Recently, the name of Huiding Insurance Brokerage Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Huiding Insurance Brokerage) has been changed to Weilai Insurance Brokerage Co., Ltd., attracting external attention.
The renaming of Huiding Insurance Brokerage this time means that NIO's layout in the insurance sector is expected to accelerate. On October 12th, veteran automotive industry expert Dong Hao analyzed in an interview with the Daily Economic News that compared to traditional property insurance companies, new energy vehicle companies have more advantages in vehicle loss assessment, premium estimation, and other aspects when entering the new energy vehicle insurance market. Car companies can use car insurance as a service lever to explore more high profit ecological service systems for the rear of the car.
In fact, more and more car companies are entering the new energy insurance market. Since 2018, car companies such as Xiaopeng Automobile, Tesla, BYD, Ideal Automobile, and NIO have successively entered the new energy vehicle insurance industry.
In the view of Yan Jinghui, an expert from the China Automobile Circulation Association, the entry of automobile companies into the insurance industry is actually a binding of interests between them and users, which can better maintain their base users and increase customer stickiness for automobile companies. Car insurance, as the first service product that consumers come into contact with after purchasing a car, its essential properties and stickiness make it an entrance to serving car owners, "Yan Jinghui told reporters.
NIO's "Curve" Entering the Insurance Industry?
At present, the company's car insurance still cooperates with insurance companies such as Ping An and Pacific. "On October 12th, a sales staff member from NIO stated in an interview with reporters that there is no specific time when the company will implement its own insurance.
It is reported that NIO is currently integrating additional services with its car insurance business, providing car owners with "service packages" such as worry free and insurance worry free services to enhance the user experience. There is a significant difference in price and user rights between the worry free services and insurance worry free services provided by NIO. "On October 13th, Wang Ran (pseudonym), who was newly appointed as NIO owner in July this year, told reporters that the cost of NIO service worry free (including commercial insurance, compulsory traffic insurance, NIO additional services) he chose was 12100 yuan, but it can have 6 free paint sprays per year, transportation during vehicle maintenance, driving, washing, parking, charging, etc Visiting for tire repair and several NIO service benefits such as "running errands". And the insurance worry free service is cheaper, with an additional price of less than 2000 yuan on top of the basic car insurance, which costs around 9000 yuan. However, the NIO benefits enjoyed by car owners will also be much less.
Although we are still cooperating with insurance companies, NIO has already had some clues to layout the insurance market. According to enterprise investigation, in January 2022, NIO established an insurance brokerage company called "NIO Insurance Brokerage Co., Ltd." with a registered capital of 50 million yuan. However, the company was deregistered in March 2023, one year after its establishment.
There is a viewpoint that the insurance brokerage company has been unable to obtain a license to operate insurance brokerage business and was ultimately cancelled.
According to Article 15 of the Implementation Measures for Administrative Licensing and Filing of Insurance Intermediaries, if a national insurance professional agency applies for the qualification to operate insurance agency business, it shall be accepted and preliminarily reviewed by the Banking and Insurance Regulatory Bureau of the place where the industrial and commercial registration is located, and decided by the Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (General Administration of Cash Financing Supervision).
In the eyes of the outside world, compared to the lengthy license application, NIO obtains an insurance brokerage license through acquisition and conducts related business faster. The name used in this industrial and commercial change is the company name that NIO was previously deregistered.
Enterprise investigation shows that Huiding Insurance Brokerage, which was renamed this time, was established in 2014 and is mainly engaged in the insurance industry. In December 2022, Huiding Insurance Brokerage was fully acquired by the newly acquired shareholder Anhui Weilai Data Technology, which was jointly funded by Li Bin, the founder and chairman of Weilai, and Qin Lihong, the co founder and president of Weilai. Li Bin is the actual controller.
Dong Hao believes that after completing the renaming, NIO will quickly carry out insurance related business through its existing license company, which will accelerate its strategic layout of entering the insurance industry.
Consumers have concerns about the layout of car insurance by car companies
In addition to NIO, Xiaopeng Motors, Tesla, Ideal Motors, BYD, and others have successively laid out their presence in the insurance market. In July 2018, Xiaopeng Automobile established Guangzhou Xiaopeng Automobile Insurance Agency Co., Ltd., now renamed Guangzhou Zhixuan Consulting Service Co., Ltd; In August 2020, Tesla established an insurance brokerage company in Shanghai; In June 2022, Ideal Automobile fully acquired Yinjian Insurance Brokerage Co., Ltd. and obtained an insurance brokerage license, now renamed as Beijing Ideal Insurance Brokerage Co., Ltd.
In Dong Hao's view, the entry of new energy vehicle companies into the new energy vehicle insurance industry has a natural advantage. New energy vehicle companies have complete data on the core 'three electricity' operation of their own new energy vehicles, and in many cases, they can monopolize these data channels. Dong Hao told reporters that after mastering the key data, new energy vehicle companies can also provide more accurate vehicle damage assessment and timely services for car owners in terms of vehicle later loss assessment and price estimation.
