The rules contained in the Competition Law, including the most recent amendments, will not bring down the costs of motor liability insurance. Indeed, they risk unfairly penalizing certain categories of motorists. This is supported by the Order of Actuaries, a professional category that calculates the mathematical functions at the basis of the rates within the insurance companies.
The reform under discussion in the Chamber - and which barring unforeseen events will be approved by the summer - provides discounts for those who have not caused accidents for 4 years despite living in the provinces with the highest rate of road accidents and, in general, for those who install the black box . At the same time, however, the text delegates the government to adopt a decree on the obligation to install the black box within one year of the entry into force of the law. An amendment then reintroduced the tacit renewal of policies, canceled in 2012 by the Monti government.
“As happens with the price of any good or service – the actuaries write – that of motor liability policies should also be calculated starting from the underlying costs, in compliance with the rules established by the free market. The Competition Law, on the other hand, provides for rules intended to modify the prices of policies a priori, the actual impact of which on the reduction of costs (which in the motor liability branch consist essentially of compensation to those who suffer damage from road accidents) has not been subject to any evaluation . At the same time, the bill introduces additional cost items (think, for example, of the costs for managing black boxes and vehicle inspections) without providing for adequate coverage”.
As for the amendments in favor of the areas with the most claims and the mobility of policyholders between companies, according to the actuaries from these amendments “there is no reasonable expectation of any reduction in costs. The limits imposed by the Ddl on the free determination of tariffs (just think of the residence of the insured and his contractual history, which today are among the most relevant tariff factors), cannot lead, in the absence of a reduction in costs, to any reduction of the average premium".
On the contrary, "the prohibition of correctly valuing these risk factors, which today allow an adequate differentiation of prices, will instead only lead to a leveling of the tariffs, with unjustified increases for the policyholders who on subjective merits (not having caused accidents) and/ or objective (residence in areas with low claims) today they are paying the lowest premiums with full rights”, conclude the actuaries.
