Car sales fell to five-year low new engine in third- and fourth-tier cities

The automotive market is undergoing profound changes, as is the auto insurance market.

According to the latest data, car sales in the first eleven months of 2017 only increased by 3.59% year-on-year, and the growth rate fell to a five-year low. However, from the perspective of market segments, sales growth of new energy vehicles is expected to be higher. The weakness of the incremental market has caused the insurer's auto insurance business to enter a bottleneck period. How to seek new growth points is an issue that insurers need to consider.

The person in charge of the small and medium-sized insurance companies stated that they will focus on the third and fourth tier cities. At the same time, they will try to excavate the existing auto insurance customers so that they can increase the amount of protection and thus increase the premium scale. For the auto insurance market in 2018, the reporter communicated with a number of people in the industry. The relatively unanimous view is that the overall market situation is rather severe. The regulatory trend is only strict and will not loosen. The pressure on small and medium-sized insurance companies is even greater. They must combine their own circumstances to develop new ones. The growth point.

Nearly 8 percent of insurer auto insurance losses

According to statistics from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, from January to November 2017, the nationwide automobile sales were 25,844,900, an increase of 3.59% year-on-year, which was the lowest growth rate in the past five years.

The weak sales of automobiles directly affect the auto insurance market. The increase in auto premium insurance premiums is difficult, and the growth rate of premiums is also declining. Relevant data show that from January to November 2017, premium income from the auto insurance market was 669.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.34%. Industry insiders expect that the growth rate of auto insurance premiums for 2017 will remain the same as 2016. In comparison, the growth rate of auto insurance premiums has dropped significantly in recent years. According to public statistics, the average annual premium growth of the auto insurance market from 2000 to 2017 was nearly 20%. From 2012 to 2016, this average growth rate dropped. To less than 14%.

Car insurance premiums do not go up, so many insurance companies responsible person anxiety in mind, even more small and medium-sized insurance companies.

“It is expected that the auto insurance performance of 2017 will be more severely differentiated than in 2016.” He Bei (a pseudonym), head of a small and medium-sized property and casualty insurance company, told reporters. The data for 2016 shows that only 14 insurance companies operating automobile insurance business have achieved auto insurance underwriting profits, accounting for 23% of the total, and 14 earnings insurance companies have achieved a total of 12.897 billion yuan in auto insurance underwriting profits, and 80% of the loss insurance The total loss of the company is about 6.3 billion yuan.

“With the further advancement of commercial vehicle insurance fee reform, the challenges faced by small and medium-sized insurance companies are greater than the opportunities, and the market concentration will be further enhanced.” He Bei admits that due to the pricing capabilities of small and medium-sized insurance companies, accurate identification of users, and their ability to reach It is difficult to compete with large-scale insurers, and fee reforms have significantly expanded the independent pricing power of insurers, so large-scale insurers can exert their advantages better.

At the same time, with the further advancement of the reform of the auto insurance premium rate system, some issues that are inconsistent with the expectations have gradually emerged. Among them, the most compelling one is the uplift of the auto insurance comprehensive expense ratio. In 2016, the industry auto insurance comprehensive expense rate reached 41%, which is the highest in history. In the first 10 months of 2017, the national automobile insurance comprehensive expense rate was 39%, of which the cost rate of 11 provinces and cities reached 40% and above, and the highest provincial comprehensive expense rate was 44%.

Under market chaos, regulation may become more stringent. "I think that in 2018, the regulatory environment will only be strict and will not loosen." A person in charge of an insurance company said that this year, the financial industry is emphasizing strict supervision, and the insurance industry is no exception. The auto insurance supervision in the property and casualty insurance market should be heavy. . Recently, many insurgency branches and their top leaders have been severely punished by the regulatory agencies, which has created a greater deterrent in the market. He believes that it is expected that the agency will intensify its efforts this year to crack down on vicious competition, and the vicious competition may be somewhat converging.

Car insurance is "used for eating"

The difficulty in managing auto insurance is a reality, and it is the only way to overcome difficulties.

“Regardless of the business characteristics of the application for preparatory construction, auto insurance is an insurance policy for most of the property and casualty insurance companies.” He Bei admits that only auto insurance business can be done quickly and quickly, so it is necessary Reliance on this insurance to dilute the overall operating costs of the company is one of the important reasons why property and casualty insurance companies are reluctant to give up auto insurance business. "In 2018, the auto insurance business is in a grim situation. How to find new growth points is a key issue for the company," said He Bei.

He told reporters that his headquarters is in the local area, and that he will thoroughly understand the local market as one of the key objectives in his auto insurance business strategy. For example, cooperation with local large-scale enterprises has been established to open up a vehicle insurance market for units. At the same time, it is developing in depth in the local market. “Three or four-tier cities have a fast growth rate, but insurance coverage is still not high enough. On the one hand, they try to increase insurance coverage and expand the incremental market. On the other hand, they try to excavate existing auto insurance customers and increase their coverage. , so as to increase the scale of premiums." He Bei further explained.

In the interview, the reporter learned that many small and medium-sized insurance companies have targeted third- and fourth-tier cities as their key targets. Others hope to combine the new trends in the development of customized products to meet the needs of specific markets.

Research institutions such as the China Insurance Association and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences believe that the auto insurance market will sink to third and fourth-tier cities. In the next three years, the average annual growth of new-vehicle sales in first-tier cities will be less than 5%, and that of second-tier cities will be about 6%. Line cities will continue to grow by 10% and become the engine of market growth.

At the same time, new energy automobile insurance was mentioned by many industry insiders. The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers recently stated that it is expected that sales of new energy vehicles in China will increase by about 40% in 2018, and sales of new energy vehicles will reach 1 million. At the same time, according to the “Mid-term and long-term development plan for the automotive industry” issued jointly by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Science and Technology in April 2017, it is expected that by 2020 China’s automobile sales will reach 30 million, and in 2025 it will reach 3,500. About 10,000 vehicles, of which, the annual production and sales of new energy vehicles will reach 2 million by 2020. By 2025, the proportion of new energy vehicles production and sales will reach more than 20%, that is, more than 7 million vehicles.

“At present, most of the research on new energy vehicles and related insurance is still in its infancy. There is great uncertainty, but the imagination is worth looking forward to.” Wu Baojun, president of Zhong Cheng Insurance, pointed out recently that the company is using the advantages of the automotive industry chain to target new The insurance products of energy vehicles actively promote related research, such as joint research with automotive manufacturers to promote battery extended warranty and battery accident liability protection.

In addition, there are insurance companies mentioned that in order to improve the auto insurance underwriting losses, they hope to improve the quality of their business, abandon the business with high loss ratios, and accurately develop the premium auto insurance market. However, people in the industry pointed out that this expectation will affect the management of insurance companies themselves. There is also a high level of requirements. "What you want may not be available."