"As one of the first car owners, my insurance renewal date has come, but no insurance company has contacted me. I asked proactively, and was even deleted as a friend by insurance company employees." A Xiaomi SU7 owner in Wenzhou posted on social media.
The reporter then got in touch with him. The car owner said, "After encountering this situation, I contacted Xiaomi's customer service and they recommended me to renew my insurance through Xiaomi's official channels. Because I had an insurance last year, whether through the official APP or other insurance companies, the premium quotes were more than 10,000 yuan."
The reporter found that under the topic of "Xiaomi SU7 renewal", many car owners posted their bills. Due to different regions, the renewal fee ranged from 4,000 to 7,000 yuan. For most users, the renewal fee was lower than the first premium. However, there are also situations similar to the above-mentioned Wenzhou car owners. A premium bill posted by a Xiaomi SU7 owner in Suzhou shows that in addition to compulsory traffic insurance, the owner also added 4 million yuan of third-party liability insurance and on-board personnel liability insurance for the driver and passengers, with the cost as high as 10,240 yuan.
Regarding the issue of car owners’ warranty renewal, reporters from Cailian News consulted Xiaomi Auto’s official customer service. Customer service said that car owners can choose insurance services from four insurance companies, namely PICC, Ping An, Pacific and Sunshine, through the official APP. If purchased through official channels, car owners can also purchase the Xiaomi worry-free service package, which includes maintenance pick-up and delivery, free basic maintenance and other benefits. The price is 1,299 yuan. However, if the car owner chooses another insurance company, he cannot purchase this service package.
Although Xiaomi Auto customer service emphasizes that Xiaomi Auto will not force users to purchase through official channels, some car owners believe that this will undoubtedly limit users’ choice of insurance companies.
"Judging from the current situation, there is no so-called 'special concern' for Xiaomi SU7." A car insurance officer told reporters frankly, "The data model for car insurance pricing is relatively complex, and the price fluctuations are relatively large. New energy vehicle premiums are generally on the high side, and the accident rate is relatively high, so many insurance companies are not willing to take orders."
High premiums for new energy auto insurance have become a common pain point in the industry. Data released by China Banking Insurance Corporation shows that the average premium of new energy vehicles in 2023 is actually about 21% higher than that of fuel vehicles. Among them, the annual premium of pure electric vehicles is on average 1,687 yuan more than that of fuel vehicles, which is approximately 1.8 times the annual premium of fuel vehicles. In 2024, my country's insurance industry will underwrite 31.05 million new energy vehicles, with premium income of 140.9 billion yuan, risk protection amount of 106 trillion yuan, and underwriting losses of 5.7 billion yuan, showing continuous losses.
The reason is that relevant personnel from the Actuaries Association and China Banking and Insurance Corporation mentioned in interviews that new energy vehicles have higher maintenance costs, higher accident rates, mismatches between some auto insurance prices and the nature of vehicle use, and mismatches between some auto insurance prices and vehicle risks.
In order to alleviate the pain points of the new energy auto insurance market, relevant departments have introduced a number of policies. At the beginning of this year, four departments including the State Administration of Financial Supervision jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on Deepening Reform and Strengthening Supervision to Promote the High-Quality Development of New Energy Auto Insurance", proposing measures such as reasonably reducing the maintenance and use costs of new energy vehicles and innovating and optimizing the supply of new energy auto insurance. At the same time, the "Auto Insurance Easy to Insure" platform has also been officially launched. New energy car owners can link to insurance companies through this platform to apply for insurance, and insurance companies are not allowed to refuse insurance. This initiative helps solve the problem of difficulty in insuring high-risk vehicles.
"my country's new energy vehicles have entered a period of stable development driven by the market. Such achievements of my country's electric vehicles are hard-won. Service systems such as charging facilities, financial insurance, maintenance and repairs, second-hand car transactions, and battery recycling and reuse should continue to be improved." Chen Qingtai, chairman of the China Electric Vehicles Association of 100, called at this year's Electric Vehicles Meeting of 100.