Motor liability insurance prices continue to fall. In 2016, the average cost of Italian policies fell to 420 euros and, for cars alone, it is estimated that it went from 567 euros in March 2012 to 412 euros in March 2017, with a 27% reduction. This is what emerges from the latest report by the National Association of Insurance Companies (Ania), presented today in Rome during the annual meeting.
Last year there was "another reduction in the average premium (equal to -5,9%), albeit to a slightly lesser extent than in the previous three years: -6,7% in 2015, -7% in 2014 and -4,6% in 2013 – reads the text – For this reason the gap between Italian premiums and those of the other main European countries has also decreased”.
If, in fact, "Italian policies were on average 2008-2012 more expensive by 213 euros than the average in Germany, France, Spain and the United Kingdom", in 2015 "the gap had narrowed to 138 euros". Ania, "on the basis of the trends in the motor liability price index recorded by Eurostat, has now estimated that this gap has narrowed further and is equal to 100 euros in 2016".
REWARDS DOWN
All in all, the situation for consumers is improving. For companies, however, the scenario is not the most rosy. The ANIA report also shows that overall premium income in the Italian sector stood at 134 billion last year, with a decrease of 8,2% compared to 2015.
“In 2016 – said the president of ANIA, Maria Bianca Farina – due to the contained economic recovery, the still very low interest rates and the volatile financial markets, for the first time after three consecutive years of growth, the collection of life sector, equal to 102 billion euros, decreased by 11% compared to the all-time high recorded in 2015”.
ONLY 16% OF YOUNG PEOPLE JOIN THE SUPPLEMENTARY SECURITY
Farina added that the insurance system is ready to face the "innovation" challenge, in view of a "radical change" to intercept new needs and "make up for the current under-insurance" which he sees, for example, on the supplementary pension front a membership of just 16% of the pool of potentially enrolled young people. According to the number one of ANIA, it is "essential that household spending be directed towards forms of mutual aid" to implement "an integrated system between public and private".
UNINSURED CARS DECREASE
In the meantime, however, with the farewell to paper stickers, uninsured cars have decreased by about half a million. According to the data in the report, in 2016 there were 2,9 million vehicles not covered by the policy, equal to 6,7% of the total, against 3,4 million in 2015. ANIA observes that the dematerialisation of the insurance sticker, entered into force in October 2015, it began to produce its greatest effects during 2016. The innovation constitutes an incentive to take out insurance because it allows the police forces to verify the regularity of the insurance coverage automatically and directly on road, through access to a computer archive where the motor liability coverage of all vehicles is stored.
ONLY 5% OF HOMES HAVE AN EARTHQUAKE POLICY
Finally, as regards the Italian housing stock, Farina underlines that it is "40% built in areas classified as high seismic risk" and, "due to the lack of safety interventions, it is highly vulnerable. Furthermore, it is a poorly insured heritage: about 40% of homes are covered against fire; of these, only 5% have extended coverage against seismic or flood risk. Ania has developed, together with the associated companies, a model of an insurance scheme for the coverage of homes. It is a model that guarantees premiums accessible to the community through the adoption of mutuality measures between the various risks and the intervention of the State as guarantor of last resort. We reiterate our full willingness to discuss the merits of the proposals with all the stakeholders".
