New energy auto insurance has changed greatly: users shout expensive, insurance companies shout losses, and salesmen complain that there is no commission.
Source: AI Finance and Economics
Original title: Great changes in new energy auto insurance: users shout expensive, insurance companies shout losses, and salesmen complain that there is no commission.
Text | Ni Yuping, Weekly of Caijing Tianxia
Since the launch of the exclusive insurance for new energy vehicles at the end of December last year, the debate on the rise and fall of premiums has continued to rise.
Is the premium going up or down? The feelings of the insured are not consistent. However, no matter whether the premium goes up or down, it is a certain fact that the commission that insurance marketers can get has dropped sharply: after a single transaction is completed, the commission they can get is "almost zero"-which seems to indicate that the era of new energy auto insurance prices is more transparent and marketers can flexibly decide auto insurance prices is coming to an end.
Under the "New Deal", car companies, insurance companies, consumers and insurance front-line salespeople are all rebuilding the "food chain" of auto insurance.
Is the premium for new energy vehicles going up or down?
In the new energy vehicle market around New Year’s Day, the premium has been adjusted.
Fang Nan, a salesperson in Xpeng Motors, told Caijing Tianxia Weekly that the premium of Tucki P7, which is priced between 250,000 yuan and 270,000 yuan, has risen from 3,000 yuan to 5,000 yuan, "the average increase is between 2,000 yuan and 3,000 yuan"; The car insurance premium of Lantu FREE, with a car price of about 300,000 yuan, is almost the same as that of Tucki P7, with a slightly lower price, which is about 6,400 yuan. The staff of Lantu Automobile said: "From the previous 6,000 yuan to 6,400 yuan, the premium has increased by several hundred dollars."
On the eve of New Year’s Day, the exclusive insurance for new energy vehicles, which has been brewing for a long time, was officially launched. On December 27, 2021, 12 property insurance companies were approved to underwrite the exclusive auto insurance for new energy vehicles for the first time. Previously, new energy vehicles and traditional fuel vehicles shared the same set of auto insurance clauses, and those problems such as batteries and charging piles that easily caused claims disputes were in a vague area, and no clear insurance protection was obtained.
The auto insurance terms and rates tailored for new energy vehicles have also been released at the end of December. There are three main risks and thirteen additional risks in the terms issued this time. Consumers can choose to insure all types of insurance or some types of insurance.
Liu Dechun, deputy director of Nezha Automobile Insurance Business Department, said that from the perspective of the benchmark premium of the whole industry, the premium of new energy vehicles below 200,000 decreased by about 1% to 5%, and the premium of new energy vehicles with a price of more than 200,000 may be raised. Up to now, in 90% of the cities in China, the auto insurance premium of Nezha is on a downward trend.
The voice from the insurance industry is more cautious.
In Zhengzhou, Xu Hemei, a member of Ping An Insurance, said that whether the premium of new energy vehicles goes up or down is up to the "system". At present, she understands that the premium of new energy vehicles has increased by 10% ~ 15%; In Changsha, Gu Feifan, an auto insurance practitioner of an established property insurance company, said that according to the data provided by the company not long ago, the overall premium of new energy vehicles has been "slightly lowered" by 5% to 8%, and "the benchmark premium of new energy vehicles has generally declined, and the discount coefficient of various insurance companies may rise".

Caijing Tianxia Weekly learned from the customer service of PICC P&C Insurance, China Insurance, Ping An Insurance and other approved property insurance companies that the premium price needs to provide information such as the owner’s gender, age, license plate number, model and ID number. "Only by calculation can we know the premium price of each car." The customer service of PICC P&C specifically reminded that Tesla and Xpeng Motors could not directly insure by telephone and needed to go to the local business hall for further processing.
Previously, shortly after the exclusive insurance for new energy vehicles was launched, the auto insurance quotation of "Tesla premiums soared by 80%" shocked new energy owners. According to the clarification of Tesla sales staff to Caijing Tianxia Weekly, the premium increase is only for two vehicles exposed on the network, and their premium prices have been adjusted in the follow-up.
In this regard, a person in the insurance industry commented, "It doesn’t make much sense to discuss the increase or decrease of premiums only if it is not specific to the area where the insured is located, car habits and insurance terms."
