In fact, as early as 20 12, the China Insurance Regulatory Commission issued the Notice on Supporting the Specialized Operation of Insurance Agency Business of Automobile Enterprises, encouraging and supporting automobile enterprises to invest in the establishment of insurance agents and insurance brokerage companies, or to cooperate with existing insurance agents and insurance brokerage companies, so that insurance agents and insurance brokerage companies can co-ordinate the development of auto insurance business. In other words, at the policy level, car companies have long been encouraged to do their own insurance business.
In recent years, with the increasing popularity of new energy vehicles, new energy auto insurance undoubtedly has great market potential. According to insurance industry data, it is estimated that by 2035, the annual premium of new energy auto insurance will increase to about 200 billion yuan.
Obviously, Wei Lai is not the only one who understands this.
1. Both are earlier than Weilai.
In fact, before Weilai, there were auto insurance companies such as GAC, SAIC, Geely and Tucki.
Zhongcheng Auto Insurance, initiated by Guangzhou Automobile Group and other enterprises, was established in 20 1 1 with a registered capital of 2,268.75 million yuan. It is the first professional auto insurance company listed on the New Third Board in China. Its business scope is mainly auto insurance, covering auto insurance, corporate property insurance, engineering insurance, liability insurance and other property insurance businesses. Shanghai Automobile Group Insurance Sales Co., Ltd. was established on 20 15 with a registered capital of 200 million yuan. It is a national insurance professional organization jointly funded by SAIC, SAIC-GM and SAIC Volkswagen. Focus on building exclusive brand insurance for key vehicles and innovative insurance products in related fields, give full play to the synergistic advantages of SAIC financial sector, and provide auto insurance+owner service.
20 18 Epro Insurance, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Geely Holding, was approved to operate related insurance agency business, mainly to build a car owner service system based on the "Cheyoubao" car networking car platform for the owners of six brands under Geely, and provide services such as policy inquiry, declaration and product purchase. In addition, Geely deepened its auto insurance business by holding 65,438+33 million shares of He Zhong Property Insurance last year (He Zhong Property Insurance was established in 20 15, with auto insurance business accounting for over 90%), with a shareholding ratio of 33.33%, and obtained a property insurance license.
Among the new forces of car-making, Xpeng Auto took the lead in establishing Guangzhou Xpeng Auto Insurance Agency Co., Ltd. on 20 18, and was allowed to carry out auto insurance agency business.
It is worth noting that Tesla 20 19 acquired Markel Corp and obtained an insurance brokerage license; In 2020, an insurance brokerage company was established in Shanghai, controlled by Tesla Motors Hong Kong Limited 100%; In June+10 last year, elon musk, CEO of Tesla, announced that he would launch an exclusive auto insurance service for drivers' real-time driving behavior, called UBI (User Behavior-Based Insurance), in order to form an advantage in car owner service and data collection.
Guo Zhenhua, director of the insurance department of university of international business and economics, once said, "For auto companies, with the license of insurance intermediary or property insurance company, on the one hand, both sides can consider how to operate through the auto sales network to make the auto insurance business bigger and stronger; On the other hand, in view of the future development direction of the automobile field, the two sides can explore and innovate new auto insurance fields. "
Not only car companies are entering the auto insurance business, but new energy contemporary Amp Technology Co., Ltd. with a market value of more than one trillion yuan is also laid out in this field. In July last year, Sino-French Life Insurance officially changed its name to Xiaokang Life Insurance Co., Ltd., and its registered capital increased from 200 million yuan to 3 billion yuan, of which Contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd. held 30% of the shares and became the second largest shareholder. Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Ltd. once said that it is one of the ways for investment insurance companies to match the battery banking and energy storage operations that the company intends to promote with the long-term funds of insurance capital. Then in June+10, 5438, Contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd. reached a cooperation with PICC P&C Insurance Company of China, focusing on the aftermarket of new energy vehicles, promoting the sales of new energy vehicles, power batteries and related insurance products, and improving the service experience of new energy vehicle users.
2. Is the auto insurance business "losing money and earning money"?
Although car companies enter the auto insurance business in different forms, the profitability of these insurance companies seems to be not optimistic.
As mentioned above, Zhongcheng Insurance, which was funded by GAC, had a revenue of only 20.48 million yuan and a loss of 4010.3 million yuan in the year of its establishment. By 20 17, the revenue reached 654.38+0.2 billion yuan, with a loss of 42.96 million yuan; 20 18 is still in a loss state in the first half of the year, but the loss range has narrowed, and the net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies is a loss of 120 1 ten thousand yuan. After a loss of six and a half years, Zhongcheng Insurance made a profit.
He Zhong Property & Casualty has never walked out of the loss cycle since its establishment. From 20 15 to 20 19, the total loss exceeded 200 million, and in 2020, there was a net loss of 508 10/0,000 yuan again.
The situation in Tucki is different, because the car insurance business of Tucki Cooperation Organization is not used, which affects the upgrade of OTA, so it can only claim compensation and exclusive renewal service, and the owner complains.
