Car owners dismantled their comprehensive insurance – Kommersant FM

Russians spent 74 billion rubles on comprehensive insurance policies in the third quarter. This is almost 30% more than in the same period in 2022. The data was published by the Central Bank at the end of last week in a report on key indicators of insurers. The driver of growth for the entire market was auto insurance. Moreover, as Kommersant FM found out, not only through the sale of new credit machines, where comprehensive insurance cannot be waived. Such policies are increasingly being taken out by owners of used vehicles, including those older than five years. How much does voluntary car insurance cost? And what options are there on the market? Aelita Kurmukova found out.

2023 looks set to be a record year for the auto insurance market. Only in the third quarter, when the price of car loans had already noticeably increased, the number of concluded insurance contracts increased by one and a half times. These figures are contained in the Central Bank report. That is, cars were bought and insured, and the cost of the policies themselves since the beginning of 2023, according to various sources, has increased from 10% to 20%. There are several reasons – exchange rate differences, increased prices for cars, and the spare parts themselves. The average price of new cars is almost 3 million rubles.

Sales of both classic – extended policies and mini-casco policies are growing, Andrei Burlak, Deputy General Director of Absolut Insurance, confirmed to Kommersant FM: “Customers who buy premium cars directly from the company receive a package with a lot of convenient options, including compensation for damage without certificates. The price is about 5-6% of the cost of the car. It is no longer uncommon for the cost of insurance to exceed 1 million rubles; this is a classic comprehensive insurance policy. As for partner sales, the market now offers tariffs for the mass segment – about 3% of the cost of the car.”

By reducing coverage, you can significantly save on insurance. But, as Kommersant FM’s interlocutors warn, if a car, for example, flies off the road due to snowfall, and the client has a comprehensive insurance policy with a high deductible, the insurer may refuse to compensate for losses. The trend towards cheaper policies, which has been observed all year, continues, but only for the used car market, adds Igor Ivanov, Deputy General Director of RESO-Garantiya:

“When it comes to new cars, there are no options with a truncated comprehensive insurance policy, and people buy full car protection against all possible risks. A full-fledged comprehensive insurance will cost from 50-60 thousand rubles. It happens that an insurance company sells a certain product called comprehensive insurance “minus-minus”; it can sell it for at least 5 thousand rubles. But this is the very case when the policy will protect in one of 10 possible insured events.”

This policy is usually called “mini-casco”. Depending on the content, brand and experience of the driver, it can cost from 2 thousand rubles. up to 5 thousand rubles Such insurance will be useful in a situation where the second party to the accident does not have compulsory motor liability insurance, for example. But insurance coverage in this case is no more than 400 thousand rubles.

Flexible conditions have attracted clients to the market who previously did not buy comprehensive insurance at all, notes Alexander Bykov, head of the Insurance Institute of the All-Russian Union of Insurers, and adds that there will be even more newcomers: “The cost of the policies themselves depends on the insured amount. It has been growing all year due to rising car prices.

Based on the results of nine months, the Central Bank published statistics. The growth in premiums was 20%. If we talk about the average cost of a policy, probably the average cost for classic products, when there is coverage for risks, theft, and damage in a traffic accident, also grew in the same ranges.

Overall the year seems to us to be quite good. Now we are in a period of adaptation to the new conditions of monetary policy there; some changes will occur in the credit market. But car sales will likely continue to rise.”

And after this, the car insurance market will grow. And policies will most likely rise in price again. In November, as follows from the latest Autostat report, eight brands immediately raised car prices. A number of Chinese crossovers added 1.5-2%, and electric ones – from 4.5% to 7%.