How to price new energy auto insurance?
The pricing of new energy auto insurance with exclusive terms is often based on two factors: the risk rate and the zero ratio.
Song Lian, the owner of Tesla, described an interesting detail: the acceleration of 3 seconds, 5.6 seconds and 8 seconds, which became an important aspect to distinguish the premium of Tesla model3, model 3P and traditional fuel vehicles.
In the process of car starting, model 3 can reach an acceleration speed of 5.6 seconds, "this speed has exceeded 95% of the vehicles on the road"-the same starting action, the traditional fuel car takes 8 seconds to complete, which is "very fast". Inside Tesla, Song Lian said that model 3P, a high-performance version of model 3, is more "scary" than Model 3 itself. He gave a high-performance version of the data performance: 3 seconds. Compared with model 3, it is shortened by 2.6 seconds. "(The driver) may not even have time to respond."
"The faster the acceleration, the faster the speed, and the higher the accident probability." Song Lian thinks that insurance companies also consider that speed is a risk factor for accidents of new energy vehicles. Reflected in the premium changes, "the premium of the high-performance version has increased even more. According to riders, the highest premium has risen from more than 8,000 yuan to more than 18,000 yuan, while the new car premium of model 3 is only a few hundred dollars more expensive."
Gu Feifan agrees with this view. He said that traditional fuel vehicles will have a shift reaction process at the start, but new energy vehicles don’t need it. A faster start speed will also cause insurance companies to worry about the accident probability.
At the same time, the unique structure of new energy vehicles also determines that car owners need to "switch" their driving habits, which has also become an important factor in causing traffic accidents.
He also pointed out that in the underwriting of new energy auto insurance, geographical location is also one of the considerations. Comparing Changsha with Guangdong, "Changsha is a hilly area, and the probability of traffic accidents is higher. The geographical conditions in Guangdong are different than those in Changsha, so the risk probability is lower."
When the accident happens, the maintenance cost is not small. Song Lian saw in the maintenance center that the working hours account for about one-third to two-thirds of the total maintenance cost of model 3. In addition, although the replacement may use domestic parts, due to the higher pricing, it will still push up the zero ratio of vehicles, which will also drive the average amount of compensation paid by insurance companies to a certain extent.
"But in fact, the risk rate is an important factor that can better determine the trend of payout ratio. If the average compensation is the same, a model with a high risk rate of 10% means that payout ratio is also 10% higher. " Liu Dechun corrected the general cognition that the zero integral ratio of new energy vehicles is the key to determine the premium level. "Fuel vehicles still have to look at the zero integral ratio, and the decisive factor for the high premium of new energy vehicles is not the zero integral ratio."
Gu Feifan, from the past payment situation, "(insurance company) the entire Tesla business is losing money." According to him, after the exclusive insurance for new energy vehicles was launched, Hunan has screened out 13 high-end brands in the new energy vehicle market, including new energy vehicles launched by traditional fuel vehicles such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Cadillac, and given a discount coefficient higher than other new energy vehicles. "The starting discount for the premiums of these 13 brands is about 1.0 to 1.05."
Ge Yuxiang, an analyst at Shenwan Hongyuan Securities, pointed out that new energy vehicles in family cars are higher than traditional cars in terms of accident frequency and average compensation. Although the average premium of new energy auto insurance is significantly higher than that of traditional fuel vehicles, it still cannot make up for the increase in compensation costs caused by the high accident frequency and average compensation.

Insurance salesman or no commission
It is worth noting that a more definite change than the premium trend has emerged, that is, the commission of marketers has become less.
"When the system calculates the premium information of the vehicle, it will also display the commission number of the salesperson after underwriting." During the New Year holiday, Xu Hemei asked his colleagues to inquire about the auto insurance quotation of a Tesla, but was reminded: "You have no commission, and the premium price can’t be reduced."
"It is not necessarily that there is no commission at all. If some vehicles have more accidents and the risk factor is too high, when they are judged as high risk by the system, this order will not give the salesman a commission." Dong Jianghai, who is also in Ping An Insurance, explained that he also added after pondering for a moment, "But generally speaking, the commission given by new energy auto insurance to marketers has become less. If some people still want to give discounts, then the salesperson will really have no income."
