With the slowdown in the growth rate of new cars in China, the scale of the auto insurance market has also moved out of the era of high growth and has entered the stock competition from increment. Since the beginning of this year, the competition in the auto insurance market has intensified, and in order to seize the market share of auto insurance, some property insurance companies have attracted insurance by giving away car wash coupons and rebates, which has increased the handling fee rate of auto insurance and increased the overall cost.
Entering the closing stage of the year, some insurance companies have intensified the phenomenon of "fighting fees" in order to rush performance, resulting in a surge in costs and greater operating pressure. According to the statistics of the non-bank team of Guolian**, 32 property insurance companies lost money in the first three quarters of 2023, accounting for 373%, the number of small and medium-sized property insurance companies has increased significantly.
Obviously, the above-mentioned behaviors for the sake of performance are really "killing the chicken and taking the eggs", and the comprehensive reform of auto insurance has brought certain pressure to the auto insurance business, but it also forces the insurance company to refine the operation, lean operation, and precise management, and the auto insurance business must return to rational operation and improve quality in order to achieve sustainable development.
#Two factors caused 44 property and casualty insurance companies to lose money
As the most important car insurance company of property and casualty insurance companiesIn the first three quarters of 2023, the cumulative premium income of motor insurance was 64155.2 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 570%。In the first three quarters of 2023, the cumulative underwriting profit of the motor insurance industry was 780.4 billion yuan, a decrease of 106 in the same period6.8 billion yuan.
As of the end of October,The comprehensive cost ratio of auto insurance in the industry has reached 98Around 8%.Among them, 44 property insurance companies have a comprehensive auto insurance ratio of more than 100%, and the operating pressure is greater. Taking the "old three" property insurance companies as an example, in the first three quarters of this year, the overall business underwriting comprehensive cost ratios of PICC property insurance, Ping An property insurance, and Pacific property insurance were respectively3% and 987%, a year-on-year increase of 17, 16, 10 percentage points.
According to market observation analysis,The comprehensive cost ratio of motor insurance** is mainly due to the dual factors of increasing motor insurance handling fees and loss ratio**。Taking the data of the first half of 2023 as an example, the average comprehensive expense ratio of the motor insurance industry is 2785%, a significant increase over the same period in 2022, and an average of 113 percentage points, the phenomenon of "fighting fees" in the industry is still obvious.
From the perspective of compensation, heavy rain disasters in Beijing, Henan and other places have had a significant impact on the operation of auto insurance, and the comprehensive loss ratio was about 71 by the end of October this year1%, up 23 percentage points. As a result, the handling fee and loss ratio continued to rise, the comprehensive cost ratio continued to rise, and the pressure on industry losses continued to increase.
#Regulators are highly concerned about "effective cost control".
In the second half of this year, the State Administration of Financial Supervision and Administration issued two documents on the control of the auto insurance market, requiring the consolidation of the achievements of the comprehensive reform of auto insurance and the improvement of the quality and efficiency of auto insurance services.
In June, the property and insurance department of the former China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission issued the "Notice on Matters Concerning the Regulation of the Order of the Auto Insurance Market", proposing that it would strengthen the overall coordination and linkage of supervision, strengthen on-site inspection and investigation, and seriously investigate and deal with violations of laws and regulations.
In September, the State Administration of Financial Supervision issued the Notice of the General Office of the State Administration of Financial Supervision and Administration on Strengthening the Management of Auto Insurance Expenses, proposing 12 measures to strengthen the internal management of auto insurance expenses and continue to improve the market formation mechanism of commercial auto insurance rates.
However, from the perspective of actual implementation, there is still unreasonable competition in the auto insurance market, and problems such as competition with high fees in some institutions and regions still exist.
Industry insiders pointed out that the phenomenon of "fighting expenses" in the auto insurance market has risen this yearOn the one hand, the actual travel rate and accident rate of automobiles are slightly lower than the expectations of the insurance industryOn the other hand, the competition in the new car insurance market is very fierce, so the phenomenon of "fighting for costs" to grab the market has once again appeared locally.
#Industry leaders took the lead, and self-discipline agreements followed
In order to curb this phenomenon, the insurance industry has frequently taken relevant measures under the continuous high-pressure regulatory situation.
In November, the Insurance Association of China issued the Notice on Doing a Solid Job in the Self-Discipline of the Auto Insurance Industry, once again emphasizing that all localities should strengthen industry self-discipline and promote the implementation of various policies. The insurance industry associations of Hunan Province, Anhui Province, Yueyang City, Panzhihua City, and Tongliao City have successively organized and held the Auto Insurance Compliance Management Promotion Conference, the Auto Insurance Self-Discipline Symposium, and the Review Meeting on the Implementation of the Auto Insurance Compliance Management Self-Discipline Convention. At the same time, many places have also issued self-discipline conventions, aiming to prevent insurance companies from giving away fuel cards, prepaid cards, etc. to rebate cash, and require strict implementation of "clear discounts and clear deductions" of car insurance premiums.
In addition, insurance companies are also constantly moving. Including:Eight leading property insurance companies, including PICC P&C and Ping An Property & Casualty, have formulated and signed the Self-Discipline Convention on Auto Insurance Compliance Management, independently conclude self-discipline conventions, and take the initiative to regulate the order of the auto insurance market. From the perspective of the companies that signed the Convention, the comprehensive cost ratios in the first three quarters were Taiping Property Insurance, Dadi Insurance, China Life Property Insurance, Ping An Property Insurance, China Property Insurance, Sunshine Property Insurance, Pacific Property Insurance, and PICC Property Insurance, respectively7%。
On the whole, the intention of the insurance industry association to promote self-discipline in car insurance is self-evident. Urge the industry to effectively change its business philosophy, reduce development expectations, stop the vicious competition in handling fees, reduce the comprehensive cost rate of the auto insurance industry, and truly shift from emphasizing business scale to emphasizing customer management.
With the continuous increase in regulatory attention, it is believed that with the signing of the self-discipline convention on auto insurance compliance operation by PICC P&C and Ping An Property and Casualty, it is believed that it is expected to reverse the industry atmosphere, curb the vicious competition and chaos, and jointly promote the coordinated development of the auto insurance industry to achieve a win-win situation.