. After the official switching of the new energy vehicle model clauses, in response to the increase in the premium of some models, WEILAI has issued a relevant statement, saying that it is evaluating the possibility of establishing an exclusive insurance product for WEILAI Automobile.

In mid-January 2022, NIO Holdings Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "NIO") registered and established NIO Insurance Brokerage Company with a registered capital of 50 million yuan, and its business scope includes insurance brokerage business, insurance agency business, insurance concurrently operating agency business, insurance valuation business, etc.

Some car insurance business veterans analyzed that the layout of the insurance industry by automobile manufacturers, in addition to optimistic about the huge market potential of new energy vehicle insurance, but also because car insurance is the entrance of auto companies directly linking C-end users, which can not only open up the whole life cycle of the car owner, but also cultivate a new business model and growth space. Prior to this, Tesla and Xiaopeng have set up wholly-owned insurance intermediary companies, and traditional car companies GAC Group, SAIC Group and Geely Holdings have also successfully entered the insurance industry.

On January 4, Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the National Passenger Car Market Information Joint Association, 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 allow "car companies to establish their own insurance varieties" and let major car companies participate in the joint formulation of standards.

According to the Data Association of China Automobile Association, the sales of new energy vehicles in mainland China will reach 3.521 million units in 2021, an increase of 1.6 times year-on-year, ranking first in the world for 7 consecutive years, and it is expected that the sales of new energy vehicles will reach 5 million units in 2022, an increase of 42% year-on-year, and the market share is expected to exceed 18%.

The "14th Five-Year Plan" comprehensive work plan for energy conservation and emission reduction recently issued by the State Council proposes that by 2025, the sales volume of new energy vehicles and new vehicles will reach about 20% of the total sales of new vehicles.

According to the sales, ownership, number of insurance and average premiums of new energy vehicles, Shenwan Hongyuan Securities predicted the premium scale of new energy vehicle insurance in the next ten years. They expect that by 2025, the sales of new energy vehicles will exceed 10 million to 10.46 million, and the number of ownership will reach 35.65 million; the average premium of vehicles will remain relatively stable, affected by the comprehensive reform of automobile insurance, it is expected that the average premium of new energy vehicle insurance vehicles will drop to 4200 yuan / vehicle in 2022, and it is expected that by 2025, the proportion of new energy vehicle insurance premiums will increase from 4.1% in 2021 to 15%.

This article originated from the International Finance News