The decline in commissions may also be related to the new energy auto insurance policy. According to media reports, on December 14th, last year, China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission Property Insurance Supervision Department issued the Notice on Relevant Matters Concerning the Filing of Exclusive Products of New Energy Vehicles to all banking insurance bureaus and property insurance companies, requiring that the additional fee rate of exclusive products of commercial insurance of new energy vehicles should not be higher than 15%. That is to say, the cost space that insurance companies can use when underwriting new energy vehicles has become smaller, and reducing costs has become an important rule for insurance companies to survive.
Therefore, the proportion of commission that marketers get from it also decreases. Gu Feifan’s commission has been "reduced by half", and this is only a "buffer period given by the company". "In fact, a single (commission) given by the company should not exceed 3 points, which is equivalent to nothing."
"So, just looking at the income of a car, the salesperson may not be driven by so much interest as before." Gu Feifan said, but the company also has a scale assessment for marketers, so it is also necessary to consider the overall premium scale, compensation and other factors.
Xu Hemei also said that although there is no commission to take, it is much easier to issue auto insurance bills than before. "After all, the premium quotations of various insurance companies are not much different, and the gap is between several hundred pieces. There is no need to retain customers through rebates. " What’s more, the sales of auto insurance policies are also closely linked to performance. "Do it by accident, something is better than nothing."
"You can’t just make money." Gu Feifan said helplessly.
It takes three to five years to observe the compensation situation.
After the first year, there are also differences inside and outside the industry about the renewal premium.
Fang Nan repeatedly claimed that "it will be more expensive in the first year, and it will be much cheaper in the future". In the experience store of Lantu Automobile, the sales staff of Lantu, who explained that the premium was "only a few hundred dollars higher", also told Caijing Tianxia that "it will not be expensive in the second year, as long as there is no danger, the high probability premium will come down."
The customer service of China Insurance added that the premium price may be affected by personal credit information. In addition, the car owner did not go out of danger in the previous year, and the premium may not necessarily decrease. It is also necessary to combine the compensation and risk of the brand or the model in the whole market.
Undoubtedly, the payment of new energy vehicles is the key to determine the future direction of premiums.
"Now everything is still in the exploration stage, and the probability of payment is difficult to judge." Wang Xujin, director of the Insurance Research Center of Beijing Technology and Business University, said that in general, five years can make the insurance industry know that the sample data for judging the compensation situation may form a relatively stable data performance in practice in about three years.
Liu Dechun also gave a more optimistic judgment on the development of payout ratio, a new energy vehicle: because young people are more receptive to new things, they are the main buyers and applicable groups of new energy vehicles; At the same time, the driving habits required by new energy vehicles are quite different from those required by traditional fuel vehicles, which requires a process of adaptation. On the whole, it is still in the "painful period" of new energy auto insurance. With the continuous popularization of new energy vehicles, the driving crowd has expanded to more stable groups such as middle-aged people and the elderly, and at the same time, better driving habits have been formed, so payout ratio will gradually come down.
In view of the future compensation situation, he further predicted that the compensation situation may be improved when the market share of the whole new energy vehicle reaches 50%.
At the beginning of January this year, Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the Association, wrote an article saying that car companies were encouraged to get involved in insurance. He said that the introduction of exclusive insurance for new energy vehicles is a good thing, but the cost increase is on the high side. It may be that the oil money saved by new energy vehicles has to be paid for insurance, which makes new energy vehicles seem uneconomical, forming a phenomenon that they can’t afford it, which is not conducive to the promotion of new energy vehicles. Therefore, car companies should establish their own insurance products, the industry should have more accurate insurance calculation, and the state should also support reasonable subsidies for insurance expenses.
"In the short term, it is unlikely that car companies will directly operate insurance products." Liu Dechun told Caijing Tianxia Weekly, "A more reliable way is that we look forward to cooperating with insurance companies to make some local innovations and adjustments in products."
(At the request of the respondents, Fang Nan, Xu Hemei, Gu Feifan, Song Lian and Dong Jianghai are pseudonyms.)