Dongwu Securities also stated in its research report that new energy vehicle companies entering the new energy vehicle insurance market have advantages such as simplifying the claims process for new energy vehicles, designing innovative vehicle insurance products, and monopolizing the sales of new energy vehicles.
However, for consumers, there are still some concerns regarding the layout of car insurance by car companies. I would prefer to choose large insurance companies such as Ping An to buy insurance for my vehicle. Car companies have not heard of insurance yet, and even if they know it, they will not buy it. "Shu Wen (pseudonym) explained," When car companies start this new business, the speed of claims settlement, service, and other situations in the later stage are not clear to the outside world about their execution status, and they dare not take risks
According to Shu Wen, he has two passenger cars and one freight vehicle at home, both of which have purchased Ping An insurance. These large insurance companies have a mature process in terms of automobile claims, and there is also guarantee for compensation in the future, "Shu Wen said.
A female owner of an ideal car also stated in an interview with reporters that she will still choose traditional insurance companies to insure the vehicle in the short term. After all, car companies are beginners in the insurance industry, and many things are not mature. "The female owner of the ideal car mentioned above said that she still plans to wait and see for a while. If it's okay, she doesn't rule out choosing car companies to insure.
According to multiple car owners, when choosing to insure their vehicles, they mainly value the insurance company's ability to provide compensation and protection in the later stage, the product content provided, and the level of premium. If the product content provided by car companies and insurance companies is the same, but the price is cheaper or the service provided is better, I will consider purchasing insurance from car companies. "A NIO car owner admitted," As a senior NIO car owner, I have been using NIO's worry free service and enjoy the convenience that makes me willing to choose the insurance it provides, even if it is a bit expensive
Yan Jinghui told reporters: "After the insurance, these car companies will only provide better services in insurance to increase user stickiness, retain policyholders, and enhance brand influence. Because car insurance has strong liquidity, if they do not do well enough, car owners will choose other companies for insurance the next year
Dong Hao also stated that for consumers, they not only compare prices, but also compare services. If car companies can provide better services while providing the same insurance products, I believe car owners will be more inclined towards car company insurance, "Dong Hao believes.
Behind the 'Blue Ocean': Increased pressure on underwriting and compensation
According to Xinhua News Agency, on October 10th, the latest statistics released by the Ministry of Public Security showed that as of the end of September 2023, the total number of new energy vehicles in China reached 18.21 million, accounting for 5.5% of the total number of vehicles. From the first quarter to the third quarter of 2023, 5.198 million new energy vehicles were newly registered nationwide, a year-on-year increase of 40%, accounting for 28.6% of the new registration volume of automobiles.
With the outbreak of the new energy vehicle market, new energy vehicle insurance has undoubtedly become a huge blue ocean market. According to calculations by Dongwu Securities, it is expected that by 2025, the premium scale of new energy vehicle insurance will reach 186.5 billion yuan, accounting for approximately 17.9% of the total premium of vehicle insurance; By 2030, the premium scale will reach 454.1 billion yuan, accounting for approximately 32.1% of the total premium of car insurance.
Faced with this huge potential market, it is natural for new energy vehicle companies to enter the market one after another. Expanding the insurance industry for new energy vehicle companies can be effectively linked to their after-sales service, which is a major measure for companies to explore new profit growth points. "Yan Jinghui said that for car companies, new energy vehicle insurance is currently a big blue ocean market. Now entering the market, they can seize the opportunity in advance and enhance brand influence.
Industry insiders believe that after obtaining insurance related licenses, new energy vehicle companies can form a complete closed-loop of car manufacturing, sales, and after-sales service by configuring insurance for car owners, achieving business collaboration and generating new profit growth points. Insurance will become Tesla's main product, with insurance business value accounting for 30% to 40% of the total vehicle business value, "Tesla CEO Musk revealed at a quarterly financial report presentation.
According to Zhu Junsheng, Research Director of the China Insurance and Pension Research Center at Tsinghua University's Wudaokou School of Finance, the intelligence level of new energy vehicles is very high, and car companies have a large amount of data. If these data are reasonably utilized in the future, car companies will have great potential in car insurance pricing and product innovation.
However, behind the blue ocean lies the high compensation pressure faced by car companies after entering. According to the data from the Shenwan Hongyuan research report, the payout ratio of new energy vehicle insurance currently generally exceeds 85%, and the industry is facing significant underwriting loss pressure.
Zeng Yi, General Manager of China Taibao Property and Casualty Insurance, has publicly stated that the accident rate of new energy vehicles is nearly twice that of gasoline vehicles. In addition, the significant increase in car travel in the first half of this year compared to the same period last year has put some pressure on the underwriting cost of new energy vehicles.