MUNICH (dpa-AFX) - Car owners in Germany now have to dig much deeper into their pockets for their car insurance than they did a year ago. According to the Verivox car insurance index, car insurance has become 20 percent more expensive on average over the past twelve months - far above the general inflation rate. According to Verivox in Heidelberg, anyone who takes out a new insurance policy after buying a car will pay an average of 18 percent more for a liability policy in the mid-price segment than in April 2023. Partially comprehensive insurance is 19 percent more expensive than a year ago, while fully comprehensive tariffs are 21 percent more expensive. In the case of a pure change of insurance without buying a car, the partial and fully comprehensive tariffs have become even more expensive.

"Motor insurers have already increased their prices considerably to cover their costs during the switching season in October and November," said Wolfgang Schütz, Managing Director of Verivox Versicherungsvergleich. "However, motor insurers are still making losses due to the continuing rise in claims costs." Several insurers launched new tariff generations on the market in April and made their premiums even more expensive. The general inflation rate, on the other hand, fell to 2.2 percent in March, the lowest figure for almost three years.

However, insurers are suffering from sharp increases in the cost of car repairs, which, according to the German Insurance Association (GDV), have driven this sub-segment of property and casualty insurance into the red. In 2023, German motor insurers will make a deficit of over three billion euros, and the GDV predicted a further loss of up to two billion euros for this year at the beginning of the month.

The market leader for car policies is HUK Coburg, whose motor insurance division posted a deficit of over half a billion euros last year alone. HUK CEO Klaus-Jürgen Heitmann has been accusing car manufacturers for years of having raised the prices for spare parts far above average. Workshop and other costs have also risen. HUK had therefore announced further rate increases.

According to Verivox, this will not remain an isolated case. "Insurers will also have to continue to increase their premiums in the medium term in order to return to profitability," said Schütz./cho/DP/ngu