It is understood that the Property Insurance Supervision Department of the China Banking Regulatory Commission issued the Notice on Relevant Matters Concerning the Filing of Exclusive Products of New Energy Vehicles to the Banking Insurance Regulatory Bureau and the Property Insurance Company last year, requiring that the additional rate of exclusive products of commercial insurance of new energy vehicles should not be higher than 15%. In other words, the cost space that insurance companies can use when underwriting new energy vehicles has become smaller, and reducing costs has become the survival law of insurance companies, followed by the reduction of commission of auto insurance salesmen.
According to the business personnel of an insurance company, for a policy with a premium of more than 2,400 yuan, the owner only needs to pay more 1500 yuan after the discount, while the salesman only draws a commission of tens of yuan.
Based on the above reasons, after the launch of new energy exclusive auto insurance in 65438 on February 27th last year, consumers found that the premium of new energy vehicles increased.
At present, commercial auto insurance premium mainly consists of two parts: commercial auto insurance premium = benchmark premium × rate adjustment coefficient. In terms of benchmark premium, compared with traditional auto insurance, on the whole, the benchmark premium of new energy special auto insurance decreased by 0. 1%, and the benchmark premium of car damage insurance decreased by 1.2%, with a total decrease of about 0.8%.
Specifically, for new energy vehicles with a car price of less than 250,000 yuan, the benchmark premium for car damage insurance is guaranteed not to increase; However, it is common for the new car-making forces headed by Tesla to raise the benchmark premium, mainly because of the high maintenance cost, the high price of core parts and spare parts, and the high compensation cost of such vehicles.
This has caused the insurance company's original auto insurance business not to make money, and after the introduction of the exclusive insurance for new energy vehicles, the insurance coverage of the three major power systems has been clarified, and the insurance price has increased, which makes the car owners feel uneconomical.
Cui Dongshu, Secretary General of the Association, issued a document saying, "It is a very good thing to launch new energy automobile insurance, but the cost increase is high. The oil money saved by using new energy vehicles may be used to pay insurance, which makes new energy vehicles seem uneconomical and causes the phenomenon of' affordable', 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 calculations, and the state should also support reasonable subsidies for insurance costs. "
3. Why did Wei Lai do this?
In the opinion of insurance industry analysts, the adjustment of new energy exclusive auto insurance premium is not expected to have a negative impact on the sales of new energy vehicles, mainly because the maintenance cost and driving energy consumption cost of new energy vehicles have certain advantages compared with traditional vehicles, and the adjustment of premium will not affect the comprehensive price advantage of new energy vehicles; Secondly, the exclusive auto insurance of new energy has achieved differentiated premiums and controlled the insurance cost of price-sensitive car owners. The premium adjustment will not affect the car purchase choice of these consumers.
In addition, the exclusive auto insurance for new energy has solved the contradiction between insurance companies and new energy vehicle owners in the definition of insurance liability to a certain extent, which can provide more comprehensive and better guarantee services for vehicle owners, and the improvement of the ownership rate of new energy vehicles will bring more policies and form a virtuous circle.
If this is the case, then new energy auto companies entering the auto insurance business will inevitably reduce the cost of car ownership at a comprehensive level. Under the premise of the same insurance project, which insurance premium is cheap, or get more services under the same insurance premium, will attract users.
Following the launch of new energy exclusive auto insurance, Weilai plans to launch the service worry-free version 2022: 1 in March this year. The newly purchased service worry-free package has the same pricing, and it also includes three additional risks added in the new terms (external power grid failure loss insurance, self-use charging pile loss insurance and self-use charging pile liability insurance). 2. Users who are still in the service period of Service Worry-Free 202 1 do not need to purchase the three risks additional risks in the new terms, and the existing Service Worry-Free will include corresponding protection contents; 3. Worry-free pricing of insurance is still Weilai's exclusive service. The insurance cost is+1680 yuan, and core services such as paint repair, basic maintenance, car pick-up, door-to-door tire repair, transportation service and accident rescue are retained. The change of the overall premium is related to the user's location, violation records, past accidents and other factors; 4. Users who are still in the service period of worry-free insurance version 202 1 have no difference in the rights and experience of accidental claims and the main insurance of the new clause; 5. Car owners can choose worry-free service or worry-free insurance products according to their own car use.
Selling insurance on behalf of the driver may not necessarily make money, but it can circle users. Auto insurance business can allow user-oriented enterprises like Weilai to directly connect with C-end users, extend the service cycle of Weilai car owners, and enhance the business growth space, thus establishing an ecology around new energy vehicles.
Write at the end: auto insurance is the first service product that consumers come into contact with when buying a car. If auto companies directly face end consumers with auto insurance direct sales model, then vehicle delivery becomes the beginning of providing car service for consumers, and then taking auto insurance as the service starting point, more new service models such as aftermarket and owner's rights and interests can be developed. This will not only improve consumer service satisfaction, but also bring more benefits to car companies. At the same time, there are blessings of encouraging policies. Why not?