Just a few days ago, the "Shanghai Implementation Measures for Encouraging the Purchase and Use of New Energy Vehicles" was officially released. The "Implementation Measures" clarify that Shanghai will continue to provide free special license quota support for the purchase of new energy vehicles in 2024. The use of new energy vehicles not only saves energy and emissions, but also saves vehicle costs, and is worthy of encouragement and promotion. However, many new energy vehicle owners have recently reported that they encountered obstacles when purchasing car insurance.
These car owners have been driving new energy vehicles for four or five years. They were able to buy car insurance normally before. However, for some unknown reason, some of them were directly rejected when renewing their insurance recently, and some were asked to add expensive additional insurance, otherwise there would be no negotiation. What is going on?
The car owner, Mr. Ye, said that he bought a WM electric car four years ago and had been insured by Samsung Property & Casualty Insurance until last year. However, when he planned to renew his insurance this year, he was rejected by Samsung Property & Casualty Insurance for no reason. "It has been guaranteed for three years now. In the fourth year, he said he couldn't keep it. But he couldn't explain the reason why he couldn't keep it, so he told us that he couldn't keep it."
When asked about the reason for the refusal of insurance, the customer service staff of Samsung Property and Casualty Insurance Company said: "Because our company does not allow this model to be used, and there are restrictions on underwriting."
Mr. Ye asked: "What are the restrictions?" The other party replied, "It's just not allowed to be made or bought."
The reporter called the Samsung Property and Casualty Insurance service hotline to inquire about relevant matters. The customer service staff said that the refusal of insurance was not for the WM model, but that all new energy auto insurance business was stopped. "There are indeed restrictions on this car this year, and they are not targeted at WM Motor, nor any brand, but all new energy sources. (Because) the losses are too serious, so now there are restrictions in this regard." The customer service staff said.
The reporter called the service hotline of China Pacific Insurance and was also told that because the car model was controlled, it could not be insured.
Coincidentally, the car owner, Mr. Luo, also reported that he bought a Chery pure electric car five years ago. He had previously insured it with life auto insurance, but this year the other party said, "If you don't buy seat insurance, you can't insure it."
Mr. Luo said: "The reply given to me was that because my new energy vehicle is five years old, the damage ratio is not proportional, so I cannot buy it. Then I must renew the insurance and add additional insurance, seat insurance or other insurances. My insurance of more than 3,000 yuan has been raised to more than 4,000 yuan. (The other party) also said that even if you buy seat insurance, I have to ask the leader to apply for approval."
Mr. Luo also said that his car had only been injured twice in the past five years. Therefore, he did not agree with raising the threshold on the grounds that the loss ratio was too high. "The total amount of compensation for the two accidents was about 1,200 yuan. I asked a few insurance companies, and he told me that because the insurance company has suffered a lot of losses (new energy vehicles), it has banned the renewal of insurance for five years internally."
Car owners who have bought car insurance know that the car insurance premium is linked to the vehicle’s accident compensation amount in the previous year. For someone like Mr. Luo, who has only purchased insurance twice in five years and paid a total compensation of about 1,200 yuan, this year he was required to purchase additional insurance when renewing his auto insurance. The price increased by more than 1,000 yuan for no reason, which does not sound reasonable.
But insurance companies are not charities and will not engage in loss-making business. The customer service of many insurance companies also made it clear that the new energy auto insurance business has suffered serious losses, so they will increase prices in disguise or directly refuse insurance.
So, why do new energy car insurance lose money? Why is it that a fuel vehicle that has been driven for four to five years or even seven or eight years can be insured, but it is so difficult to buy auto insurance for a new energy vehicle of the same age?
The reporter contacted Samsung Property and Casualty Insurance, which Mr. Ye had previously insured. The relevant person in charge said that the maintenance cost of new energy vehicles is high and it is difficult to determine the damage. Therefore, compared with traditional fuel vehicles, the cost of insurance claims for new energy vehicles will be higher.
Mao Weifeng, head of consumer rights protection at Samsung Property & Casualty Insurance, said: "For insurance companies, the claim settlement cost of new energy vehicles will indeed be higher than that of original fuel vehicles. Moreover, the battery is also a new product. There is a lack of standards for how to repair it and how to identify it. This is also a factor that leads to the relatively high cost of new energy vehicles."
The person in charge's statement was also confirmed by the reporter at Ping An Insurance's telephone customer service office. Ping An Auto Insurance’s telephone customer service said: “In the event of a collision of a fuel vehicle, the individual parts will cost the same amount; in a collision of a new energy vehicle, often not only one component will be damaged, but the whole thing will be damaged, so the amount will be higher. The new energy auto insurance sector does not make money, it all loses money, and if it can’t be done, it will not be done.”
In addition to the high cost of claims, the reporter also found during the investigation that many car owners drove non-operational new energy private cars, but illegally registered them as online ride-hailing vehicles to engage in illegal operations. At the same time, they were required to insure according to the premium standards for private cars. In this case, the insurance company will also refuse coverage.
Samsung Property & Casualty Insurance Company's telephone customer service said: "There are relatively large losses in the new energy market, and many of them are probably due to online ride-hailing. As a result, the loss rate has risen sharply compared to fuel vehicles. Because the difference in premiums between operating vehicles and non-operating vehicles is nearly three times, and we cannot tell whether he has taken online ride-hailing." Samsung Property & Casualty Insurance's customer service also said that it was unable to identify whether the insurance was illegal.
But what is strange is that customer service staff of some other larger insurance companies said that their backends are connected to online ride-hailing information.
The phone customer service of PICC Auto Insurance said: "If you register for an online ride-hailing service, the system will show it. Even if you have registered and not driven, you will not be insured."
Ping An Auto Insurance's telephone customer service said: "The reason why you are not insured is that you have registered for an online ride-hailing or ride-hailing service. The traffic management platform is open, and all insurance companies use a unified platform, which can monitor whether you are an online ride-hailing or ride-hailing service."
In this regard, legal professionals pointed out that the "Insurance Sales Behavior Management Measures" issued in September this year will be officially implemented from March 1 next year. Article 15 of it stipulates that insurance companies should establish a hierarchical management system for insurance products.
Yang Zouhua, chief lawyer of Shanghai Shendao Law Firm, said that for operation and non-operation, customers are first required to admit that once the vehicle is used for operation, the premium will rise. If a non-operation vehicle is used for operational purposes, it violates the terms of the insurance-related contract, and the insurance company has the right to refuse to pay the relevant premium.
As the maintenance standards, three-electricity testing and damage assessment standards for new energy vehicles are gradually introduced, the premium standards for new energy vehicle insurance will become more and more standardized in the future. "We believe that the entire industry will gradually enrich this area of investigation capabilities." Mao Weifeng said.