"I have either refused insurance or the premium is close to 10000 yuan. I have had three accidents in the past three years, which is not a lot?" "I just bought a new car and contacted for renewal of insurance. It is said that I am a high-risk customer"... In recent years, roast about the difficulty of insuring Tesla car owners have emerged one after another on the social platform. What is the reason? The poster news reporter conducted an investigation into this matter.
Social platforms frequently appear, Tesla owners rarely complain about insurance
Insurance salesperson: It's not that I can't be insured, I can only say it's not easy to be insured
On May 16th, when consulting as a car owner, a Ping An Insurance salesperson stated that there was no situation of refusing to insure Tesla, but car owners who purchased second-hand Tesla would indeed face difficulties in renewing their insurance. "It's not that they can't get into insurance, they can only say it's not easy to get into it. Commercial insurance is not easy to cover, but compulsory traffic insurance can be covered at any time."
The salesperson stated that taking Tesla as an example, it is difficult for used cars to be insured, but there is no problem with new cars. The main thing to consider is the overall evaluation of the vehicle. In addition, Tesla's insurance premiums are also higher compared to other new energy vehicles.
A new energy vehicle owner told reporters that their previous fuel powered model was the Ford Focus, with an annual premium of less than 4000 yuan. After switching to Tesla in 2023, the first year premium was over 6000 yuan.
Tesla Model 3 owner Wang told Poster News that she wanted to be at ease in her first year of buying a car and bought a variety of insurance options, spending over 8600 yuan. During this year, I had taken out one insurance policy with a mileage of 17000 kilometers. When I wanted to renew my insurance the next year, I consulted several insurance companies, and some of them quoted higher prices than the first insurance policy.
"After the final renewal premium was fully refunded, it was around 7800 yuan. The insurance I offered was a small scratch, but when I renewed it this year, the salesperson said it was new energy, had been insured again, and the mileage was also high, so the premium would also increase. Personally, I think the premium is still too high, but there is no way to do it. The quotes from each company are very expensive, and there is almost no choice," Ms. Wang said.
"According to company data statistics, the accident rate of new energy vehicles is higher than that of gasoline vehicles, so the insurance premium is higher. In addition, it also depends on the brand. Tesla's insurance premium is one or two hundred yuan more expensive than other tram brands. However, if the owner's name is checked and there have been no previous violations or accidents, a discount may be given." said the Ping An Insurance salesperson.
The life insurance salesperson also told reporters that there is no situation of refusing to insure Tesla. To apply for insurance, the customer needs to provide vehicle information, and the company needs to input it into the system for premium calculation. The specific eligibility for insurance is subject to the company's comprehensive evaluation results.
Image source: Tesla official website
According to People's Daily, Wang Xiangnan, Deputy Director of the Insurance and Economic Development Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, overall, the insurance premiums for new energy vehicles of the same price range are often higher than those for gasoline vehicles. According to the vehicle model and the historical accident situation of the car owner, the relevant business operations of the insurance company, and the overall payout rate of the local market, there are also certain differences in the premium of new energy vehicle insurance. Some car owners may encounter situations where the premium increases significantly.
"The models and technologies of new energy vehicles are updated and iterated quickly. For insurance companies, the accumulation of relevant car insurance business data is insufficient, and some niche car models' data is even more lacking. In order to cover risks, premiums can only be increased or even rejected." Wang Xiangnan said.
The new regulations for promoting high-quality development of new energy vehicle insurance are "on the road"
According to statistics from the Ministry of Public Security on January 11th, as of the end of 2023, the number of new energy vehicles in China reached 20.41 million, with 7.43 million newly registered vehicles throughout the year; According to data released by the Passenger Car Market Information Joint Branch of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers on May 10th, the domestic retail penetration rate of new energy vehicles in April this year was 43.7%, an increase of 11.7 percentage points from the same period last year's penetration rate of 32%.
As a type of insurance closely related to the interests of the people, car insurance has always been a focus of attention in the insurance field. With the increase in the penetration rate of new energy vehicles, the problems of difficulty in insurance and high premiums urgently need to be solved, and relevant policies are also constantly being improved.
Image source: Passenger Car Association
At the beginning of 2023, the former China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission issued a notice on further expanding the floating range of self pricing coefficients for commercial car insurance, stating that in order to improve the market-oriented and risk-based mechanism for forming car insurance terms and rates, optimize the supply of car insurance products, expand the coverage of car insurance coverage, and achieve effective improvement of car insurance service quality and reasonable growth in quantity, it is proposed to expand the floating range of self pricing coefficients for commercial car insurance, further expand the pricing autonomy of property insurance companies, and expand the floating range of self pricing coefficients for commercial car insurance from [0.65, 1.35] to [0.5, 1.5].
In September 2023, the State Administration for Financial Supervision and Administration issued a notice on strengthening the management of car insurance fees, requiring the consolidation of the comprehensive reform achievements of car insurance, the improvement of the quality and efficiency of car insurance services, and proposing measures such as comprehensively strengthening the internal management of car insurance fees, strengthening the accounting and control of handling fees, and continuously strengthening the supervision of commercial car insurance handling fees.
In January 2024, the Property and Insurance Regulatory Department of the State Administration for Financial Regulation issued a notice on effectively doing a good job in the underwriting of new energy vehicle insurance, clarifying that property and casualty insurance companies shall not refuse to provide compulsory insurance for new energy vehicles, commercial insurance is willing to provide full coverage, and shall not adopt unreasonable restrictive underwriting measures such as "one size fits all" for specific new energy vehicle models in terms of system control and underwriting policies.
In April 2024, the State Administration for Financial Supervision and Administration issued a notice (draft for soliciting opinions) on promoting the high-quality development of new energy vehicle insurance. The notice intends to expand the range of self pricing coefficients and promote the implementation of self pricing coefficients for new energy commercial vehicle insurance in accordance with [0.5-1.5]. At the same time, the industry's level of new energy vehicle insurance operation will be improved, and the "basic+variable" combination insurance product will be studied and launched, aiming to reduce the cost of new energy vehicle insurance and improve the level of protection through a series of reform measures.